Cambodian upper secondary education is divided into two tracks: science and social science. Students make their track selection in grade 10 and begin their enrollment in grade 11. The enrollment in the science track has witnessed a steep decline from 96% in 2014 to 34% in 2020, while the enrollment in the social science track has seen a remarkable…

STEM education has experienced significant growth due to its pivotal role in innovation and economic development. While cognitive factors like prior knowledge are known predictors of STEM success, non-cognitive factors, including attitudes and demographics, also play vital roles. However, there is a notable scarcity of research focusing on the…

Chemical thinking is widely acknowledged as a core competency that students should develop in the context of school chemistry. This study aims to develop a measurement instrument to assess students' chemical thinking. We employed the Essential Questions-Perspectives (EQ-P) framework and Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) classification…

This paper reports on a case study of South African Grade 12 learners' views about scientific inquiry. The study focuses on a non-fee-paying government school that receives curricular support and resources to specifically develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teaching in a low socioeconomic setting. Data were collected…

In Australia, it has been observed that there have been significant declines in the proportion of students studying senior sciences over the last two decades (Commonwealth of Australia 2017 & 2018; Steidtmann et.al, 2023). It has been suggested that one of the causes for this decline could be a link between students' literacy achievement and…

This study investigates how Grade 12 secondary school students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) perceive and respond to teaching and learning on evolution. A mixed-methodology approach including a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews was used. The study shows that Saudi students are aware of the great significance that has been…

This study focuses on examining the mental models of 11th and 12th-grade students attending a science high school in Turkey regarding the concept of the electron cloud. The study involved 72 students and employed the case study method. The precondition for selecting the sample was that the students had covered the unit on modern atomic theory in…

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the…

Teaching quantum physics (QP) to high school (HS) students is gaining momentum, necessitating the exploration of various effective methods. Specifically, the research on quantitative teaching methods is still in its early stages. Understanding the power of Dirac notation (DN) in teaching is crucial for grasping the complexities of QP, as it…

The decline of females in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields has drawn global discourse among researchers and policymakers, including Cambodia. At Cambodian upper secondary schools, female students' enrolment rates in science classes dramatically decreased from 97% in 2014--42% in 2019. In contrast, female students'…

This paper is twofold. First, it examines the misconceptions held by students about atoms. Second, it determines the suggestions of the instructors (academics and teachers) to overcome these misconceptions. The study adopted a case study research method. A questionnaire was administered to 288 students and a semi-structured interview was conducted…

This study researches relationships between 12th-grade students' epistemological beliefs towards science and their conceptual understanding of evolution by natural selection. Forty-two 12th-grade students in a suburban high school in Cyprus, who participated in a biology course, completed measures of their: (1) epistemological beliefs towards…

This book presents the findings of two case studies in the 'Making Connections' two-year project funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. It shows how science literacy was improved in a state coeducational school with Pacific Island students from diverse linguistic backgrounds. This book details ideas and strategies relevant to schools…

We designed and evaluated a student laboratory workshop on plant-based vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The workshop focused on hands-on laboratory techniques, including DNA extraction from rice seeds, where the recombinant protein was produced, detection of the transgene, and basic concepts on how vaccines work in the human body to offer…

Environmental stewardship education, as a locally oriented concept, benefits from being recast to account for the emergent, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary nature of today's most pressing socio-ecological issues. In an effort to infuse environmental stewardship education with global citizenship, instructional materials on community-based…