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This study examines the development of the concept of the ecological niche among 10-11-year-old students and their ability to use this concept to give their opinions on the socially relevant and controversial possibility that wolf populations might be established in the mountains surrounding the school. A total of 21 elementary school students were engaged in an authentic school inquiry project about the wolf during which they undertook a series of diverse activities, such as searching for information about the wolf's biology, field work and modelling activities in order to perform a habitat suitability analysis. Starting with a Qualitative Content Analysis approach, a mixed method approach was applied to analyse students' drawn and written productions about (a) the wolf's survival requirements; and (b) the viability of its establishment in the region. Results show how the complexity and the sophistication of the ecological niche concept improve, and how the consideration of biotic, abiotic and anthropic factors change during instruction. Difficulties encountered by students in using such a concept in a new context are also highlighted. Implications for education are considered.

The main aim of this research is to present an evaluation tool for the Network of Schools for Sustainability in Catalonia, which comprises 18 networks with more than 1400 schools. The secondary aim is to reflect on the construction process conducted. The tool was constructed following the tenets of constructivist evaluation by Guba and Lincoln, which is characterized by the engagement of multiple voices from a range of stakeholders, using a consecutive hermeneutic dialectical process, understood as a negotiation among participants. To ensure these processes, in the construction of the tool the fourth authenticity evaluation criteria were followed. The main outcome of the project is an evaluation tool composed of 25 criteria which are divided into 5 dimensions: Structure of the Network, Training Offering, Collaboration with External Stakeholders, Guidance of the Networks and Communication. Some transversal areas could be seen in the tool, such as the role of evaluation and the involvement of stakeholders from the school, which represent areas of special relevance for the participants in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research presented aims at identifying the difficulties pre-service secondary science teachers have in designing context-based chemistry teaching and learning sequences (TLS). e question guiding this study is the following: What function do contexts perform within chemistry TLS designed by pre-service secondary science teachersS A content analysis of five chemistry TLS written in 2015-16 by five pre-service secondary science teachers from the master program offered by the five public universities in the community of Catalonia, Spain was conducted. e focus of the analysis dealt with the characteristics of contexts used in TLS using the Rubric of Context Indicators (RIC) created for this purpose. ree TLS contextual profiles have been identified using the 5 RIC context indicators such as authenticity, relevance, persistence, inquiry and construction. All pre-service secondary science teachers from the three contextual profiles have written chemistry TSL showing difficulties in the use of contexts that are persistent along the TLS and promote scientific inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]