A learning path has been developed on system dynamical graphical modelling, integrated into the Dutch lower secondary physics curriculum. As part of the developmental research for this learning path, students' understanding of the relation structures shown in the diagrams of graphical system dynamics based models has been investigated. One of our…

We report how 47 pre-service teachers during their preschool placement in Sweden identify events related to gender and emerging science. We analysed their reflections on the situations with Gee's Discourse analysis. Two dominant discourse models were identified: the Discourse Construare, where pre-service teachers assumed that children have…

Students learn about science in a range of life contexts. Unfortunately, science classrooms are often disconnected from the ways of knowing about science that are embedded in, and embodied by, the life experiences of students. Drama has been identified as a potential means by which deeper understandings of the nature of science can be derived and…

There is a long tradition of teaching science through inquiry, with broad agreement about the form it should take. Students should investigate researchable questions; gather and analyse data; and develop and represent evidence-based claims. Authoritative teacher or textbook representations are generally used to guide this learning (Buckley &…

In science education, learners' conceptions of scientists and their work are often assessed by the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST). Due to validity concerns, methodical literature demands the development of alternative instruments to measure learners' conceptions validly and efficiently. This study presents an instrument with 29 rating scale items to…

Science educators highlight the importance of developing systems thinking (ST) and futures thinking (FT) for students to make decisions and to be active citizens that address socioscientific problems. The dimensions related to FT take in this study were three implied in ST and two in the appropriation of the future. The aim of this study is to…

This paper addresses two methodological issues related to the assessment of teachers' views of science. The first concerns the distinction between the "nature of science" (NOS) and the nature of "scientific inquiry" (SI): should the points related to NOS and those related to SI be analyzed independently? The second concerns the…

Students' attitudes towards science is a long-standing topic in science education. Among various sub-constructs of attitudes towards science, students' motives for learning science and their self-efficacy in science learning may be the most frequently studied. Drawing from the expectancy-value theory (EVT), this study explored the extent to which…

The current study aimed to make students discover the multidimensional structure of Socio-scientific Issues (SSI) using the SEE-STEP model. Nine-step module has been designed to help students' discover the aspects of the SSI in the implementation process of the research. This research was based on qualitative methodology in determining the study…

Recent international comparison studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) repeatedly argued that inquiry-based learning (IBL) indicated a negative effect on science literacy (SL). However, those studies included two limitations in revealing the relationship between IBL and SL as they did not consider (1)…

This paper analyses the epistemic criteria that pre-service teachers consider when assessing the quality of a scientific investigation about friction force. The participants were 71 pre-service primary teachers working in 18 small groups of three or four participants (N = 18), who were enrolled in a science teaching methods course that addressed…

The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of a video feedback coaching intervention for upper-grade primary school teachers on students' cognitive gains in scientific knowledge. This teaching intervention was designed with the use of inquiry-based learning principles for teachers, such as the empirical cycle and the posing of…

Integration of technology, social learning and scientific models offers pedagogical opportunities for science education. A particularly interesting area is thermal science, where students often struggle with abstract concepts, such as heat. In taking on this conceptual obstacle, we explore how hand-held infrared (IR) visualization technology can…

Primary pre-service teachers (PSTs) in Australia often have low confidence and negative experiences in relation to science and teaching science. This paper reports on pre-post survey data produced by four institutions involved in a multi-institutional project exploring the use of university-school partnerships for primary science teacher…

In this self-study, two science educators partnered with two elementary teachers to plan, implement, and reflect on a unit taught in second grade classrooms that integrated science and language arts. The researchers hoped to increase their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for elementary science teaching so that they might use their experiences…