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This study explored the interplay between science teachers' pedagogical beliefs, scientific evidence, and diversity. This study adopts a sociocultural view of science that views science as a cultural way of knowing, and acknowledges that it is laden with cultural understandings, interpretations, and a language of its own. This paper reports findings derived from qualitative data including interviews and journal field notes observations. The interview sample comprised seven primary school science teachers and nine secondary science teachers. The findings indicated that there was a reliance on dialogic teaching strategies to teach for the school science agenda, but not for the diversity agenda. The findings show that teachers used evidence pedagogy through using their dialogic pedagogy which act as mechanisms to avoid confronting and dealing with diversity, or with the diverse students' concerns. Teachers use these dialogic pedagogies as a 'teacher-led dialogues' tool. Conclusions from the study argue that science teachers need a clear sense of their own views of science in their cultural context in order to be able to understand those of their students and to engage with these views and enhance the use of the dialogic pedagogy by integrating these cultural beliefs into the science discourse.

Understanding secondary student attitudes towards science (SAS) is important if we are to increase the number and diversity of students who pursue STEM fields and address the gender imbalance in STEM careers. Existing studies that measured SAS tended to directly translate an ordinal scale (e.g., from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree') into a set of linear scores (e.g. 5 for strongly agree and 1 for strongly disagree). We suggest that SAS constructs need to be calibrated on an interval scale in order to be meaningfully quantified. We propose the use of Rasch measurement where SAS constructs can be ranked according to their prevalence as SAS measurements. This paper implemented Rasch measurement to examine how Chinese boys and girls perceived different aspects of physics. A total of 495 boys and 490 girls from five secondary schools in Hong Kong participated in this study. An invariance analysis of SAS constructs important to boys and girls were found to have shown a similar hierarchy and that there are gender differences with respect to some but not all construct items. Main findings on how Asian boys and girls perceived physics, its implications and recommendations focusing on possible strategies to encourage girls to study physics are discussed.

Context-based learning (CBL) has influenced teaching and learning science in many countries over the past decades. Twelve years ago, a special issue on CBL was published in this Journal, focusing on CBL curriculum development. Seven papers in this current special issue on CBL now address the question of how a context influences the learning process. The papers focus on the stimulation of learning STEM subjects within contexts, how the learning process occurs and is enhanced, and the application of contexts in different settings. The approaches, results, and implications of the papers are located in a larger view that considers the question of what must be the case if a student not only engages in the tasks of learning but also succeeds at them. Concerning willingness and effort by learners, the papers draw conclusions about which STEM-related interests of students endure and are ephemeral across a decade, design criteria for maximising students’ situational interest, and students’ engagement with content and context simultaneously. Focusing on the opportunity to teach and learn, the papers reveal how a professional development approach functions to support STEM teachers to develop CBL materials, and how specific scaffolding acts in teaching bring students to more complex reasoning. Regarding good teaching, insights are offered on how metacognitive prompts improve teaching. Centring on the social surround that supports teaching and learning, a comparison of two contexts for teaching the same content reveals which aspects of the contexts move student learning forward. From this mapping, paths toward future research are projected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If students are to acquire deep learning in science, they need to know about the nature of science (NOS), particularly not only the cognitive-epistemic but also the social-institutional aspects of NOS. In this paper, we investigate the content of the Norwegian science curriculum in order to establish how NOS is represented, in particular to the social-institutional aspects of NOS, which have been reported to be underemphasised in science curricula from different parts of the world. We use the Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) to NOS as the theoretical and analytical framework to investigate the science curriculum from Norway where there is a history of emphasising the values human dignity, identity and cultural diversity as well as respect for nature and environmental awareness. The findings show that the dominating aspects of NOS in the science curriculum are scientific practices and social values. The observation about the prominence of social values of science is in sharp contrast to comparable analyses, suggesting a particular orientation to NOS that considers the human element in the Norwegian science curriculum. Implications for science curriculum reform and future studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against a backdrop of advocacy for interdisciplinary STEM curricula, this paper explores the design principles underpinning a three-year longitudinal research project that develops and evaluates interdisciplinary mathematics and science learning sequences involving multiple teachers and student cohorts across the primary school years. The research uses design-based methodology and deploys a pedagogical cycle based on representation construction and model-based reasoning, reflecting core disciplinary processes, and aimed at foundational concepts. The interdisciplinary structure of sequences in different topics, teacher pedagogy, and student reasoning and learning are illustrated through analysis of three learning sequence vignettes. In these topics both mathematical learning (measure, data modelling and spatial reasoning) and science learning (concepts and practices), were reinforced and enriched through the interdisciplinary framing. Drawing on notes of teacher planning and review meetings, coupled with classroom data, we identify (a) the conceptual and curricular design features through which mathematics and science can synergistically interweave, (b) the epistemological design challenges involved in working with teachers to achieve this interdisciplinary alignment, and (c) the key pedagogical design features that emerged to support this integration. The research contributes to conceptualising how interdisciplinary processes that enable synergistic interweaving of mathematics and science content and processes can be effectively framed and enacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socio-scientific decision-making necessitates reasoning from multiple perspectives and the use of trade-offs. This study examines how students decide on socio-scientific issues when they engage in an instructional intervention to enhance their socio-scientific decision-making towards consensus building that, in this study, emphasises generating solutions to resolve issues. We developed a socio-scientific issue-based unit for non-science undergraduate students focusing on an intervention that enhances their socio-scientific decision-making around issues regarding a genetically modified organism. Our intervention focused on consensus building wherein students identified multiple conflicts among various stakeholders' opinions and proposed solutions to resolve them. In particular, students considered the trade-offs of science and technology. This paper presents the results from two intervention studies in which 12 and 49 non-science undergraduate students participated. To confirm that the participants of each study achieved the goal of the curriculum unit, we analysed the solutions students collaboratively constructed at the end of the unit (Analysis 1). We then used a pre- and post-intervention approach to assess students' independent decision-making (Analysis 2). During the curriculum unit, we assigned students an essay-writing task twice and investigated the quality of their decisions. A comparison of the pre- and post-tests revealed a general shift towards higher-level responses after