Science and education for sustainability have recently become estranged. Both of these learning areas are also experiencing issues that are affecting students' understandings in these areas. This paper presents a framework of learning containing 12 components that reconstructs the relationship between these two areas and could have the potential…

The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation compares and contrasts views that children and scientists have on…

The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation compares and contrasts views that children and scientists have on…

The Learning in Science Project established that children from a young age construct out of their everyday experiences views which they use to explain their world and that these views are remarkably resistant to replacement by scientifically more useful views. Although science lessons tend to be based upon activities which are designed by teachers…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--investigated the questions and explanations primary children have about rocks. Data were collected during teaching sessions from New Zealand students (ages 8-11) and Australian students (ages 10-11). The teaching sessions required the teacher to create a situation in which children generated some…

The topic of metals is frequently taught in primary schools. However, when metals are suggested as one of a series of topics for study, students often initially show little enthusiasm for the topic. To determine the ideas that children have about metals the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--interviewed thirty-eight 9- to 10-year-old…

The Learning in Science Project has adopted the view that science teaching might be improved if teachers can be given some appreciation of students' views of the world and the beliefs, expectations, and language that learners bring to new learning situations. This investigation looks at the topic of soil, one of the basic resources of New Zealand…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--investigated the questions and explanations primary children have about spiders. The data comprise 112 questions and 104 explanations (included in appendices) offered by children after being shown a picture of a spider. Additional data were collected during individual interviews with 18 students.…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--investigated the ideas and interests about spiders held by 8- to 10-year-old children. Data included 303 questions--and answers to some of the questions--about spiders obtained from children in four classes and from responses obtained during individual interviews with 10 children from each age…

The Science Activities Action Research Group considered problems related to using science activities in teaching/learning of science ideas, problems previously identified and described during exploratory/in-depth phases of the Learning in Science Project. Three specific tasks were formulated by the group, including: investigating wording of…

One area explored in the Learning in Science Project (Primary--LISP(P)--was children's questions about and explanations of phenomena. Data were obtained from work with classes of children, interviews with children, informal discussions with teachers, and observations of two teachers using an alternative teaching model (outlined in an appendix)…

This paper, designed to be used in conjunction with a video-tape developed by the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--shows excerpts from some of the interview schedules used to examine children's ideas about floating and sinking. These interviews involved the use of "interview-about-instances" (IAI) cards (included in an…

This study investigated the meanings and ideas held and questions asked by children (ages 7-14) about floating and sinking (in water). Data were collected from interviews using "interview-about-instances" (IAI) cards (included in an appendix) and 10 objects which either floated or sank. Additional data were collected from classroom…

The Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--investigated the ideas and interests children have about flowering plants (in particular whether these plants have a life cycle). Data were obtained from: individual interviews with children, ages 7- to 14-year-old (10 students for each age level), using the "interview-about-instances"…

The Learning in Science Project established that children from a young age construct out of their everyday experiences views which they use to establish their world and that these views are remarkably resistant to replacement by scientifically more useful views. Although science lessons tend to be based upon activities which are designed by…