This paper offers a synthesis of research evidence around teaching light to primary and secondary school pupils as part of the Institute of Physics Promoting and Interpreting Physics Education Research (PIPER) project. Conceptual change literature describes many of the difficulties young people can have understanding the phenomenon of light, and…

Interventions in out-of-school settings have been shown in previous studies to effectively increase students' science knowledge and motivation, with mixed results on whether they are more effective than teaching at school. In this study, we compared an out-of-school setting in a reptile and amphibian zoo (Landau, Germany) with a sequence of…

Background: In recent research, affective learning environments and affective support have been receiving increasing attention for their roles in stimulating students' learning outcomes. Despite its raising importance, little is known about affective support in educational contexts in developing countries. Moreover, international student…

Based on the cognitive-affective theory, the present study designed a science inquiry learning model, "predict-observe-explain" (POE), and implemented it in an app called "WhyWhy" to examine the effectiveness of students' science inquiry learning practice. To understand how POE can affect the cognitive-affective learning…

An important, but as yet unresolved pedagogical question is whether discovery-oriented or direct instruction methods lead to greater learning and transfer. We address this issue in a study with 101 fourth and fifth grade students that contrasts two distinct instructional methods. One is a blend of discovery and direct instruction called…

Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards requires developing elementary teacher content and pedagogical content knowledge of science and engineering concepts. Teacher preparation for this undertaking appears inadequate with little known about how in-service Mid-Atlantic urban elementary science teachers approach this task. The…

Changes in the National Curriculum for England in 2014 included the introduction of levers, gears, and pulleys into primary science. Although simple mechanisms had been part of the design and technology (DT) curriculum for some time, it was the first time that the science behind the mechanisms had been included at the primary school level. These…

The purpose of this study was to determine Primary Teacher Education (PTE) Trainees' perceptions regarding their preparedness to teach science in primary schools. A descriptive survey research design was used and stratified proportionate random sampling techniques used to select 177 males and 172 females. The study found out that more male trainee…

We report on research that explores students' literacy practices in six Norwegian primary school science classrooms during integrated science-literacy instruction. The study combines observational video data and interview data to examine students' encounters with and use of text, along with their views and experiences related to science and…

Many researchers have documented the difficulties for learners of different ages and preparations in understanding basic astronomical concepts. Traditional instructional strategies and communication media do not seem to be effective in producing meaningful understanding, or even induce misconceptions and misinterpretations. In line with recent…

In a classroom or take-home activity, students are challenged to write their name as a combination of chemical-element symbols and calculate "their" molar mass. Age-appropriate versions ranging from middle school to entry-level college classes are discussed. Acceptable molar-mass suggestions may be used in a competition for the heaviest…

The cause of day and night is a difficult concept to master without concrete foundational skills of understanding shadows, rotation, changing point of view, and relative positions of objects in the sky. This pretest-posttest experimental-control group study examined student learning in a science-literacy-spatial skills integrated unit with…

Underwater robots (or ROVs: Remotely Operated Vehicles as they are typically called in industry) have recently become a very popular instructional STEM activity. Nationally, ROVs have been used in science and technology classrooms for several years in cities such as Seattle, San Diego, Virginia Beach, and other coastal areas. In the past two…

From the perspective of teaching, the huge natural laboratory that astronomy provides constitutes the most prominent connection between astronomy and other branches of science. The purpose of this research was to provide educators with activities of observation using simple materials that were developed to facilitate the teaching of basic concepts…

This research is a study about the possibility to promote experimental design skills to elementary school pupils. Experimental design and the experiment process are foundational elements in current approaches to Science Teaching, as they provide learners with profound understanding about knowledge construction and science inquiry. The research was…