Competency-based education practice is a priority area, but there is limited scientific research analyzing the education process of holistically developing students' competencies and subject matter skills. The aim of the study is to provide scientific evidence for the integrated competency-based education practice of primary school students during…

Professional development has long been viewed as crucial to sustained improvement in the quality of primary science education. This paper considers professional development beyond the context of a specific program by examining how the science teaching efficacy beliefs and practices vary between teachers who both have and have not engaged with…

This study explored elementary students' reasoning about the life cycles of various organisms, including insects and amphibians. The study took place in a private school in Lebanon with 24 fifth-grade students. Students participated in a life cycle unit with pre and post-written assessments about what they learned and interviews to help determine…

In this paper, we draw on the ontology and epistemology of the local Kasena ethnic group in Northern Ghana to explore Early Childhood Environmental Education. The study, taking place in Boania Primary School, drew on the concept of two-eyed seeing, where both western and Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies were taught. In this way, Indigenous…

Science teachers struggle to implement and sustain new curricular ideas from professional development (PD) experiences. These PD opportunities are crucial for enacting real-world changes to teaching practice and address pressing global challenges, such as the teaching and learning of socioscientific topics nested in school communities.…

Language is a fundamental tool for learning science. This study highlights the importance of teacher knowledge in utilising language as a tool for knowledge generation in the classrooms. This case study examines elementary teachers' development of declarative, procedural, and epistemic knowledge related to using language, particularly focusing on…

Floating and sinking (FS) is a key topic in science education, both at primary and secondary levels. The interpretation of FS phenomena, however, is challenging due to the difficulty of the scientific concepts and explanatory models involved (e.g., density, buoyancy), along with students' everyday experiences, which conflict with scientific…

Situated in an elementary afterschool Engineering Literacies Club framed around multiliteracies and the engineering design process, this article explores engineering habits of mind and disciplinary literacies. Disciplinary literacies encourage students to read, write, think, and act like historians, mathematicians, scientists, or engineers by…

This research aimed to determine the effectiveness of applying instructive simulation experiments (SE) to the development of deeper conceptual understanding, retention of static electricity contents, and engagement of 4th-grade students. The correlation between student achievements and engagement was examined. 76 4th graders (10-11 years) were…

The worrying decline in the status of primary school science in schools in England has been linked to low teacher confidence in teaching science and to schools being heavily focused on achievement in English and mathematics. This article reports on a novel professional learning strategy that was provided for 23 primary science leaders over five…

In-service teachers implementing a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum centered on computational thinking (CT) work with unique content and pedagogical experiences. Understanding how curriculum design and teacher professional development affect curriculum implementation can help researchers understand the critical aspects…

Many technological applications (apps) purport to help children learn academic material. Building on research in developmental and educational psychology, we developed and tested an app to teach biological and physical science content to preschool children. There were 21 children in the control condition (M[subscript age] = 50.30 months, SD =…

Multilingual learners (MLs) represent an increasing proportion of public school students. Although much attention has been given to their academic performance in English language arts and math, less research has addressed their academic performance in science, particularly in elementary school. This study leveraged nationally representative data…

Traditional teaching practices lack student-focused learning, critical thinking, interactivity, creativity and student's engagement in the classroom, which results in boredom and low motivation among students. Moreover, these practices disregard diversification or variability in learners in a classroom. To engage such learners and create better…

For some scientific ideas, it is obvious to pupils as to why they are studied. For others, a bit more work is needed before their significance becomes apparent. The concept of 'historical significance', which is used in history teaching, can help children to appreciate the enduring importance of scientific discoveries and events. The pedagogic…