This study presents an in-depth exploration of the types of discursive functions of teacher questioning and the potential cognitive correspondences embedded in the questioning. The participants were a science teacher and his class of 26 sixth-grade students who were engaged in an immersion science inquiry activity. The major data source was a…

Teachers' accurate understanding of Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) is crucial for the proper enactment of this pedagogical approach. In this research, a qualitative case study design was used to explore and interpret pre-service teachers' understanding of IBST at the conclusion of their three-year primary diploma at a university in…

A "digital explanation" is a science learning task where learners explain science content to non-expert others, in this case, the learners are primary preservice teachers [PST] in a science methods class. In the task, PST are assigned a prompt based on science content from the New South Wales K-6 syllabus and generate or source multiple…

In this response paper, we reflect upon the contributions of Gallard Martínez, Pitts, Brkich, and Ramos de Robles (this issue) in their manuscript "How does one recognize contextual mitigating factors (CMFs) as a basis to understand and arrive at better approaches to research designs" (EJ1257238) and elaborate the ways in which we work…

What better way to engage fifth-grade students in science and engineering practices than to use paper airplanes to encourage them to question, explore, create, and test designs! This multi-day unit draws from a fourth-grade curriculum (Pearson 2012) aligned with the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) used in…

This paper tells about the mental model of prospective scholars on the topic of temperature and heat. The purpose of this research is to improve students' mental model by using problem based learning (PBL) model. The number of samples in the study amounted to 72 students with two different classes. The results of the study showed that, (1) the…

The author has spent almost all his life working in and enthusing about primary science. From being a class teacher in the 1980s, to running Curioxity, a small hands-on science centre in Oxford, to lecturing trainee primary teachers at Oxford Brookes University and finally working with Science Oxford to help create their wonderful new Science…

This study aims to analyse the effects of science teaching practices supported by Web 2.0 tools on prospective elementary school teachers' perceptions of self-efficacy beliefs in using Web 2.0 tools. The study was conducted in pre test-post test quasi-experimental design with no control group, and it was supported with qualitative data. The…

Following a learning experience with one of her Year 2 students, whose extreme and challenging behavior required extra support from a teaching assistant (TA) but who loved practical hands-on science days and investigations, it occurred to the author that there must be hundreds of children and TAs all over the UK facing challenging dilemmas every…

Classroom discussion can help young children monitor their thinking and share their ideas in order to be understood (Donovan and Bransford 2005). Particularly for children who are not yet reading and writing independently, opportunities to discuss ideas can support engagement and sensemaking during science instruction (e.g., Wright and Gotwals…

We conducted a multi-year study of specialization in elementary mathematics and/or science, using data drawn from a local sample of teachers and a nationwide sample of principals. Using the theory of planned behavior, we compare and contrast teacher and principal views and decision-making processes related to elementary content specialization…

Teachers everywhere are embracing the challenge of conveying differences in literacy practices across fields of study. However, whereas disciplinary literacy and inquiry approaches are expanding in popularity at the secondary level, few resources exist for teaching discipline-specific writing in the elementary grades. The authors describe three…

In this article, a low-cost and pocket-sized setup for measuring CO[subscript 2] is presented. This setup is based on Arduinos, making it economic and open to modifications or improvements that satisfy other needs. It is composed of an Arduino board, a CO[subscript 2] sensor, an SD-card module, and a control panel. The device has been tested in…

This article describes a lesson rooted in "tinkering," an approach to learning that encourages the use of authentic, hands-on experience to develop an understanding of content and physical materials. There were several desired outcomes for this lesson. First, the authors felt that tinkering was an appropriate approach to investigating…

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…