Past studies of grit's educational benefits, such as science engagement, showed mixed results across cultures. So, we elaborated the prior model of grit (perseverance of effort, consistency of interest) with "adaptability to situations" (forming a "triarchic model of grit" TMG), and tested TMG's relation to subsequent science…

Students nowadays grow up with electronic devices and are adept at navigating the virtual world. Practical activities may be more of a novelty for them than simulations. Using the topic of electric circuits as a context, we examined the ways in which Grade 11 students perceived and learned from practical work and simulations, respectively. In this…

The current trend in science learning leans more towards interdisciplinary (integrated) learning. Before 1989, several studies reviewed articles related to integrated science. However, research discussing articles on integrated science from 1996 until the present day is not yet available. The purpose of this study was to review 36 empirical…

This study applied an unconventional use of past examination papers by converting questions into hands-on experiments for students. Students in an experimental group were engaged in use of those experiments while the remainder attended conventional lectures with written practice. The results reflect that the experimental group positively improved…

Students' attitudes towards science is a long-standing topic in science education. Among various sub-constructs of attitudes towards science, students' motives for learning science and their self-efficacy in science learning may be the most frequently studied. Drawing from the expectancy-value theory (EVT), this study explored the extent to which…

This study explores how students in a joint process of knowledge construction through the use of multilingual and multimodal resources in groups promotes the learning of scientific concepts in the context of laboratory work. Inductive qualitative discourse analysis was conducted to examine how students' translanguage in a group completing tasks in…

This paper proposes a model-based notion of "submicro representations of chemical reactions". Based on three structural models of matter (the simple particle model, the atomic model and the free electron model of metals), we suggest there are two major models of reaction in school chemistry curricula: (a) reactions that are simple…

Background: Constructing knowledge through collaborative practical work is a complex process and involves the use of multiple modalities by group members. In practical work sessions, students often manipulate visual objects or textual materials but do not develop their scientific ideas. Purpose: This study illustrates (a) the challenges that…

This paper reports the findings from the interview data of a research aiming at studying how to trigger students' situational interest in physics and its implications on learning and teaching in the New Senior Secondary (NSS) physics curriculum. 49 students from a boys' school were invited to write one to three learning experiences in physics that…

While translanguaging research has been gaining currency worldwide, calls have been made for deepening its theorisation and providing more systematic pedagogical guidance. To contribute to this discussion, this study is informed by a fluid, distributed, dynamic process view of human meaning-making. Through a fine-grained multimodal analysis of…

This article drew on the recent dynamic, distributed view of "translanguaging and flows" and the New Materiality view of meaning making to explore content and language integrated learning (CLIL) activities in an English-Medium-Instruction (EMI) secondary Science classroom. Fine-grained analysis of the multilingual and multimodal…

There have been increasing concerns about the significant decline in teenagers' intentions to pursue STEM subjects or careers. This study examined how students' perceptions of parental expectations, STEM cultural capital, mathematics/science self-efficacy, gender, and parents' jobs were associated with STEM career aspirations and tested whether…

This study investigated students' interpretation of diagrams representing the human circulatory system. We conducted an interview study with three students aged 14-15 (Year 10) who were studying biology in a Hong Kong school. During the interviews, students were asked to interpret diagrams and relationships between diagrams that represented…

This study investigated the mental representations of metallic bonding and the malleability of metals held by three male students aged 14-15 (Year 10) who were attending a Hong Kong school. One student was selected by their chemistry teacher as representing each of the highest, the medium, and the lowest level of attainment in chemistry in a…

CLIL focuses on the integration of content learning and additional language learning. However, it is increasingly recognized that the re/presentation and communication of discipline-specific content involve not only language, but also other semiotic modes (such as visuals and gestures). This is accelerated by the advancement of digital…