the intervention. Students' arguments on socio-scientific issues changed from justificatory arguments to proposals for solutions. These findings demonstrated that the instruction promoted students' socio-scientific decision-making towards consensus building. Finally, we discuss the implications for socio-scientific issue instruction and the evaluation of students' decision-making as well as provide suggestions for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Australian schools have become increasingly multilingual, with students needing targeted support to develop academic English, yet also bringing rich linguistic and cultural resources to the classroom. Policymakers have recognised the critical role of identifying and describing the language and literacy demands in all disciplines, highlighting an essential role for pre-service teacher training. This article presents various components of teacher learning made available to 11 Australian science pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled in a Masters language and literacy course, which included a practicum component and explicit training in elements of translanguaging pedagogy. It analyses the ways in which the training contributed to PSTs' developing scientific pedagogical language knowledge. In doing so, it charts their emerging professional identities as teachers as they are trained to analyse core scientific content for opportunities to provide targeted language and literacy support, as well as their growing understanding of the diversity of language and literacy strengths and challenges faced by their multilingual learners. Furthermore, this paper outlines PSTs' evolving self-reflection as they come to assume responsibility for their students' language and literacy development as a key way of facilitating their access to scientific curriculum content knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'experiment' is used in different ways to mean different things in school science. This study examines the meanings of 'experiment' and how they have changed in the intended chemistry curriculum (ICC) in China since the early 1950s. A mixed methodology was adopted to analyse the 11 ICC documents from a socio-historical perspective. The qualitative analysis identifies four meanings of 'experiment' in these various documents: (1) subject content, (2) pedagogy, (3) scientific processes, and (4) inquiry. The quantitative analysis shows that the frequency of two meanings of 'experiment', subject content and pedagogy, has decreased while two other ones, scientific processes and inquiry, has experienced an upward trend during the period under study. While analysing five typical ICCs in different decades, it was found that the distribution of the four meanings of 'experiment' in these ICC documents has become more balanced from the past to the present. Moreover, explanations are provided for the changing tendencies and the distributions of the four meanings of 'experiment' in the social contexts of China. The implications for science curriculum development, science teacher development, and future research are discussed in the last part of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates the use of simulation-based performance assessment (PA) methodology in a recent study of eighth-grade students’ understanding of physical science concepts. A set of four simulation-based PA tasks were iteratively developed to assess student understanding of an array of physical science concepts, including net force, acceleration, velocity, and inertia. Illustrative examples drawn from the administration of these simulation-based PA tasks to a sample of eighth-grade students (n = 74) highlight the potential of simulation-based tasks for revealing conceptual understanding of science concepts and for informing curriculum development within the context of design-based implementation research. The paper also describes a variety of challenges encountered over the course of the development, administration, and analysis of the PA data that may be informative for researchers and educators as they consider implementing simulation-based PAs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we explore how students' engagement varies in different STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning environments. More specifically, we focus on the significance of a learning environment applying an integrated STEM (iSTEM) approach and the significance of STEM learning environments' student-centredness. Moreover, we explore the relative importance of different student-centred principles (lesson plan and implementation, communicative interactions, student-teacher relationships) for students' engagement in the STEM learning environment. Applying a mixed-method approach, we draw from observational data of 24 STEM lessons in combination with data from seven focus groups with 67 grade 9 students. The quantitative findings, based on the observational data, show that a learning environment applying an iSTEM approach seems to support students' engagement. Further investigation made it clear that the student-centredness in this learning environment is especially significant. Regarding the specific student-centred principles, all principles had a significant impact on students' engagement. The focus group data make clear that, besides student-centredness, the integrative aspect and the use of authentic real-world problems in iSTEM can also be engaging for students. These results indicate that iSTEM is a good practice to engage students in the STEM learning environment, as it facilitates teachers' implementation of a general student-centred approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical reasoning and tools are intrinsic to science, yet the close and dependent relationship science has to mathematics is not reflected in either school education or science education research. This paper asks what the barriers are to a mutually beneficial relationship between the two disciplines. A two-phase qualitative interview study was used to explore the relationship between school science and mathematics education through the perspectives of science and mathematics education policy-makers and of teachers in departments which are unusual in collaborating. In total there were 36 participants. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings show that there is an asymmetry in the dependency between school science and mathematics: science is dependent on mathematics but the reverse is not true. We discuss three consequences of this asymmetric dependency: there is greater benefit for science from any collaboration; 'maths blame' can arise from science teacher frustration; and science educators may believe they should have some ownership of the mathematics curriculum. Asymmetry of dependency, and therefore of benefit, will make it very difficult for mathematics and science to work together in a way which is genuinely mutually beneficial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Written in response to criticism of our work by Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, this position paper reaffirms and reinforces our position about the need to broaden and enrich the scope of nature of science (NOS) oriented curricula by exposing students to the voices of practising scientists. While Abd-El-Khalick's motivation for promoting the so-called consensus view of NOS is rooted in issues of assessment (or ‘benchmarking', as he calls it), we argue that the major reason for teaching about NOS is its contribution to what Shen calls civic and cultural scientific literacy. We are critical of the consensus view for its philosophical naivety, failure to reflect contemporary scientific practice and potential for confusing students, and we re-state our view that it is important to expose students to a diversity of practice among the sub-disciplines of science. We argue that richer NOS understanding and a more authentic view of scientific practice can be achieved through direct and indirect contact with scientists at the cutting edge of research and development, which we characterise as learning about scientists, learning from scientists and learning with scientists. