Understanding experimental design (e.g. control of variable strategy or CVS) is foundational for scientific reasoning. Previous research has demonstrated that demonstrations with cognitive conflict (e.g. asking students to evaluate and explain different experimental designs) are effective in promoting children's scientific reasoning, however, the…

In science education, the improvement in students' ability to construct arguments at the primary school level has been reported. Although these studies have identified difficulties in arguments written by primary school students, they do not indicate areas that require improvement in teaching methods. This study aims to explore the possibility of…

This paper examines the roles of multimodality and thematic patterns in the teaching of the particle model of matter. Although the particle model is a fundamental topic in science education, there is no consensus on (1) whether or not the model should be introduced in early grades and (2) how to introduce the model to students for the very first…

This research explored dream science classrooms of primary school third and fourth-grade students. Research is designed as a case study. The students were first asked to illustrate their dream science classroom and produce a short description of their drawings. Second, they were asked to write their expectations of their teachers, their…

"Active learning" has been used to describe classrooms that have varied widely with respect to instructional topics, age of learners, and the procedures used to operationalize the general notion of the term. In most cases, the specific variant of active learning under investigation has been more effective than the particular control used…

The aim of this research is to establish the contribution of demonstration and student-led experiments on the quality of students' knowledge about the air-related content in the third grade of primary school. This research included 120 students from Serbia, divided into two groups: control (C) and experimental (E). In group C the experiments were…

"Active learning" has been used to describe classrooms that have varied widely with respect to instructional topics, age of learners, and the procedures used to operationalize the general notion of the term. In most cases, the specific variant of active learning under investigation has been more effective than the particular control used…

Teaching argumentation with appropriate activities and strategies would support a wide range of goals in science education. Though science labs have been suggested and employed for argumentation activities, such educational expenditures are likely to be beyond the means of most schools in under-resourced areas. Due to the lack of appropriate…

The Environmental Studies curricular area, taught at primary school level in Portugal, is a challenging context for curricular interdisciplinarity and the achievement of small-scale research and creative and innovative experiences, inside and outside the classroom. From that assumption, we present, under the master course of primary teacher…

This article describes how a third grade class (ages 8-9) conducted a temperature-related science experiment. The goal of the experiment was to build on the following question: What would happen if you took three different thermometers, all reading the same temperature, wrapped them in three different socks, one woollen, one silk, and one cotton,…

Researchers from multiple perspectives have shown that young students can engage in the scientific reasoning involved in science experimentation. However, there is little research on how well these young students learn in inquiry-based learning environments that focus on using scientific experimentation strategies to learn new scientific…

In this study, we examined opportunities for reasoning and meaning making that read-alouds of children's literature science information books and related hands-on explorations offered to young Latina/o students in an urban public school. Using a qualitative, interpretative framework, we analyzed classroom discourse and children's writing…

A crucial element of the logic of the scientific method is the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), in which conclusions about causal relations are enabled by manipulating a focal variable of interest while holding all other variables constant. Understanding CVS in elementary grades generally is poor, but can be improved with systematic…

How do you inspire students to keep records like scientists? Share the primary research of real scientists and explicitly teach students how to keep records--that's how! Therefore, a group of third-grade students and their teacher studied the work of famous primatologist Jane Goodall and her modern-day counterpart Ian Gilby. After learning about…

Collecting data and analyzing the results of experiments is difficult for children. The authors found a surprising way to help their third graders make graphs and draw conclusions from their data: digital photographs. The pictures bridged the gap between an abstract graph and the plants it represented. With the support of the photos, students…