Preservice science teachers generally feel that the implementation of inquiry-based science teaching is very difficult to manage. This research project aimed at facilitating the implementation of inquiry-based science teaching through the use of several classroom strategies. The evaluation of 15 classroom strategies from 80 preservice elementary…

The question examined in this "Science 101" column was inspired by "Find Your School's Analemma" (in this issue). What causes the Sun's apparent position in the sky to trace a figure-eight pattern throughout one year? The analemma, or figure eight pattern that the Sun makes throughout the year, is due to two major…

The purpose of this study was to characterize and compare 64 elementary science teachers' computer simulation use prior to and following professional development (PD) aligned with Innovation Adoption Theory. The PD highlighted computer simulation affordances that elementary teachers might find particularly useful. Qualitative and quantitative…

Evolutionary theory is a central tenet of biological science, and it is essential for all science teachers, early childhood through secondary, to have a clear understanding of not only the science behind evolution, but also the legal precedents for teaching evolution in the classroom. This study examines the effectiveness of a curriculum on…

Background: In many educational settings, professional development (PD) for in-service teachers assumes particular significance in the wake of curricula reform. This is so that teachers are enabled to become familiar with new competencies that are aligned with new learning standards, and also that teachers may be supported in actively reflecting…

The Quality Elementary Science Teaching (QuEST) program is designed to deliver high-quality professional development (PD) in science content to elementary school teachers. QuEST includes both content and pedagogical instruction combined with a controlled teaching experience situated within a larger professional development context. The design of…

States of matter are structures that we may easily encounter in the universe as well as our close environment. The plasma state is the fourth state of matter, and it has much different properties in comparison to the solid, liquid and gas states of matter. In order to understand the universe and the environment we live in better, one needs to have…

In her current role as an adviser with Herts for Learning, the author finds that most of the support primary schools across the county have been asking for centres around assessment and ideas for making the new curriculum practical and "hands on". In this article, she outlines how she created resources to support assessment in science…

This study has two primary objectives. The first one is preparation of an efficient review book including a series of activities, which will help fourth grade students exercise what they learned in the elementary science course in a year. The second objective is examination of the prepared book in the framework of student and teacher opinions. In…

In the past, teaching has suffered from applying tentative research from neuroscience directly to the classroom. Even though the last decade has seen a step change in efforts to bring together education and neuroscience research, the dialogue is still in its infancy. What do you do if you want to learn more? What does the research really tell us?…

Science teaching and learning in the United States are at a pivotal point. "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012b) and the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"; NGSS Lead States 2013) shift science educators' focus from simply teaching science ideas to helping students figure out phenomena and…

Collaboration and synergy among education stakeholders is a fundamental pillar for any educational reform success. The reported research analyses the state of collaboration and work dynamics that existed between natural science district officials and primary school teachers in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Data were collected through…

This study investigated preservice elementary science teachers' (PSTs) informal reasoning regarding socioscientific issues (SSI), their epistemological beliefs, and the relationship between informal reasoning and epistemological beliefs. From several SSIs, nuclear power usage was selected for this study. A total of 647 Turkish PSTs enrolled in…

This experimental study was conducted in one public school in Trinidad with the aim of observing the effect of drama on the achievement and attitude towards science, of a group of upper primary school science students when taught a science unit. The experimental group was taught using drama-based instruction and activities while the control group…

This study focuses on the internal conditions of students' concept learning and builds a learning cycle' based on the "phases of the Moon" (MP) to, deepen students' understanding. The learning cycle of MP developed in this study includes three basic learning links, which are: cognitive conflict, abstraction and generalization, and…