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Senior pre-university education (SPE) students experience difficulties applying mathematics to physics. This paper reports the outcome of an online explorative quantitative study of teachers' belief systems about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics, conducted among 503 mathematics and physics teachers working in SPE. We used a questionnaire with 16 beliefs about improving transfer, and asked teachers to select a top 5 and distribute 50 points among them. We used agglomerative hierarchical clustering to cluster qualified SPE teachers with more than 10 years of teaching experience. We found 3 large clusters, each containing naïve and desirable beliefs about transfer. These clusters turned out to be rather coherent sets of beliefs. Hence, these clusters can be interpreted as belief systems, to a certain extent justifying Ernest's [(1991). The philosophy of mathematics education. London: Falmer.] idea to cluster teachers based on their belief systems. We found relations between our groups and those of Ernest. Since naïve beliefs turn out to be weak in each cluster, science teacher educators can help science teachers to change their harmful naïve beliefs, into desirable transfer enhancing beliefs. Furthermore, we discuss some implications of our results for science teacher educators, curricula, teachers and textbooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges of context-based science education is to construct high quality teaching materials. This paper presents results from a study investigating the heuristic value of an activity-based instructional framework for transformation of authentic scientific practices for use in the science classroom, in line with cultural historic activity theory (CHAT). The activity-based instructional framework was used to transform the authentic practice of Modelling Human Exposure and Uptake of Chemicals in Consumer Products into a curriculum unit. The transformation was conducted by experienced chemistry teachers well informed about CHAT. The heuristic value was judged on criteria completeness, instructiveness and appreciation. Collected data are designed curriculum materials and a focus group interview. Analysis of the designed curriculum materials indicated that the framework was highly complete and instructive, except for evoking reflection in students. Most important, the framework proved successful in operationalising CHAT into concrete guidelines for educational design. Additionally, the results show that the instructional framework is highly appreciated by the users. Further development of such instructional frameworks is important, since it fosters the construction of high quality context-based curriculum materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study examines how material resistance (limitations posed by the physical world) and graph interpretation intersected during a high school biology investigation using digital sensors. We use an extended episode from a small group to illustrate how, in an inquiry-based unit, measuring near the resolution limit of a sensor caused scaling issues in graphs. Qualitative videotape analysis focuses on both the students' attempts to make sense of a perceived lack of variation in the collected data and the teacher's and classroom researchers' misinterpretation of the students' difficulties with graph interpretation. We suggest that these educators, though experienced, could have benefited from additional strategies to help them recognise and respond to graph interpretation issues introduced by digital representations of real-world data, and that the students could have benefited from explicit prompts to discuss the limitations of their equipment. We describe several implications for researchers, teachers, and curriculum developers interested in implementing inquiry-based biology investigations using sensor data. We argue that students should be supported to recognise that encountering unexpected results from their investigations and working to understand what these results have to say about the real world is an important and valid part of the practice of real science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a phenomenological lens, we investigated how online curriculum resources can support secondary science teachers to explore contemporary science practices with their students. The research used a social constructivist theoretical and a hermeneutic phenomenology methodological framework to describe and interpret the teacher/participants' experience. Seven participants teaching science to Year 7–10 students (12–15 years old) engaged in the research project, trialling selected contemporary science resources in their class. Pre and post intervention interviews were conducted with each participant along with classroom observations of one lesson to view aspects of the effectiveness of the resource, the teachers' approach and their perceptions of student learning and engagement. Discussion focuses on how the online curriculum resources presented alternative views about science in practice to what students expect, providing an in-depth view of scientists and their research practices in varied settings. Affordances of this approach for bringing real science into the classroom and for improving student engagement and learning are considered. The findings point to the approach being potentially a productive, scalable way forward for introducing contemporary science practice into classrooms. We advocate further research investigating the potential of this type of online curriculum resource to connect students more powerfully with scientists and their practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A curriculum is generally regarded as an instructional plan that describes what, why and how students should learn. In this comparative study, we analysed the Czech and Slovak intended curricula of science subjects (physics, chemistry, biology, geography, and geology) and mathematics by comparing their national curriculum documents in terms of learning outcomes at the lower secondary level (ISCED level 2). Our analysis showed significant differences in the number of obligatory learning outcomes, which were much higher in the Slovak curriculum than in the Czech curriculum. The structure of these outcomes also differed across subjects and between countries. Nevertheless, the cognitive demands of the learning outcomes analysed using the revised Bloom's taxonomy were similar in the two countries, but metacognitive knowledge and higher-level cognitive processes were rarely represented in either. Additionally, by inductive content analysis of the Slovak curriculum document, we identified two significant groups of cross-curricular requirements, namely outcomes related to scientific inquiry and outcomes requiring working with information. Overall, these learning outcomes are underrepresented in both analysed documents (particularly in the Czech document) even though the skills that these outcomes develop are in high demand in the current context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' practices and interactions with curriculum materials are influenced by a host of factors, which include their values. The mechanisms of this influence may benefit from elucidation. Here, we describe a case of a teacher enacting an inquiry-based learning unit (LU) as part of a school science enrichment programme. The teacher's interactions with the LU appear to be influenced by her self-stated idea of giving students 'freedom'. We track these influences through the course of the teacher's planning, enactment, and reflection of the LU. Because of how 'freedom' guides her actions, we argue that it serves the function of a value. Furthermore, we contend that the teacher's commitment to 'freedom' represents an exercise of her deliberative agency. This commitment to 'freedom' is supported by her interactions with her context, which include labelling of her preliminary ideas with the term 'freedom', being asked to choose between curriculum materials, reflective conversations with the researcher, and reframing the site of enactment. We also describe challenges that the teacher faces with respect to student guidance, resulting from her commitment to 'freedom'. From this work, we suggest implications for the design of curriculum materials and teacher professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food, cooking, and eating are commonly used as contexts or legitimations to teach and communicate science. However, for teaching to have contextual credibility, the relationship between subject and context is a relevant area of study. The present contribution describes an analysis of curricula from three Nordic countries shedding light on conditions for interdisciplinarity and/or curricular integration between the subjects science/chemistry on the one side, and home economics on the other. A two-phase documentary analysis was conducted on curricula from Finland, Norway, and Sweden from 2006 to 2020, revealing substantial potential for interdisciplinary collaboration and/or curricular integration. This is seen both in common