Owing to its recognition as a 21st-century skill, computational thinking (CT) is currently being introduced into school curricula around the world. However, in-service teachers are largely unprepared for this implementation, which, in turn, makes teacher educators (TEds) important stakeholders in preparing prospective teachers to integrate CT into…

This study focuses on the relationship between students' early academic skills and academic achievement. In this context, it is aimed to examine the predictors of students' early literacy and numeracy skills on their later math and science achievements across countries. A quantitative research approach using a correlational survey design was…

The study aimed to determine the extent of associations of physics, mathematics, and between physics and mathematics based on the results of the 2007, 2011, and 2015 Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey achievement tests. Utilizing educational data mining and correlational data analysis (significance set at [alpha] = 0.05), this study's…

Asking questions is an important way of acquiring information and knowledge and plays a significant role in a child's learning processes. In this study, we examine what characterises the questions asked by children to their teachers in two kindergartens (4-6-year-olds) and six primary school classes (2nd-4th grade) when situated in a natural…

Background: Creativity is an important skill for the future society and developing students' creativity is an important part of science education. Working on a creative science project may help developing students' creative abilities, and the interaction between teacher and students during the work on defining a problem and solving the problem, is…

Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides crucial opportunities for young people to be involved in complex sustainability issues. This study contributes to existing knowledge about primary school teachers' approaches to ESD across a range of subjects. Norwegian schools can join the Sustainable Backpack programme (SBP), which supports…

Using a case-study approach, we aim to understand how teachers interact with both analogue and digital resources in the science classroom for formative assessment (FA) purposes and their justifications for such interactions. The study was conducted in the context of a European Union project on FA in science and mathematics education. The case…

The Food and Health subject is a mandatory subject in primary and lower secondary schools in Norway and has many similarities to the internationally known subject Home Economics. This study aimed to examine how learning activities are structured in Food and Health education, both from the teacher's and the student's perspective. Momentary time…

Women's underrepresentation in mathematics-related careers continues to concern policymakers, economists, and educators. This study addressed the issue by examining data from two international databases, namely IEA's "Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015," and the World Economic Forum's "Global Gender Gap…

This study examines how students in primary school (grades five and six) displayed creative thinking while working on an open-ended science project, and how they included science knowledge during the creative process. The findings show that students approached the creative process in six different ways: (1) by adaptation, (2) by transfer, (3) by…

Food and Health, previously referred to as Home Economics, is a mandatory school subject in Norway. It has the unique advantage of giving all students, regardless of their social background, practical skills and knowledge, life skills that are important for their future health. In the LifeLab Food and Health project, we have developed a…

Purpose: This study investigated the political aspects of 1st- to 4th-grade social studies education in Norwegian primary schools through qualitative interviews with 30 social studies teachers. The research examined how and to what extent politics is in focus in initial social studies education using the pre-political perspective as a theoretical…

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 is the sixth administration of this international comparative study since 1995 when first administered. TIMSS is used to compare over time the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. TIMSS is designed to align broadly with mathematics and…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Research for Education series represents a further effort by IEA to capitalize on it's unique datasets, so as to provide powerful information for policymakers and researchers. Each report focuses on a specific topic and is produced by a dedicated team of leading…

As is the case in most OECD countries, boys in Norway are more likely to have lower levels of academic achievement and attainment than girls. While this phenomenon is not recent, it has become increasingly pronounced in recent years and, as a result, is attracting considerable attention from policy-makers in many countries. This paper develops…