Assessments are usually thought of as ways for instructors to get information from students. In this work, we flip this perspective and explore how assessments communicate information to students. Specifically, we consider how assessments may provide information about what faculty and/or researchers think it means to know and do physics, i.e.,…

This article intends to show that the defense of "understanding" as one of the major goals of science education can be grounded on an anti-reductionist perspective on testimony as a source of knowledge. To do so, we critically revisit the discussion between Harvey Siegel and Alvin Goldman about the goals of science education, especially…

Drawing on theories from Applied Linguistics research, this doctoral dissertation brings together European perspectives on "language," "identity," and "voice" in an examination of English as the international language of science (EILS). Using the theoretical frame of Dynamic Systems Theory (DST), each of the chapters…

This study explores one teacher's instructional method for teaching life sciences using argumentation and argumentative writing rather than simple templates for writing claims and evidence. The microethnographic discourse analytic case study reported here included the teacher and 26 "advanced" eighth-grade students in a suburban middle…

Teachers are expected to update their instructional strategies. Teaching learning approaches and epistemological beliefs may affect teaching practices. The aim of this study is analyzing the relation of variables that effect epistemological beliefs and teaching learning approaches of teacher candidates on a statistical model. According to…

In the United Kingdom, education studies degree courses offer students with a range of career plans both inside and outside the formal education system, a chance to study the foundations of education. The disciplinary nature of education studies has been debated from a variety of theoretical perspectives. This article explores the usefulness of…

Mature epistemic beliefs underlie higher-order thinking and learning outcomes. Previous studies have established that epistemic beliefs predict task-specific performance. However, there is mixed evidence regarding the relationships between such beliefs and course-level academic performance. This study investigated whether disciplinary type ('soft'…

The integration of theory and practice constitutes an anchor of today's technical vocational education and training (T-VET) and a major determinant of professional development. Understanding such integration is expected to contribute to pedagogical advancement and to provide new research tools. Current knowledge on the epistemological roots of…

In recent years, research on students' scientific competencies has generated much discussion. According to the PISA 2015 Assessment and Analytical Framework, both scientific competencies and attitudes towards science -- interest in science, valuing scientific approaches to enquiry (or epistemological beliefs about science), and environmental…

This article focuses on students' discursive moves and reasoning practices while engaged in a task that requires making explanatory links between sickle cell disease and malaria. Both diseases pertain to key areas of the biology curriculum, namely, genetic variability and natural selection, and are connected to the theory of evolution of living…

This article proposes a theoretical framework for conceptualizing socioscientific decision making, reviews current research in this area, and intends to shed some light on the instructional design for the classroom implementation of socioscientific decision making. The framework involves 3 phases: formulate the decision-making space, posit a…

Our study is framed according to a transformational-sociocritical approach to an education for sustainable development (ESD) that, in particular, considers landscapes as learning contexts of potential use for fostering engagement in the areas of environmental protection and sustainable development. In keeping with this perspective, we surveyed…

It is a widely held view that students' epistemic beliefs influence the way they think and learn in a given context, however, in the science learning context, the relationship between sophisticated epistemic beliefs and success in scientific practice is sometimes ambiguous. Taking this inconsistency as a point of departure, we examined the…

It is necessary to realize widespread and effective implementation of philosophy for children (P4C) in teacher education. Learning the views of teacher candidates and identifying implementation-related difficulties can help determine the content of such education. Thus, thirty teacher candidates who participated in an elective P4C course were…

Students learn about science in a range of life contexts. Unfortunately, science classrooms are often disconnected from the ways of knowing about science that are embedded in, and embodied by, the life experiences of students. Drama has been identified as a potential means by which deeper understandings of the nature of science can be derived and…