Scientific reasoning (SR) skills and nature of science (NOS) beliefs represent important characteristics of biology teachers' professional competence. In particular, teacher education at university is formative for the professionalization of future teachers and is thus the focus of the current study. Our study aimed to examine the development of…

Assessment literacy is a crucial aspect of teachers' professional knowledge and relevant to fostering students' learning. Concerning experimentation, teachers have to be able to assess student achievement when students form hypotheses, design experiments, and analyze data. Therefore, teachers need to be familiar with criteria for experimentation…

Primary school teachers need adequate professional knowledge and motivational orientations to qualify scientifically and technologically literate students. Previous studies have focused on the impact of coursework on (pre-service) primary teachers' content knowledge, rather than on the development of academic self-concepts. In addition, the…

Developing scientific reasoning (SR) is a central goal of science-teacher education worldwide. On a fine-grained level, SR competency can be subdivided into at least six skills: "formulating research questions," "generating hypotheses," "planning experiments," "observing and measuring," "preparing data…

In order to educate scientifically literate children, teachers are required to include nature of science (NOS) in their classroom practice. However, as biology teachers' own understanding of NOS is limited, promoting an initial understanding of NOS in teacher education is crucial. The aim of this study is to elucidate the importance of the first…

For the planning and implementation of lessons with digital technologies, a subject-specific technology-related professional competence of teachers is of central importance. However, the competency frameworks developed so far remain in a general perspective and do not explicitly address subject-specific issues. Furthermore, digital competencies…

In a diagnostic context of reasoning about instructional quality, scientific reasoning skills can be described as diagnostic activities, which require professional knowledge. Different approaches to enhance pre-service teachers' professional knowledge (PCK, CK, PK), as well as diagnostic activities exist. However, results about their effectiveness…

Understanding and knowledge of scientific reasoning skills is a key ability of pre-service teachers. In a written survey (open response format), biology and chemistry pre-service teachers (n = 51) from two German universities claimed central decisions or actions school students have to perform in scientific reasoning in the open inquiry…

Teachers' diagnostic competences are essential with respect to student achievement, classroom assessment, and instructional quality. Important components of diagnostic competences are teachers' professional knowledge including content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK), and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), their diagnostic activities…

The professional competencies pre-service geography teachers acquire in university influence their contribution to education for sustainable development (ESD) in their future school careers. We assessed pre-service geography teachers' (n = 100) competencies and attitudes towards the official, German ESD orientation framework to determine the…

"Chemish," as the scientific language of chemistry, is essential for communicating in and understanding chemistry. At the same time, Chemish is one of the major difficulties in teaching and learning chemistry in the school context. Although in recent years the importance of language in general and scientific language in particular has…

In this study, we focus on teachers' attitudes to compare and evaluate their ability and readiness to implement technology education in geography lessons. First, the lack of suitable measuring instruments for our intent was identified, and we thus attempted to develop the Modern Technology Attitude Index (MTAI) for remedy. An exploratory factor…

In recent years, serious games and game-based learning have received growing attention in educational contexts in general and science teaching and learning. They play an especially prominent role in higher education, where they are used to promote content knowledge as well as higher order cognitive skills and competencies such as communication,…

(1) Background: Teaching in today's schools asks teachers to foster self-regulated learning and digital competences in children and young people. In order to do so, teachers first need to acquire and use these competences themselves. (2) Methods: Based on a mixed-methods approach, the study investigates self-regulated learning in online courses of…

Professional vision is a key ability in the professional development of pre- and in-service teachers as it determines how professionals perceive and interpret situations. The aim of this study was to conceptualize an instrument for professional vision focusing on formative assessment in the context of scientific inquiry. This focus is highly…