The present paper describes the recruitment and site selection process that has been underway since January 2011, with particular emphasis on the use of Mahalanobis distance score to determine matched pairs of sites prior to randomization to treatment and control groups. Through a systematic winnowing process, the authors found that they could…

The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the group research technique and cooperative reading-writing application technique in the science and technology course in the unit of "what is the Earth's crust made of" on the academic achievement of the students and whether the change observed in the student achievement is permanent…

Teaching students to use and interpret representations in science is critically important if they are to become scientifically literate and learn how to communicate their understandings and learning in science. This study involved 248 students (119 boys and 129 girls) from 26 grade 6 teachers' classes in nine primary schools in Brisbane,…

The purpose of this study is to investigate student- and school-level factors that help to explain the difference in the nature of science (NOS) views. Overall, the design of this study is correlational. The sample consisted of 3062 students enrolled in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of elementary schools in Turkey. A hierarchical linear…

Although the core work of science is oriented toward constructing, revising, applying, and defending models of the natural world, models appear only rarely in school science, and usually only as illustrations, rather than theory building tools. We describe the rationale and structure for a learning progression to understand the development of…

This study explored the nature of the relationship between a fifth-grade teacher and an informal science educator as they planned and implemented a life science unit in the classroom, and sought to define this relationship in order to gain insight into the roles of each educator. In addition, student learning as a result of instruction was…

In this article, we present the results from a mixed-methods research study aimed to document indoor and outdoor fifth grade science experiences in one school in the USA in the context of accountability and standardized testing. We used quantitative measures to explore students' science knowledge, environmental attitudes, and outdoor comfort…

Argumentation is highlighted as one of the most important activities of science education by many researchers. The main aim of this research is to examine primary school students' nature of science classes and argumentation skills in terms of their academic success in primary science classes. Thus, the main interest of the study is centered on the…

This article highlights a core lesson that has been used in a number of Lincoln Park Zoo educational programs. The lesson teaches students to conduct an ethological, or animal behavior, study on a bird. This study can be implemented in a variety of outdoor settings, including a park, schoolyard, or zoo. Using an ethogram, students will practice…

This study focused on how to enhance the interactivity and usefulness of augmented reality (AR) by integrating manipulative interactive tools with a real-world environment. A manipulative AR (MAR) system, which included 3D interactive models and manipulative aids, was designed and developed to teach the unit "Understanding Weather" in a…

"Element Cycles" is an activity designed to reinforce correlation of essential elements and their different forms in the ecosystem. Students are assigned essential elements to research as homework, then share results, and construct game boards with four ecosphere sections: geosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere…

The growing diversity of Ontario's population is increasing pressure on the education system to ensure that all students receive equal opportunities to excel academically and develop personally. Students are more likely to succeed if their own racial, ethnic, and cultural identity is reflected in the classroom. This observation applies no less to…

The ability to listen closely, speak clearly, write coherently, read with comprehension, and to create and critique media offerings in science contexts is essential for effective science teaching. How might instructors develop such abilities in a physics course for prospective elementary and middle school teachers? We describe here such a course,…

"Next Generation Science Standards" identifies the science all K-12 students should know. These new standards are based on the National Research Council's "A Framework for K-12 Science Education." The National Research Council, the National Science Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science,…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate whether or not informational writing in the science curriculum would impact fifth grade students' science achievement and conceptual understanding. The population of this study came from a metropolitan school district in the state of Georgia for school year 2012-2013. The quantitative data…