declarative knowledge content ('declarative knowledge overlap') and, more interestingly, meeting points between subject-dependent practices and ways of thinking ('transfer of practices and ways of thinking'). The second inductive phase produced 11 themes common to the subjects. Possibilities and challenges are discussed in relation to the subjects' epistemologies and ontologies, as well as practitioners' competencies, attitudes, and creativity for subject boundary-crossing. Consequently, we conceptualise teachers' roles as lying in the span between 'teacher as polymath' and 'teacher as collaborator'. The present work also provides a instrument for exploring curricular conditions for interdisciplinarity between subjects on a more general basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of the science module which was designed using the problem-based learning method on the basis of the Integrated Curriculum Model and applied in the blended learning environment on the scientific reasoning and scientific process skills of gifted students. The study was carried out with 9 gifted 5th grade students studying in an institution that provides support education for the gifted in Turkey. The case study method was used in the study which lasted 8 weeks. The science module was implemented in a blended learning environment. Qualitative data were obtained through reflective diaries and semi-structured interview form. In addition to the qualitative method, a single group pre-test post-test experimental design was used as a quantitative method, quantitative data were obtained with the 'Scientific Process Skills Test' and 'Lawson Scientific Reasoning Test' and analyzed with a statistical program. In the research findings, it was observed that there was a significant difference in favour of the post-test in the pre-test and post-test scores. The students stated that they used reasoning in identifying a problem in the activities, thinking about ways to solve the problem, and developing a design for the solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a model-based notion of ‘submicro representations of chemical reactions’. Based on three structural models of matter (the simple particle model, the atomic model and the free electron model of metals), we suggest there are two major models of reaction in school chemistry curricula: (a) reactions that are simple rearrangements of particles, where particles are the most basic units of rearrangement and do not change their identity in the reactions, and (b) reactions involving the interactions of chemical species with – depending on the type of reaction – electrons and protons. In the latter case, chemical species change their identities/structures in reactions; for example, atoms become ions. Based on these two models, we analysed how 18 Grade 10–11 students mentally visualised the reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid. Each student was interviewed twice – once after they were taught the reactions of acids and once after they learned about redox. Their visualisations could be fitted into these two models. There was a developmental trend among the students, who progressed from the simple model to the more sophisticated model. None of the students regressed. Curriculum planning and teaching should consider how students should be helped to learn about different reaction models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the nature of science (NOS) is an important goal of science education, and textbooks are a key factor in shaping students' conceptions of NOS. In this study, we analysed NOS represented in middle school chemistry textbooks in the Chinese mainland. The selected materials were three most commonly adopted textbook series, which were published in 2001, 2001, and 2012. The analysis was conducted from 11 aspects – empirical, inferential, creative, theory-driven, tentative, myth of 'the scientific method', scientific theories, scientific laws, social dimensions of science, social and cultural embeddedness of science, limitations of science – to determine the distribution of different representation types (explicit-informed, implicit-informed, implicit-naïve, and explicit-naïve) in each NOS aspect in each textbook series. Textbook analysis results indicated that each textbook series had mixed conceptions of NOS and most NOS representations were informed and implicit. The frequencies of NOS representations in the selected textbook series were roughly identical; however, the last two textbook series had relatively higher error rates than the first one. Moreover, there was an overall imbalance in the representations of NOS aspects. Our findings, combined with previous studies, were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for robust, empirically-validated conceptualisations of teachers' attitudes towards teaching science, with a view to understand how these might explain their intention to teach science. The Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Science (DAS) theoretical framework suggests that cognitive, affective and perceived control dimensions of teachers' professional attitudes may be related to their behavioural intention to teach science. While the DAS framework has been employed in numerous studies investigating the attitudes of preservice and inservice teachers, its efficacy remains mostly unknown. The current study employed a cross-sectional survey research design to investigate the question, to what extent does the DAS theoretical framework explain primary preservice teachers' intention to prioritise teaching science in their future practice? Early childhood and primary preservice teachers (n = 250) at an Australian university completed the DAS instrument prior to completing a science curriculum unit. Structural equation modelling revealed inadequate/poor model fit across multiple indices. Perceived relevance of science education and enjoyment teaching science were statistically significant predictors of preservice teachers' intention to prioritise teaching science, whereas other attitudinal constructs from the framework were not significant in this research. These findings warrant further attention to theories of behaviour and behaviour change in science education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many recent curriculum reforms recognise the value of history of science (HOS) in science teaching, in-depth investigations into teachers' experiences of planning HOS-based science lessons have been rare. We present a case study of two groups of preservice science teachers (PSTs) who collaboratively planned high school science lessons using HOS. The research aims were to understand what design issues arose and how they unfolded as each group planned the lesson. A design issue arises when group members dispute over a topic related to lesson planning and there is a need for decision making. We identified several major design issues around selecting a suitable history, adapting history, teaching a topic with no correct answer, balancing science and history, and empathising with people from the past, which manifested differently across the two groups. PSTs' reflections suggested that the collaborative planning experience helped them understand the limitations of content-focused pedagogical methods in planning HOS-based lessons and recognise various ways HOS can be used to enrich science teaching. The study sheds light on some challenges of planning an unfamiliar type of science lesson and how a collaborative planning experience can create opportunities to broaden PSTs' knowledge of science instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to solve authentic real-world problems in science, engineering, and medicine is an important goal in post-secondary education. Despite extensive research on problem solving and expertise, the teaching and assessing of advanced problem-solving skills in post-secondary students remains a challenge. We present a template for creating assessments of advanced problem-solving skills that is applicable across science, engineering, and medical disciplines. It is based on a cognitive model of the problem-solving process that is empirically grounded in the study of skilled practitioners ('experts') solving authentic problems in their disciplines. These assessments have three key features that overcome shortcomings of current assessment approaches: 1) a more authentic amount and sequence of information provided, 2) opportunities for students to make decisions, and 3) scoring based on comparison with skilled practitioners. This provides a more complete and accurate assessment of authentic problem-solving skills than currently exists for science, engineering, and