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Lesson planning is a core part of teachers' professional competence. Written lesson plans play a significant role in science teacher education as a preparation for demonstration lessons during the final teacher certification exam. However, the few existing scoring rubrics on lesson plans are not particularly theoretically sound and are barely tested for the validity of score interpretations. In response to the demand for transparent and applicable criteria, we developed the "rubric to assess science lesson plans" (RALP) to assess science teachers' lesson plan quality. We employed a mixed-methods approach: First, we present multiple sources of validity evidence (based on "test content," "internal structure," "relations to other variables," and "consequences of testing") as mainly quantitative indicators for the quality of the RALP. Based upon that, we applied the RALP to lesson plans written by preservice and trainee science teachers (N = 100) and provided a qualitative analysis of six cases to illustrate common patterns in these lesson plans. Results indicate that teacher educators consider the RALP criteria (N = 24) relevant and objectively applicable. Correlation analyses of the scores and two teacher educators' holistic quality assessment of all lesson plans provide convincing evidence that the RALP can discriminate lesson plan quality levels. Moreover, comparisons between preservice science teachers and trainee science teachers reveal that trainee teachers score significantly higher than preservice teachers, indicating that the RALP is sensitive to differences in teaching and planning experience. The application and in-depth analysis of three criteria of the RALP illustrate these differences in levels of planning quality. We discuss possible applications of the RALP in science teacher education and research in science teaching.

Despite the importance of evolution to understand biology, there is significant evidence that many biology teachers have difficulties to successfully teach this topic. The purpose of this study is to describe procedures by which a paper-and-pencil instrument to assess teachers' pedagogical content knowledge for evolution (PCK[subscript evo]) was developed and validated. The instrument was created to measure the components proposed in the model of Magnusson et al. (1999), except for the orientations. The creation of the questionnaire was carried out through eleven steps: (1) conceptualization, (2-4) creation of items and rubric reviewed by experts (focus on content and construct validity), (5-7) piloting a 32-item questionnaire to 10 biology teachers (focus on face and construct validity and reliability), (8-10) piloting a 16-item questionnaire to 61 biology teachers (focus on discriminant and construct validity and reliability), (11) application of a different instrument (CoRe interview) to four teachers (focus on criterion validity). The final version of the questionnaire (which includes three PCK components) showed in a Rasch analysis for the reliability of the items ([alpha] = 0.90) and persons ([alpha] = 0.81) adequate values. When applying the final version of the questionnaire, there is also evidence of discriminant validity (differences between two groups of teachers with or without professional development in evolution education). The contributions of the PCK[subscript evo] instrument for research topics and evolution teaching are discussed.

Scientific reasoning competencies (SRC) are one part of science teachers' professional competencies. This study examines the contribution of three factors to the development of pre-service science teachers' SRC: the "amount of science education classes," the "amount of science classes" and the pre-service science teachers' "age." The factors "amount of science education classes" and "amount of science classes" have been operationalised in terms of ECTS credit points. N = 438 pre-service science teachers from six universities in Germany, Chile and Canada voluntarily and anonymously responded to an established multiple-choice instrument for assessing SRC, which has been developed by the authors and is available in German, Spanish and English. Multiple linear regression analyses show that the included factors explain a proportion of about 9% of the pre-service science teachers' SRC. The factor "amount of science classes" is the only significant predictor and can be seen as an indicator of learning science content knowledge. These findings support the assumption of science content knowledge being a prerequisite for developing pre-service science teachers' SRC.

