Research purposes and design: This study aimed to compare the effects of different explicit approaches used in modeling-based instruction on students' understanding of scientific models and modeling (USMM). In Study 1, a self-study approach was compared to a preliminary explicit approach. In Study 2, preliminary explicit approach and embedded…

The article focuses on the analysis of curriculum documents from Taiwan to investigate how benchmarks for learning nature of science (NOS) are positioned in different versions of the science curricula. Following a review of different approaches to the conceptualization of NOS and the role of NOS in promoting scientific literacy, an empirical study…

Socioscientific issues (SSI) related teaching may positively influence students' scientific epistemological beliefs (SEB). However, research is limited about elementary school students and the methods of web search. This study aimed to investigate Taiwanese sixth-graders' SEB and the impact of different web searches' information positions…

Abstract The 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has drawn a substantial amount of attention from science educators and educational policymakers because it marked the first time that PISA assessed students' ability to evaluate and design scientific inquiry using computer-based simulations. We undertook a secondary analysis…

This paper explores the convergence and divergence in the discourses and practices of comparative education in Japan, North America, and Greater China. Research demands, institutional settings, and social and historical background determine the nature of the research discussed and practiced in each place. Some particular patterns were identified…

The study aims to explore in-service teachers' epistemological beliefs about the following five critical paradigms in second language education and their corresponding practices: (1) inductive/deductive grammar instruction, (2) intensive/extensive reading, (3) looking up unknown words in the dictionary/guessing from context, (4) focusing on…

The purpose of this investigation was to examine, from a cross-cultural perspective, students' epistemological patterns of reasoning about socioscientific issues (SSI), and to identify potential interactions of cultural and scientific identity. Mediating factors associated with students' argumentation and discourse about SSI, as well as the…

This study introduces a learning environment integrating annotations with a dual-slide PowerPoint presentation for classroom learning. Annotation means a kind of additional information to emphasize the explanations for the learning objects. The use of annotations is to support the cognitive process for PowerPoint presentation in a classroom. The…

A model of curriculum development that enables students of architecture in the developing nation of Taiwan to draw on their own life experiences in formulating their own architectural education is proposed. Such an ideology recognizes that while education certainly includes the acquisition of the technical skills needed to ply one's trade, its…

Research about the relationship between teachers' scientific epistemological views (SEVs) and science instruction is often an important issue for many science educators. This study, by collecting research data from four Taiwanese science teachers, their students, and classroom observations, was carried out to examine the coherences between…

The cram school in Taiwan offers additional after-school instruction to enhance students' academic performance, and it provides a unique educational context to investigate students' perspectives toward learning. The purpose of this study was to explore 45 cram school students' (around 14 years old) conceptions of learning and learning science. The…

To meet the challenges of fast-paced globalization and a more demanding high-tech environment of the future, it is imperative to train students for equipping with relevant abilities and competencies, especially in online literacy and communication skills, and assist them to build correct technology attitude and belief. Student teachers'…

This paper reports the transition of the researcher's teaching before and throughout teaching innovation, including one year traditional teaching (1996) and three years constructivist teaching (1999-2001). Based on the constructivist view of learning, an innovative teaching program was designed and implemented by the author in a university physics…

Discusses Science-Technology-Society (STS) instruments as a promising means to help students progress towards constructivist-oriented epistemological views of science. (Author/CCM)