The use of stories in science education can make science more interesting and engaging, illustrate concepts, and provide opportunities for contextual and meaningful learning. Also, integrating a scientific story in which the sustainability goals are incorporated can lead to increasing students' motivation to learn as well as improve and facilitate…

Narratives, or stories, are used every day by people as a way of making sense of and communicating events in the world. Narratives can be highly useful as a learning tool in science education. Though research on narrative-based pedagogy in science education and communication is very common, most of that research was done in formal settings. Our…

Academy-Classroom model is the most recent program adopted by the Ministry of Education in Israel for trainee teachers' practical training. One of the model's primary goals is to bridge the gap between the needs and the reality of the school in connection with how academic institutions prepare their teachers. The study aimed to research the role…

Background: Outdoor learning and computer-based learning are two different alternatives to in-class conventional teacher-centered learning. Purpose: This study compares the outdoor learning setting with computer-based learning in class. It examines the influence of the two different learning settings on academic achievements, the learning…

Context-based approaches can bridge the gap between abstract, difficult science concepts and the world students live in. However, the relevance of specific contexts to different groups of learners, and its stability over time, have not been extensively explored. This study used four datasets, collected in different formal and informal settings, to…

This study is an attempt to gain new insight, on behalf of science teachers, into the integration of metacognition (MC) into science education. Participants were 44 elementary school science teachers attending an in-service teacher-training (INST) program. Data collection was carried out by several data sources: recordings of all verbal…

This study deals with the development of system thinking skills at the elementary school level. It addresses the question of whether elementary school students can deal with complex systems. The sample included 40 4th grade students from one school in a small town in Israel. The students studied an inquiry-based earth systems curriculum that…

Achievement goal theory distinguishes between mastery goals (the goals of developing competence) and performance goals (the goals of demonstrating competence) [Ames [1992] "Journal of Educational Psychology" 84: 261-271]. In this study, we employed this theory aiming to better understand why adolescents' motivation to learn science…

The image of "the scientist" and its effect on the willingness to be a scientist and to follow a career in science were investigated in two different cultural populations of elementary and junior high school pupils in Israel: Hebrew-speaking (secular) pupils (N = 390) and Arabic-speaking Bedouin pupils (N = 185). Five different tools…

Investigated whether preservice elementary teachers in Argentina and Israel held scientific views that enabled them to correctly nstruct their future students to achieve a concept of energy, noting differences between the scientific concepts of students in the two countries. Questionnaire data indicated that students were very similar, but their…

Compares the reasoning capabilities of preservice elementary school teachers before and after their involvement in a remedial science program that incorporated instruction in basic conceptual knowledge with reasoning strategies about manipulation of variables and logical inference. Discussion of results emphasizes recurring logical fallacies. (22…

This study examines the effectiveness exercises based on the cognitive conflict, existing within the child, between two representational systems related to temperature: the qualitative-verbal one and the quantitative-numerical one as these relate to the advancement of children's understanding of the concept of temperature. (Author/DS)

Reports the extent to which audio-tutorial United States science programs can be adapted for Israel, effect of maturation on pupil's learning, effect of socio-economic status of pupils, effect of classroom composition, achievement differences between boys and girls, and benefit of using different modes of performance for student evaluation. (GS)

A science lesson (observing yeast) was taught demonstrating that when a guided inquiry instructional method is encountered there is a change from subjective to objective thinking. Describes steps in the lesson and analysis of pupils' responses and behavior. Suggests an instructional model to increase perceptive level of thinking in biology…

The scientific and technological literacy of sixth graders in Israel was assessed though a national evaluation of the elementary science curriculum with over 2,700 students. The definition of scientific and technological literacy for this study is discussed. By the definitions in the study, very few sixth graders had achieved the desired literacy…