medicine. Such assessments will be valuable to instructors and curriculum designers for evaluating and improving the teaching of problem solving in these disciplines. We provide examples of problem-solving assessments that illustrate the use of this template in several disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of climate change means that school education is more important than ever in preparing young people for an uncertain future. The focus of this research is climate change education and its status in the compulsory middle school years (approximately years 7–10) across six countries (Australia, Israel, Finland, Indonesia, Canada and England). The authors investigated formal published national curriculum documents, specifically science and geography, to determine the presence of climate change topics, and the way they are addressed in these subjects. The key findings are that: (1) the term 'climate change' appears in the formal curriculum of all six countries in science or geography; (2) approaches to climate change in the curriculum differ substantially across different countries; (3) climate change is often presented as a context, example or elaboration for other science concepts rather than a discrete topic; (4) the presence of climate change in most curriculum documents is scattered and spread over multiple years and (5) knowledge about causes of climate change predominates over action and behavioural changes. These findings raise questions as to whether current school curricula provide sufficient guidance for teachers to develop students' understandings, skills and values regarding climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school context, like other influences, affects the development of students' epistemic beliefs (EBs), with theoretical conceptualizations suggesting a distinction between EBs related to professional and school science. However, empirical studies rarely address this distinction, and instruments separately assessing these EBs are not available. We address this research gap by providing a new questionnaire that is based on the established instrument by Conley et al. (2004) and which uses pairs of analogous items referring to the contexts of professional and school science. We succeeded in simultaneously assessing students' EBs with reliable scales that allow for direct comparisons. Cross-sectional data is reported from a cohort study (N = 405) in grades 6 (n = 132), 8 (n = 167) and 10 (n = 106) that showed higher agreement with the scales related to professional science as well as higher agreement in higher grade levels. We further discuss methodological aspects of scale-formation, and highlight promising implementations of our questionnaire that future research could benefit from. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores teacher discretion in the context of the English 2014 science curriculum and assessment reforms. The study positions primary and secondary school science teachers as "street-level bureaucrats" in which they are not just mere implementers of policy but instead pivotal actors with much agency. Through the analysis of questionnaire and interview data drawn from a sample of 26 science teachers in England, this empirical research advances our understanding of teachers' discretionary decision-making considering policy change and reform. The findings indicate that discretion varied, not simply between the secondary and primary sectors, but within each key stage. With the introduction of the new curriculum, secondary teachers expressed higher levels of autonomy and more discretion teaching key stage 3 than with key stage 4 and key stage 5. Despite this, we argue that it has become more difficult for teachers to circumvent the "rules" associated with the attainment measures in the ways that were previously possible. We conclude that the embodiment of teachers as street-level bureaucrats is not perfect as the boundaries around teacher's discretion and decision-making are heavily dependent on the school and national policy context, but it remains a useful theory in advancing our understanding of teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the use of field trips for educational and teaching purposes by French kindergarten, primary-school teachers and natural science teachers in secondary schools. More specifically, we studied field trips in a natural environment by undertaking a French curriculum analysis and surveying teachers. We examined the responses of 511 teachers about their practices and motivations, as well as the levers and barriers to implementing these field trips. Results showed that this practice is widespread at all years of education, and differences between years seem to be related to the curriculum. We found few differences in learning motivations (reasons/objectives and interests/specific feature) and perceived barriers between different school teachers. Indeed, the teachers' motivations are essentially scientific and rooted in a scientific inquiry approach. Studying 'on real' was the interest most often cited by teachers, essentially for the purpose of scientific learning. The only notable difference we found concerns the levers for implementing the field trips: a larger proportion of kindergarten and primary-school teachers see field trips as an ideal support for environmental and sustainable development educations. These results are dependant of the French official curriculum which plays a key role in influencing the current implementation of school-organised field trips by the teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of explicit nature of science (NOS) instruction and explicit argumentation instruction in socioscientific and scientific contexts, on students' NOS conceptions and their argumentation skills. Undergraduate students enrolled in two sections of a science content course were assigned into two groups: Socioscientific Issues-SSI group and Scientific group. The intervention involved two stages for the explicit instruction of NOS and argumentation. In the first stage, NOS and argumentation were taught through activities and tasks for both groups. The second stage was different for the two groups, and it involved engaging participants with argumentation and NOS through SSI scenarios for the SSI group and scientific scenarios for the Scientific group. Data collection included responses to pre- and post-administration of two open-ended questionnaires as well as semi-structured interviews. Results indicated that students in SSI group mostly showed more improvement in their argumentation skills than students in Scientific group in response to SSI scenarios. As for NOS, results indicated that students in the SSI group showed more improvement in their NOS conceptions than students in the Scientific group when responding to SSI scenarios. Yet there was mostly little difference in improvement between two groups when responding to the science topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed methods study explores college biology students' perceptions of the utility of evolution knowledge. In Phase I, 14 college biology students from an upper-level Evolution course were interviewed about their evolution acceptance and perceptions of the utility of evolutionary knowledge. In Phase II, findings from Phase I were used to develop a 28-item quantitative Usefulness of Evolution Knowledge Survey. Then, 472 college biology students enrolled in three biology courses were given the Usefulness of Evolution Knowledge survey to identify (1) evolution topics that have the highest utility value for evolution learners, (2) careers for which evolution knowledge is deemed most useful, and (3) relationships among evolution utility value and other constructs. The most useful evolutionary topics were genetic variation and adaptations of particular organisms to particular environments. Evolutionary knowledge was deemed most useful for conservation careers, with less utility for medical and forensic careers, and far less utility for careers in physics or chemistry. Significant relationships were found between perceptions of the usefulness of evolution and evolution acceptance, understanding of evolution, and intended career. Findings are discussed within the framework of the Expectancy Value Theory, and implications for future pedagogical interventions and associated research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the analysis of the Italian physics curriculum documents in terms of the coverage of nature of science (NOS). NOS is not explicitly presented as part of the Italian high-school physics curriculum. The article focuses on analysing the implicit aspects of the curriculum