In an educational landscape of primary teachers' underdeveloped professional knowledge and low feelings of self-efficacy around science teaching, the prospects for science losing status in the primary school curriculum seems grim. This paper reports positive findings from a New Zealand research project designed to support and enhance primary…

As a means of achieving scientific literacy goals in society, the last two decades have witnessed international science curriculum redevelopment that increasingly advocates a "new look" inquiry-based approach to learning. This paper reports on the nature of the student-experienced curriculum where secondary school students are learning…

Background: This research addressed the key area of early career teacher education and aimed to explore the use of a "content representation" (CoRe) as a mediational tool to develop early career secondary teacher pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study was situated in the subject areas of science and technology, where sound…

Research about the benefits of formative assessment as a means of improving student learning has encouraged policy-makers and teachers in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand to promote and use classroom-based assessment for learning in the qualifications arena. However, recent research suggests teachers are implementing a narrow…

This paper reports on the reality of classroom-based inquiry learning in science, from the perspectives of high school students and their teachers, under a national curriculum attempting to encourage authentic scientific inquiry (as practiced by scientists). A multiple case study approach was taken, utilising qualitative research methods of…