Teaching primary science through inquiry offers a number of benefits including developing pupils' science skills, progressing thinking skills and personal capabilities, and making science relevant to children's everyday experience. Ensuring that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are fully confident and competent in teaching inquiry-based science (IBS)…

Ample studies have confirmed that the concepts of Community of Practice and Lesson Study can effectively develop professional development, especially in the design of learning. This positive impact on learners is also evident. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the results that occurred with students who learned from teachers who used…

The Teacher Assessment in Primary Science (TAPS) Focused Assessment approach embeds assessment within normal classroom science activities. Essentially, a Focused Assessment is a lesson plan for a science inquiry, with an identified focus for assessment and guidance on how to interpret the children's responses in relation to expectations for that…

The role of virtual simulations in the evolution of primary school students' mental models about electrostatics is investigated by analysing the answers of two groups of 9-10 years old pupils inside instructional sequences that combine two hands-on activities using balloons and jackets with the same activities using PhET simulations: one group…

This paper examines the pedagogical practices in three case studies of elementary science lessons that took place in classrooms or laboratories to make connections to the discourse about inclusivity in science teaching. Using the Singapore Teaching Practice as a reference, we analyzed the pedagogical practices enacted during three lessons where…

This article reports outcomes from a working conference focused on the role of simulations in K-12 mathematics and science teacher education. The authors synthesized work shared via conference papers and presentations organized around three questions: (a) How are simulations defined and used? (b) How do simulations work? and (c) What evidence is…

In inquiry-based science lessons teachers face the challenge of adhering to curricular goals while simultaneously following students' intuitive understandings. Improvisation (improv) provides a useful frame for understanding teaching in these inquiry-based contexts. This paper builds from prior work that uses improv as a metaphor for teaching to…

The purpose of this study is to use the matrix laser teaching aids to teach in the moon observation unit to explore the effectiveness of science learning of elementary school students. The subjects of the study were 367 fourth-grade students in an elementary school in New Taipei City, including 154 students in the experimental group and 213…

This study utilizes the meta-analysis method described by Timulak (Psychother Res 19(4-5):591-600, 2009) to create a more cohesive understanding of culturally responsive (CR) science teaching for in-service science teachers. Through the lens of Critical Race Theory, this study explores two questions: (1) What common themes emerge in studies…

This research is based on an approach that looks at cross-cultural research design as a "lens" for a deeper understanding of what goes on in the classroom. The research question is how a cross-cultural study like this one can lead to identifying the cultural script of teaching and help educators reflect on their practice. In this…

Electromagnetism, along with mechanics, is one of the most fundamental disciplines in physics, and the magnetic force is one of the most easily accessible forces existing in nature. Magnets are often used as science teaching aids and are readily available from a young age; the forces of these magnets are first dealt with in NGSS (Next Generation…

In this article, Nicky Bolton describes how she devised an approach that would encourage both experienced and newly qualified and trainee teachers to approach outdoor learning confidently. The challenge was to enable every teacher to view the outdoors as an effective learning. She called this model 'Bucket School' and initially developed the…

The concept of productive failure posits that a problem-solving phase prior to explicit instruction is more effective than explicit instruction followed by problem-solving. This prediction was tested with Year 5 primary school students learning about light energy efficiency. Two, fully randomised, controlled experiments were conducted. In the…

All teachers know that the opening few minutes of any lesson can be the critical part. It is the chance to set the scene, to establish order and sense of purpose, to enthuse and grab attention and perhaps to establish boundaries. It launches the learning. Bob Kibble discusses ways of setting out the shape and direction of lessons without using a…

The call to raise educational standards in the UK has a particular focus on the underachievement of pupils attending schools facing challenging socioeconomic circumstances. In 2017 the Education Policy Institute (UK) reported that the most disadvantaged pupils in England are on average over 2 years of learning behind non-disadvantaged pupils by…