This article utilizes a framework for classifying different scientific methods suggested by a philosopher of science (Brandon "Synthese," 99, 59-73, 1994) called Brandon's Matrix. It presents findings from teachers who took part in a funded project in England that looked at the nature of scientific methods in science investigations.…

This qualitative study aimed to explore what are pre-service elementary teachers' (N = 325) conceptualizations of scientific practices prior to their entry into the science teaching methods course through their drawn images and narratives of the scientists (male and female) and teacher as scientists. Data (drawings, narratives, and responses to…

Competencies for designing and evaluating scientific inquiries are a key emphasis in national curriculums worldwide and a focus of international large-scale assessment. Teachers globally are encouraged to provide learning opportunities for their students to explore and practice asking and conducting researchable questions. This study focused on…

Ensuring the quality of investigations requires the understanding of procedures by which empirical evidence is obtained. This can be interpreted as becoming aware of and using criteria for evidence in one's mental structure. The question is whether this process can be observed in practice. In two schools for pre-university education where 11th…

It is considered important for students to participate in scientific practices to develop a deeper understanding of scientific ideas. Supporting students, however, in knowing and understanding the natural world in connection with generating and evaluating scientific evidence and explanations is not easy. In addition, writing in science can help…

This study explores the impact of an urban ecology program on participating middle school students' understanding of science and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. We gathered pre and post survey data from four classes and found significant gains in scientific knowledge, but no significant changes in student beliefs regarding the…

In this paper, we report on the experiences of three 9th-grade South African students (13-14 years) in doing open science investigation projects for a science expo. A particular focus of this study was the manner in which these students merge the world of school science with their social world to create a hybrid space by appropriating knowledge…

Research has shown that children usually provide teleological explanations for the features of organisms from a very early age (3-4 years old). However, it is not clear if teleology is applied selectively for organisms, or if it is generally applied to other objects as well (artifacts and non-living natural objects). The present study examined…

This paper reports on a national study that explored primary pupils' attitudes towards and experiences of school science in the Republic of Ireland. The study focussed on collecting data from children and in doing so recognises the importance of children's views as an essential part of reviewing curriculum implementation. The findings of this…

Bringing successful teaching approaches for stimulating conceptual change to normal classrooms has been a major challenge not only for teachers but also for researchers. In this study, we focused on the relationship between cognitive conflict and responses to anomalous data when students are confronted with a counterintuitive demonstration in the…

This study examines how students explain their conceptual understanding of protein function using visualizations. Thirteen upper secondary students, four tertiary students (studying chemical biology), and two experts were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were structured around 2D illustrations of proteins and an animated…

Traditional multiple-choice concept inventories measure students' critical conceptual understanding and are designed to reveal students' naive or alternate ideas. The overall scores, however, give little information about the state of students' knowledge and the consistency of reasoning. This study investigates whether students have consistent…

According to the literature, there is a very important corpus of knowledge that allows for the investigation of some dimensions of "learning experience" provided to students, in relation to epistemic, pedagogical and meta-cognitive practices. However, in the literature, there is little investigation into the invariance (or not) of the…

Density has been reported as one of the most difficult concepts for secondary school students (e.g. Smith et al. 1997). Discussion about the difficulties of learning this concept has been largely focused on the complexity of the concept itself or student misconceptions. Few, if any, have investigated how the concept of density was constituted in…

In mathematics education, a vast amount of research has shown that students of different ages have a strong tendency to apply linear or proportional models anywhere, even in situations where they are not applicable. For example, in geometry it is known that many students believe that if the sides of a figure are doubled, the area is doubled too.…