documents. The Family Resemblance Approach (FRA) to NOS was used as an analytical lens. FRA was chosen because of the broad range of categories that it provides to trace curriculum content. Curriculum documents were analysed using the FRA categories as well as an Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA) which has shown important limitations in the FRA categories 'Political Power Structures, Scientific Ethos, Professional Activities'. These aspects of NOS belong to the social-institutional aspects of the FRA framework. There were also some inconsistencies between the general section and the specific sections of the curriculum. The study elaborates on how FRA and ENA can be used to analyse NOS content in a science curriculum. The epistemic networks provide concrete illustrations of where curriculum revision can best be carried out to promote underrepresented aspects of NOS. Implications for future research and recommendations for curriculum reform internationally are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal research examines the knowledge of, beliefs about, and planned use of the science practices of five novice elementary or primary teachers during their science methods course, student teaching, and first year of teaching. To answer our research questions, we collected lesson plans and conducted interviews after the teachers taught science lessons, and we coded these data sources for science practices and sub-practices. We found that the novice elementary teachers assumed a wide range of purposes for using the science practices in their classroom. For example, they emphasised the practices' cross-curricular nature as well as how the practices can engage students in real science. In reference to the use of the science practices in their plans, there were aspects of the practices where the novice teachers' planned practice did not yet match their understanding or beliefs. For instance, the novice teachers knew that reasoning is a part of science explanations, but there was little evidence of this element of Explanation and Argumentation in their plans. This work adds to the field's understanding of how novice elementary teachers use multiple science practices in planning to engage their students in sensemaking, and has implications for elementary science teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing and interpreting controlled experiments are important inquiry skills addressed in many current science curricula. The relevant skills associated with the design and interpretation of controlled experiments are summarised under the term control-of-variables strategy (CVS). Research on elementary school students' CVS skills shows that they have basic conceptions of CVS, as they can correctly identify controlled experiments to test given hypotheses and can interpret the results of controlled experiments. However, they perform poorly when they have to plan experiments and interpret confounded experiments. Furthermore, previous research has identified eight misleading preconceptions regarding CVS that cause invalid experimental designs, called design errors. The current study investigates the occurrence and change of design errors during elementary school and their consistency over different tasks. Via a latent class analysis (LCA), we identified three distinct patterns of design errors: (1) correct CVS understanding, (2) change of too many variables and (3) non-contrastive experiments. Our results show that many students as low as grade two have a basic understanding of CVS and that occurring design errors are associated with limited metaconceptual knowledge about when and why to apply CVS. We discuss possible implications of our findings for teaching CVS and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this mixed method study, we analyse the effectiveness of two pedagogical approaches – one model-based and another non-model-based – for developing secondary students' understanding of the phenomenon of increase in Earth's average surface temperatures, a core dimension of global climate change (GCC). Building on past research on teaching and learning about Earth's climate, we use an Evidence-Based Reasoning framework to assess student tasks and interviews from a 3-week, project-developed, model-based curriculum. We observed that the use of a climate model allowed students to reason more effectively about the Earth's increasing temperatures. They were able to establish the premise and interpret evidence for the phenomenon more effectively with the climate model. Using temperature and carbon dioxide data sets, students observed and quantified the behaviour of climate variables, establishing correlation and causation through data-integrated claims. In doing so, students were able to develop scientific knowledge about climate science as well as understand the processes undertaken by climate scientists in analysing climate data. Given the importance of fostering climate literacy in K-12 students, study findings have implications for both teaching and learning about GCC using climate models, as well as in shifting students' focus from acquiring knowledge to constructing their own knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school students need more comprehensive scientific inquiry learning instruction through research ethics education. Yet, this topic is often overlooked in the science curriculum. To collect basic data to guide research ethics education for high school students, this study documents the kinds of research misconduct students commit, the contexts in which they do so, and the factors that influence such misconduct. Data were collected via questionnaires from 223 gifted high school students at science academies in Korea. The results showed that high school students engaged in the most research misconduct in experiment-based classes rather than in mentorship programmes and science fair competitions. The largest number of data fabrication and falsification instances were seen in experiment-based classes. A regression analysis on the effect of influencing factors on each research misconduct type showed that falsification and plagiarism can be reduced by increasing education and regulation and lowering desire and neglect, whereas duplicate publications can be reduced by decreasing desire and neglect levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing class sizes and the rapid advancement of information technology have prompted institutions to implement blended learning in their academic offering. There are few reports in the literature on a holistic assessment of the effectiveness of the instructional design of blended learning courses for large classes. We defined effectiveness from a pedagogical and outcomes perspective and interrogated the design of a large first-year biology course with the aim of optimising the blend to benefit all students, but specifically the at-risk and 'murky middle' (MM) students. This was achieved by investigating patterns of student engagement with learning opportunities over time and its relationship with performance. The results show that participation in face-to-face tutorial classes was the stronger predictor of student success followed by online formative assessments. Students did not engage meaningfully with optional activities, such as virtual classrooms and pre-reading for lectures, and their engagement with compulsory learning opportunities declined during the semester, with the MM slipping towards those at risk of failing. We conclude that students need carefully chosen compulsory activities that are complementary in design and purpose, while optional activities are best suited for enrichment purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing students' ability to think about systems, as opposed to isolated facts, is of central importance in much of science teaching. Prior work in this area has focused on students' recognition of the processes occurring within a system. Comparatively, little work has been done on how students organise the objects that are contained within the system. Understanding how objects are organised within a system structure can promote understanding of the processes relating to the objects and advance students' thinking about systems. A systematic literature review revealed different existing theoretical perspectives on object arrangement within systems. These perspectives were combined into a single framework, the Systems Object Framework (SOF), that can be used to characterise student ideas about object arrangements. The SOF was used to analyse object arrangements depicted by students in pre and post-concept maps that were collected as part of a study on a systems-based