Science education researchers and curriculum documents have advocated scientific inquiry for more than six decades; however, inconsistent findings concerning its effects on students' learning outcomes have been revealed in recent analyses of large-scale international assessment data (e.g., the Programme for International Student Assessment…

The objective of the present study was to investigate item-, examinee-, and country-level correlates of rapid guessing (RG) in the context of the 2018 PISA science assessment. Analyzing data from 267,148 examinees across 71 countries showed that over 50% of examinees engaged in RG on an average proportion of one in 10 items. Descriptive…

Background: Creativity is often viewed as a fundamental educational capability. Science can play a role in nurturing creativity. Research suggests that creative pedagogy, including interdisciplinary teaching , can engage students with science. Previous studies into teachers' attitudes to science and creativity have been largely situated within…

Preparing students for the real challenges in life is one of the most important goals in education. Constructivism is an approach that uses real-life experiences to construct knowledge. Problem-Based Learning (PBL), for almost five decades now, has been the most innovative constructivist pedagogy used worldwide. However, with the rising…

This case study is an attempt to investigate how computer simulations can contribute to engaging students' active participation in knowledge creation through chemistry learning. Empirical data were collected through interviews, a survey, and a test on secondary school student performance in Rwanda. The findings reveal four main forms of…

This paper provides glimpses of transactions in chemistry classrooms in five African countries (Burundi, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal) during the COVID-19 lockdown. Members of the secondary school community in the countries including teachers, students, and school managers were unprepared for the unprecedent demand in shift from a…

We investigated effects of tracking students into higher, more academic, and lower, less academic, school types immediately after primary school (early tracking) instead of having a comprehensive secondary school system (late tracking) on school gender segregation and gender gaps in achievement outcomes. We assumed that, in early tracking…

Teacher-directed and inquiry-based science instructional practices have been shown to influence students' performance on science assessments. However, only a small body of research has examined the associations of teacher-directed and inquiry-based science instructional practices with science-related dispositions among adolescent students using…

This study presents the views of stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa SSA on the present status of practical physics teaching in the secondary schools of the region and the obstacles to improvement. Their views have been analysed to establish critical factors that govern practice and have guided the formulation of a system description of the…

This think piece focuses on relevance in secondary science education to propose a research agenda for contexts in sub-Saharan Africa, where enrolments are expanding from a low base. The notion of sustainable work is used to consider what kind of science education is relevant for students who will continue to become science specialists and those…

With increased focus on sustainability and socioscientific issues, dealing with issues related to citizenship is now seen as an important element of science education. However, in order to make the world a better place, mere understanding about socioscientific issues is not enough. Action must also be taken. In this study, 35 international gifted…

In TIMSS 2015, while two-thirds of students in grade 4 reported feeling very safe at school, by grade 8, less than half of the students surveyed reported feeling a high level of safety. Overall, girls were more likely to report feeling safe than boys. For both genders, feeling safe at school seemed to be positively related to academic achievement…

Most studies suggest that students develop computational thinking (CT) through learning programming. However, when the target of CT is decoupled from programming, emerging evidence challenges the assertion of CT transferability from programming. In this study, CT was operationalized in everyday problem-solving contexts in a learning experiment (n…

Meeting the challenge of modern global chemistry education requires collaborations from many different actors. Here, we report the development of culturally relevant computer-based lessons on VSEPR and unit cells designed specifically for implementation in the unique environment of East African high schools. The lesson plans use software more…

Girls and women, especially the most vulnerable, are more likely to be excluded from education than their male counterparts. Exclusion and gender disparities in access to and performance in education are also observed among immigrant children, with immigrant girls often being the most disadvantaged. Data from the International Association for the…