This research was carried out to reveal the experiences of pre-service elementary teachers during their visit to the science center and their observations and opinions about this experience. For this purpose, a case study, which is one of the qualitative research designs, was adopted. 32 pre-service elementary teachers participated in the…

We developed a hands-on activity using the game Jenga to demonstrate the links between health behaviors, chronic and infectious diseases, and community well-being and resilience. For the activity, K-12 students worked together in small teams (4-8 students) and were given two Jenga towers ("tower A" and "tower B"), each…

The main purpose of this study was to examine teachers' self-perceived practices of context-based science teaching and learning in science classrooms. To achieve this purpose, a cross-sectional survey design was employed. The data were collected from 360 upper primary science teachers in East Gojjam Administrative Zone, Ethiopia. A multistage…

This study aims to develop the teacher's perceptions of critical thinking in science learning in elementary schools. The samples in this study were 50 elementary school teachers in Central Java. Selection of samples employed convenience sampling. The instruments in this study used a modified Likert Scale. The validity tests used in this research…

In this article, fourth graders investigate the physical and behavioral adaptations of crayfish. Because crayfish are native to the area and many students have experience observing them in local streams, the author decided to use these organisms to explore the relationship between the structure of their various body parts and how those structures…

This is the third special issue of "Primary Science," and it is one that offers primary school teachers an insight into an initiative that does wonders for primary science leadership, learning and teaching -- the Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM). In this article, Shaun Wingrove describes the transformation from dull to shiny science…

The "Framework" and NGSS bring to the forefront the role of language in doing science and in learning from doing science. Yet, most existing science assessments for elementary learners do not integrate or attend to aspects of scientific language and literacy that are essential components of science proficiency. Accordingly, there is a…

The goals of science education include providing students with real-world learning experiences that connect directly to learning objectives and deepen student interest in science. Learning experiences that occur outside of the science classroom can help science educators respond to these goals. To encourage the use of learning environments beyond…

Despite the pivotal role that science now plays in everyday life, and countless viable future career options for children, in many cases it is still considered less of a 'core subject' than its curriculum relatives -- namely English and maths. While this has been helped in recent years with a greater emphasis on STEM subjects, there is still some…

One of the objectives in the science National Curriculum in England is to 'observe changes across the four seasons' (DfE, 2013: 9). The winter months can be a busy time for teachers, but can also cater for a wide range of science experiments based around the season. Practical investigations based on winter themes can hold a sense of magic and…

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were developed by 26 lead states with NSTA, AAAS, NRC, and Achieve in 2013 to provide a new vision for the teaching of science in U.S. schools. Teachers' applications have been mainly concentrated on efforts to align the current practices with the standards. Elementary science teachers need to use…

This paper draws on Bernstein's educational sociology to illustrate how a language-focused "subversive" pedagogic approach (Martin, 2011) was systematically realised through classroom interactions. While educational inequalities are often addressed at the level of policy and budgets, this paper provides a perspective on inequality and…

Even though the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) were released over a decade ago, science is still infrequently taught in early childhood and elementary classrooms. A lack of teacher confidence due to inadequate content knowledge may be a contributing factor, making access to high-quality elementary science methods courses even…

The objective of this research is to examine teachers' competence in designing activities after engaging in professional development activities aimed at enhancing teaching design in order to develop students' thinking abilities that are contextually appropriate. The participants consist of 5 elementary school science teachers from schools. The…

Science education is crucial for fostering knowledge across academic disciplines. Past efforts to enhance science achievement at the elementary level have explored various instructional strategies. Among these, the Understanding by Design (UbD) model has shown notable potential in improving science achievement outcomes compared to traditional…