curriculum. This analysis provided support for the structure of the SOF and showed that the SOF allows for tracking of changes in students' representation of object arrangements. The SOF contributes to the field by proposing new questions to be investigated and providing a common analytical tool that permits greater consistency across future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context-based learning has become increasingly influential in science education over the last 40 years. However, it is still unclear which types of contexts foster students' interests and learning achievements and are appropriate for science classes. While contexts are usually selected by teachers or curriculum developers, this study focusses on the students' perspective. The central aim of this research project is to analyse which context students choose for their science learning and why they choose a specific context. Therefore, a questionnaire study has been conducted in German grammar schools. The data analysis illustrates that students choose significantly different contexts depending on their individual variables like gender or individual interest in the subject. Additionally, it is possible to identify different reasons for selecting a specific context in chemistry. When comparing students' individual variables, significant relations between students' individual interest as well as their last grades in chemistry and their motives for choosing a context can be found. A cluster analysis has produced three clusters for describing students' explanation patterns for selecting a context. Overall, the results of this study allow first conclusions about the question which types of contexts ought to be implemented in science classes for specific groups of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertebrate species knowledge, a key factor for conserving biodiversity, is a compulsory part of school curricula. This study evaluated the vertebrate species knowledge of sixth-grade German grammar school pupils (aged 11–13) to investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors (gender, size of hometown, mother tongue), personal expectations (favourite school subject, performance in biology, expected test results) and possibilities to do nature observations (favourite playing area, number of excursions to nature) on identification skills. In addition, the study examined whether schoolchildren's taxonomic knowledge changed over the years. In a species identification test, participants (N = 984) scored an average of 14.18 ± 3.82 out of 25 points. The results showed that their species knowledge was significantly influenced by their personal expectations on test performance, the school, favourite playing area, mother tongue and gender. Hometown size, the number of excursions to nature, favourite school subject and performance in biology did not significantly affect children's species knowledge. Mammals had the highest identification rates, whereas birds and reptiles were rather unknown. These results were compared with a similar dataset in 2006 indicating a 15% loss in pupils' species knowledge within the last decade. A change in the curriculum as a reason for this decline in taxonomic knowledge is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the emotions experienced by students during the last two years of compulsory secondary education (15 and 16 years old) when learning physics and chemistry. The objective of this piece of research was to establish different relationship between emotions felt by students and variables like the didactic methodology or the kind of science they are learning. We have collected data from different subject blocks such as those related to matter, energy and electricity or kinematics and dynamics, and they were processed and analysed in order to establish relationships by courses. The sample comprised 282 students. The results revealed that pupils mainly experience more positive emotions towards the content of chemistry than towards that of physics. There is also a decrease in the mean frequency of positive emotions such as joy as they pass from K-9 to K-10, and an increase in negative emotions such as boredom. The pupils who experienced positive emotions towards chemistry content related these to how the teacher taught the subject, rather than to the content itself. Negative emotions towards physics contents were linked to the exclusive use of the textbook, solving physics problems, or giving oral presentations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogical content knowledge of science teachers includes knowledge of representational forms, such as visual displays. Past research has provided a general means to evaluate pictures, but is not fine-grained on features internal to pictures. Furthermore, many existing picture function typologies consider pictures as subservient to text, though pictures have their own explanatory power. We here adapt a general 'performative' image function typology into a science-specific taxonomy of cognitive image functions with fine-grained distinctions of design strategies related to interpretative processes. The authors, including science educators and graphic designers, refined and expanded functions of imagery using visual displays in science textbooks following a constant comparison method. The resulting performative image function taxonomy consists of a structural framework that distinguishes conceptual elements internal to pictures (i.e. concepts, entities, components, attributes, adjuncts, configurations); a process model that identifies three interpretative phases necessary to understand visual displays (i.e. approach, activity, outcome); and 17 functions across the interpretative phases. We demonstrate these functions through analysis of and modifications to visual displays from science textbooks. Many of the modifications presented here can be repeated with rudimentary drawing over existing illustrations (e.g. arrows, dividing lines, labels), and they are thus accessible to science teachers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (IBST) and the Nature of Science (NOS) are well documented as important aspects of teaching science subjects in schools, little research has been undertaken to understand how these aspects feature in secondary school science curricula in Tanzania. Thus, this study examined the extent to which IBST and NOS are featured in secondary school curriculum documents for science subjects. In addition, the challenges facing the integration of IBST and NOS in science teaching in Tanzanian secondary schools are highlighted. By analysing five curriculum documents and the Basic Education Statistics in Tanzania, the study established that IBST and NOS are neither formally recognised as important aspects of science education, nor given due attention in curriculum documents. Moreover, a lack of coherence among various elements of the curriculum, which can affect the integration of IBST and NOS, was observed. Finally, it was established that several challenges such as larger class sizes, insufficient time allocation and overemphasis on content coverage need to be addressed so that IBST and NOS could be fully integrated into science teaching in Tanzania. The study does not only highlight the theoretical trends related to IBST and NOS, but also discusses their theoretical and practical implications for science teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States' Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) elevate engineering design to the same stature as scientific inquiry, calling on science teachers to engage students in engineering practices to solve real-world problems. In response, researchers and curriculum developers designed and studied Virtual Engineering Internships (VEIs) to engage students in engineering and science practices outlined by the NGSS, and alleviate some of the logistical and conceptual burden for teachers unfamiliar with engineering instruction. Nevertheless, the VEIs still require striking shifts in the way teaching and learning happens in middle school science classrooms. In this exploratory study we sought to understand whether and how teachers participating in a curriculum pilot project (n = 26) interacted with the VEIs in ways that helped them carry out pedagogical shifts called for by the NGSS, and to identify curricular features that may have supported these shifts. Findings suggest that teachers leveraged and modified the VEIs to support student engagement in engineering practices and real-world problem-solving, which suggests the potential of the curriculum to catalyse deep pedagogical shifts called for by the NGSS. From this analysis, we