The present study analyzed the structural and the content complexity of 76 preservice science teachers' socioscientific argumentation in the context of a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Data were analyzed within the methodological frame of qualitative content analysis. Concerning the structural complexity, the participants' socioscientific…

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research…

Scientific reasoning competencies (SRC) are one part of science teachers' professional competencies. This study examines the contribution of three factors to the development of pre-service science teachers' SRC: the "amount of science education classes," the "amount of science classes" and the pre-service science teachers'…

Physics lab courses permanently undergo transformations, in recent times especially to adapt to the emergence of new digital technologies and the COVID-19 pandemic in which digital technologies facilitated distance learning. Since these transformations often occur within individual institutions, it is useful to get an overview of these…

Based on the theory of integrated domains in epistemology, the question of domain specificity of epistemic beliefs was investigated from a comprehensive perspective. We examined intraindividual differences in epistemic beliefs about the natural, mathematical, social, and linguistic sciences that represented almost the entire spectrum of subjects…

The proficient handling of data can undoubtedly be regarded as a key skill for the future. However, the need for data competencies is not limited to traditional professions in the information technology environment but is rather necessary across industries and work fields. Consequently, there is a call to integrate such Data Literacy and Data…

The recent advancement of large language models presents numerous opportunities for teaching and learning. Despite widespread public debate regarding the use of large language models, empirical research on their opportunities and risks in education remains limited. In this work, we demonstrate the qualities and shortcomings of using ChatGPT 3.5…

The current dropout rate in physics studies in Germany is about 60%, with the majority of dropouts occurring in the first year. Consequently, the physics study entry phase poses a significant challenge for many students. Students' stress perceptions can provide more profound insights into the processes and challenges during that period. In a panel…

The need for geoscience students to develop a quantitative skillset is ever increasing. However, this can be difficult to implement in university-style lecture courses in a way that is both manageable for the instructor and does not involve lengthy, potentially repetitive, question sheets for the students. Here, a method for teaching dimensional…

Teachers' career choice motives are defined as the interests, orientations, and motives of young people that motivate them to aspire the teaching career. Teachers' career choice motives have been shown to impact teaching and job retention. Many studies investigated teachers generic career choice motives but studies on teachers' subject-specific…

Students experience many difficulties learning the fundamental relationships in Newtonian mechanics, partly due to preexisting mental models that originate from their everyday lives. These preconceptions often persist even after instruction in mechanics and lead to a supposed incompatibility between physics lessons in school and personal…

Since ChatGPT-3.5 has been available to the public, the potentials and challenges regarding chatbot usage in education have been widely discussed. However, little evidence exists whether and for which purposes students even apply generative AI tools. The first main purpose of the present study was to develop and test scales that assess students'…

Evolution understanding is often positively connected with magnitudes of evolution acceptance, whereas religiosity mostly interferes negatively. However, comparisons between studies and countries must be treated cautiously due to the diversity of used instruments and samples. This study aims to generate new evidence concerning the interplay of…

A concept for undergraduate mechanics courses at universities is introduced where traditional pencil-paper based exercises are partially replaced by experimental exercises, in which smartphones are used as measurement devices. A detailed guidance for practical realization and implementation of these tasks formats into the course is presented.…

Over the past decades, a large body of research has examined students' magnitudes of evolution acceptance and related measurement issues resulting in questions concerning instruments' validity and operationalization. Until now, several studies investigated validity aspects of often-used evolution acceptance instruments and came to diverging…