Science education reform efforts have called for teaching science to all students, yet the "Science for All" mantra has remained merely rhetoric. Given that multilingual learners continue to face inequities more broadly in the education system and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects in particular, there…

Studies of both professional science practice and children's science learning show that care is not merely ancillary to disciplinary work but a core and generative constituent of science practice. In science education research, however, students' care is often overlooked. In this paper, we describe the expression of care across two STEM classrooms…

This article presents an empirical analysis of conceptual difficulties encountered and ways students made progress in learning at both individual and group levels in a classroom environment in which the students used an embodied modeling activity to make sense of a specific scientific scenario. The theoretical framework, coordination class theory,…

Learning science in the middle years can be an emotional experience. In this study, we explored ninth-grade students' discrete emotions expressed during science activities in a 9-week unit on chemistry. Individual student's emotions were analyzed through multiple data sources including classroom videos, interviews, and emotions diaries completed…

The present study describes science expectancy-value motivation classes within a nationally representative sample of students who were U.S. ninth graders in 2009. An expectancy-value model was the basis for science-specific profile indicators (self-efficacy, attainment value, utility value, interest-enjoyment value). Using exploratory latent class…

Previous research in science education has suggested that difficulties among students learning science relate to challenges in framing its discourse. This article examines the role that language plays in a scientific literacy test for which everyday life is an augmented aspect. Video-recorded data was collected in four ninth-grade science classes…

When people are exposed to information that leads them to overestimate the actual amount of genetic difference between racial groups, it can augment their racial biases. However, there is apparently no research that explores if the reverse is possible. Does teaching adolescents scientifically accurate information about genetic variation within and…

On completing middle-school (ninth grade), Israeli students must choose which discipline(s) to major in upon entering high school. This study, grounded in Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT), identified and modeled the factors that contributed to students' academic choices from their own subjective perspectives. We collected qualitative and quantitative…

In today's world of information explosion, independent lifelong self-regulated learning (SRL) is becoming a necessity. However, opportunities in schools to experience such learning modes are relatively rare. This long-term explorative field study examined students' SRL of science. Changes in students' self-reported and enacted SRL…

The cause of the seasons is often associated with a very particular alternative conception: That the earth's orbit around the sun is highly elongated, and the differences in distance result in variations in temperature. It has been suggested that the standard diagrams used to depict the earth's orbit may be in some way responsible for the initial…

This qualitative multiple case study explored the conceptual frameworks of two congenitally blind male adolescents on the nature of matter. We examined participants' responses on four tactile investigations focused on concepts and processes associated with matter changes. The matter changes investigated were dissolution, chemical change,…

Group differences in the effects of the expectancies and values that high-ability students have for science and mathematics on plans to persist in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) were investigated. A nationally representative sample of ninth-grade students, the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS: 2009; n =…

One goal of project-based science is to promote the development of scientific discourse communities in classrooms. Holding rich high school scientific discussions is challenging, especially when the demands of content and norms of high school science pose challenges to their enactment. There is little research on how high school teachers enact…

In this paper, we describe two central epistemological norms related to the importance of making investigations and to scientific language and its logic. These norms have been identified in empirical material consisting of 200 video-recorded lessons in three different science classes. With regard to the learning of science and socialization, we…

This case study involved year 9 students carrying out project work in biology via problem-based learning. The purpose of the study was to (a) find out how students approach and work through ill-structured problems, (b) identify some issues and challenges related to the use of such problems, and (c) offer some practical suggestions on the…