propose a set of curriculum design features that can support teachers in implementing ambitious engineering curricula in diverse classroom contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To effectively support early science learning in preschool, teachers need to be aware of the constructivist nature of children's learning. This study examined a sample of Swiss preschool teachers' beliefs about science learning and teaching and their relation to their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and scaffolding practices within a curriculum about floating and sinking. In Study 1, beliefs and PCK were assessed by means of questionnaires. A latent-profile analysis involving 104 preschool teachers reveals three clusters of teachers exhibiting specific belief profiles about science learning: 'highly constructivist,' 'low constructivist' and 'hands-on' teachers. PCK differed across clusters, while highly constructivist teachers ranked highest. To deepen our understanding of the relations among preschool teachers' beliefs, PCK and teaching, we videotaped scaffolding practice of a subsample of 32 preschool teachers when teaching a curriculum of floating and sinking (Study 2). We found that teachers often apply scaffolding strategies to support topic-specific learning. However, scaffolding strategies aiming to stimulate higher-order thinking were rather rare. Furthermore, we found correlations between teachers' constructivist beliefs and their scaffolding as well as between teachers' topic-specific language and their PCK. Our findings emphasize the importance of targeting teachers' beliefs and PCK to improve the quality of preschool science instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is based on the Reconceptualised Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science (Kaya & Erduran, 2016), which explains science as a cognitive, epistemic, and social-institutional system. A content analysis of Turkish science curricula shows that the social context of science is underemphasised (Kaya & Erduran, 2016). Therefore, this study investigated the impact of teaching science as a social-institutional system on fifth-grade students' understanding of the social dimension of science. Using a quasi-experimental research design, Social-Institutional Questionnaire (SIQ) was administered to both the experimental group (n=19) and control group (n = 23) as a pre-and post-test. Throughout the intervention, the experimental group was exposed to science lessons enriched with social-institutional aspects of science; the control group was taught with traditionally-designed science lessons on a unit 'The Earth, Sun and Moon'. The results of ANCOVA showed a statistically significant difference between the groups in favour of the experimental group. Interviews and worksheets were used to support the findings. It was found that integrating social-institutional aspects of science into science lessons enhanced students' understanding of the social-institutional aspects of science. This study contributes to the literature on NOS in science education and provides science teachers a resource for teaching social-institutional aspects of science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secondary school teaching of evolution through natural selection is very important because for most people, it is the only formal introduction to the scientific understanding of this theory. However, there are major concerns over its unsatisfactory teaching. In several European countries, including the Flanders region in Belgium, natural selection is treated as a side-topic that is referred to only after all other biological content has been covered. It has been suggested that improved understanding can be achieved by teaching it in a more integrated manner throughout the biology curriculum, as is largely the case in the Netherlands. We tested this hypothesis by a standardised comparison of the understanding of natural selection between university freshmen who had completed high level biology secondary education in Flanders or the Netherlands. We used the Conceptual Inventory of Natural Selection (CINS), designed to measure the understanding of 10 underlying key concepts (KC), including four core concepts (CC), and the magnitude of alternative conceptions. Regression analysis was used to control for potentially confounding student parameters. Dutch graduates indeed obtained a significantly higher CINS-score than Flemish graduates. They also scored significantly higher on eight key concepts. The 10 KC were employed to varying degrees, with the relative rank being highly comparable between both student populations, and the CC origin of variation and variation inheritable, both linked to genetics, being more challenging than the CC existence of variation and differential survival. The relative frequency of alternative conceptions elicited by the CINS was almost identical in both student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open-ended investigative work is important for science at the high school level because it provides students with experiences approaching the authentic practice of scientists. In England context, some teachers provide opportunities for open-ended investigation, even though at post-16 (pre-university) A-Level they are no longer required to do so. This qualitative study had two aims: to identify teachers' intended learning outcomes for open-ended investigations and to understand the different ways that teachers perceive, interpret and teach open-ended investigative projects. Questionnaires (n = 17) and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with high-school teachers (n = 12) were used. Analysis of questionnaire data suggested five 'key ideas' related to teachers' intended learning outcomes for open-ended investigations: state of the field, research design, data handling, iteration, and 'real' science. Interviews revealed repertoires for addressing learning relating to each of these key ideas. Phenomenographic analysis of interview data suggested six qualitatively different ways of perceiving open-ended investigation, which corresponded to different emphases for student learning: the teacher-scientist, the teacher-inquirer, the instrumentalist, the independence-builder, the scaffolder and the personal developer perspectives. The findings are expected to be useful for informing teacher professional development and reflection, and for those developing curricula, teaching materials or assessments involving open-ended investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores prospective primary school teachers' misconceptions concerning basic concepts in chemistry. The data was gathered during the years 2012–2016 among first-year primary school teachers in Finland (N = 389). The results show that every year, as many as 40%–80% of teachers share the same kinds of misconceptions as children ages 5–12 (depending on the investigated concepts). The results further show that the prospective primary teachers do not develop a solid foundation in chemistry during their school years, indicating that this area should be addressed more effectively in Finnish elementary schools. To raise the quality of school instruction, it is crucial that teacher education curricula consider this when methods of instruction in science courses are developed for prospective primary teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few decades, scientific and educational entities in the United States have repeatedly expended considerable fiscal and human resources in an effort to establish contemporary education standards, curriculum frameworks, and assessment tools. These efforts are intended to reform the quantity and quality of K-16 Earth science education across the U.S. including, most recently, the Next Generation Science Standards. Most of the reform efforts enthusiastically recommend a constructivist-oriented approach to instruction that requires educators to clearly identify their learning targets. At the same time, a contemporary approach to instruction requires educators to be aware of misconceptions, misunderstandings, naïve beliefs, and alternative frameworks students bring to the learning experience. Although several dated surveys of learners' geology misconceptions exist across the scholarly literature landscape, little of the geology misconceptions literature is systematically organised around the current collections of U.S. national standards and frameworks. Geoscience educators, curriculum developers, and assessment specialists benefit from summaries of misconceptions research organised around various national reform efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]