The development of metaknowledge about models (MKM) and metaknowledge about the modelling process (MKP) are important in pre-service science teachers (PSTs) education. MKM refers to knowledge about the model's entities and its purposes, while MKP refers to knowledge about the components and structure of the modelling process. Assessing MKM and MKP is crucial to foster this knowledge in PSTs' education. However, assessment instruments focus on MKM rather than MKP, and the connection between MKM and MKP had not been examined deeply. This study validates and applies a diagram task for assessing PSTs' MKP. For validation, ten experts were surveyed and think-aloud interviews were conducted with ten PSTs. The findings support valid interpretations of PSTs' MKP based on the diagram task. In the main study, the diagram task was administrated to 63 PSTs, along with an MKM questionnaire. PSTs' MKP ranged from simple conceptions of modelling as a linear process including few components to sophisticated conceptions of modelling as an iterative process including multiple components. Furthermore, it was found that knowledge about using models to predict a phenomenon is an aspect connecting sophisticated MKM and MKP, indicating that this aspect is crucial to foster both, PSTs MKM and MKP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical thinking is one of the most important sets of cognitive abilities and dispositions required for both scientists and global citizens. In this explorative study, we examine which critical thinking aspects are perceived as relevant by biology graduate students and in what ways they found these aspects important for their scientific work. Data was collected from two cohorts of students participating in an online academic course focusing on the foundations of critical thinking. The course included weekly sessions in which different critical thinking topics were presented and discussed, followed by a seminar, in which individual students presented, reflected on, and received feedback on their biology research projects. Based on students' responses and artefacts collected during the course, several critical thinking aspects were identified as most relevant for students' scientific work, such as confirmation bias, methodological issues, and socio-cultural influences. Students also mentioned the value of open communication with peers when engaging in critical thinking. It is suggested that biology graduate students should have opportunities to learn about and engage with relevant aspects of critical thinking and to collaboratively reflect on their research using these aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesson planning is a core part of teachers' professional competence. Written lesson plans play a significant role in science teacher education as a preparation for demonstration lessons during the final teacher certification exam. However, the few existing scoring rubrics on lesson plans are not particularly theoretically sound and are barely tested for the validity of score interpretations. In response to the demand for transparent and applicable criteria, we developed the rubric to assess science lesson plans (RALP) to assess science teachers' lesson plan quality. We employed a mixed‐methods approach: First, we present multiple sources of validity evidence (based on test content, internal structure, relations to other variables, and consequences of testing) as mainly quantitative indicators for the quality of the RALP. Based upon that, we applied the RALP to lesson plans written by preservice and trainee science teachers (N = 100) and provided a qualitative analysis of six cases to illustrate common patterns in these lesson plans. Results indicate that teacher educators consider the RALP criteria (N = 24) relevant and objectively applicable. Correlation analyses of the scores and two teacher educators' holistic quality assessment of all lesson plans provide convincing evidence that the RALP can discriminate lesson plan quality levels. Moreover, comparisons between preservice science teachers and trainee science teachers reveal that trainee teachers score significantly higher than preservice teachers, indicating that the RALP is sensitive to differences in teaching and planning experience. The application and in‐depth analysis of three criteria of the RALP illustrate these differences in levels of planning quality. We discuss possible applications of the RALP in science teacher education and research in science teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Although much research exists of students' alternative conceptions about evolution and natural selection, the way in which these vary in time and how scientific explanations change during instruction remains to be described and understood. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to characterise the nature of the change in student thinking about evolution through the mechanism of natural selection during a six-lesson intervention with a group of ninth-grade students (14–15 years old) from a private subsidised school in Chile. The study group included thirteen students to whom a pre- and post-test was applied using the questionnaire Assessment of Contextual Reasoning about Natural Selection (ACORNS), and from whom short tasks were collected at the end of three lessons. The data were analysed using a quantitative and qualitative analysis of nine students grouped in five cases of study. The main patterns described here are the recurrence of the design teleology thinking in students, the initial use of key concepts such as mutation, survival, and differential reproduction during the trajectories, the abundance of mixed thinking during and at the end of the instruction, and the low coherence in the structure of thinking, both in time and through the different contexts analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the hypothetico-deductive approach, which includes inductive and deductive reasoning, is largely recognized in scientific reasoning, there is not much focus on abductive reasoning. Abductive reasoning describes the theory-based attempt of explaining a phenomenon by a cause. By integrating abductive reasoning into a framework for modeling competence, we strengthen the idea of modeling being a key practice of science. The framework for modeling competence theoretically describes competence levels structuring the modeling process into model construction and model application. The aim of this theoretical paper is to extend the framework for modeling competence by including abductive reasoning, with impact on the whole modeling process. Abductive reasoning can be understood as knowledge expanding in the process of model construction. In combination with deductive reasoning in model application, such inferences might enrich modeling processes. Abductive reasoning to explain a phenomenon from the best fitting guess is important for model construction and may foster the deduction of hypotheses from the model and further testing them empirically. Recent studies and examples of learners' performance in modeling processes support abductive reasoning being a part of modeling competence within scientific reasoning. The extended framework can be used for teaching and learning to foster scientific reasoning competences within modeling processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]