This study examines the effects of a place-based intervention program on the sense of place of Bedouin elementary school students. These students live on the banks of the polluted Hebron Stream in Israel, where a three-pronged restoration program has recently been established, including the stream's rehabilitation, the establishment of local waste…

The current phenomenological-qualitative case study examined the team teaching related experiences of 17 Israeli student teachers in the context of using the project-based teaching method in the course of their pedagogical practicum module conducted in elementary schools. The focus of the study was on participants' experiences in terms of quality…

This paper describes an Israeli national-level research examining the extent to which admissions of elementary school students to the gifted programmes based on standardised tests are gender-fair. In the research, the gifted students consisted of 275 boys, 128 girls, and additional 80 girls who were admitted to the gifted programme through…

The findings of the research literature about the necessity and contribution of Interactive Whiteboards (IWB) are not unequivocal and are sometimes contradictory. The study aimed to examine the interactive attributes in lessons with an IWB and the students' attitudes. Methodical structured observations of 26 science lessons were conducted in…

Taking a student's perspective, this study aims to characterize students' descriptions of teaching higher and lower in mastery goal emphasis, in elementary, middle, traditional, and democratic schools. Data were collected by student surveys and interviews from fifth- through eighth-grade Israeli students. Nineteen interviews, describing 5 science…

Threshold concepts are essential ideas about the natural world that present either a barrier or a gateway to a deep understanding of science. Weight, mass, and gravity are threshold concepts that underpin students' abilities to understand important ideas in all fields of science, embodied in the performance expectations in the Next Generation…

In this study, we provide a review of the status of science and technology education. It addresses the achievements of students in Israel who attend high schools with student bodies that are primarily Arabic speaking. It is generally recognized that the achievements of the Israeli students in international examinations are relatively low. When…

In this educational initiative, we suggest to build a real model of solar village inside the school, which uses only solar energy. These educational initiatives emphasize the importance of energy for a technological society and the advantage of alternative energy sources. In this scientific educational initiative, the pupils in three elementary…

While interest is central to learning, considerable disparities have been reported between students' science interests and the science curriculum. This study explores how 5th grade students' (n = 72) competence, relatedness and interest levels changed as a consequence of using two online learning environments, which bridged the students' anonymous…

This study examines attitudes to school science classes amongst primary school children, based on the assumption that these will influence their attitudes and choices later in life. 1298 primary school students in grades 4-6 were given a Likert-type questionnaire and asked to provide verbal explanations for their agreement/disagreement with each…

The image of "the scientist" and its effect on the willingness to be a scientist and to follow a career in science were investigated in two different cultural populations of elementary and junior high school pupils in Israel: Hebrew-speaking (secular) pupils (N = 390) and Arabic-speaking Bedouin pupils (N = 185). Five different tools…

These are exciting and challenging times for English language curriculum development for school-age learners. The global reach of English has spurred a rethinking of its role in education and, consequently, a rethinking of how to teach it. The accounts in this volume represent differences in educational systems, language teaching traditions,…