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Background: The competencies for the 21st century are defined as a broad and interrelated system of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes enabling the full application of man in personal and professional life. Regarding the science education competencies combining science and scientific knowledge, as well as skills such as inquiry, critical thinking, analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making should be developed. These higher-order abilities are reflected in the concept of scientific thinking and reasoning that has no specific definition yet, although many employers expect these abilities at their job applicants. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create a framework of scientific thinking and reasoning for knowledge-based companies operating in natural sciences that would meet the needs of these companies. Sample: Theoretical research is based on analysis, comparison and synthesis of five relevant scientific and reasoning frameworks from years 1997-2014. Empirical research was an expert survey conducted with seven participants, experts working on key positions inside companies, followed by two interviews with experts outside the companies. Design and methods: During the first part of the study a prototype of a scientific thinking and reasoning framework based on the methods of theoretical research was developed. Following empirical part (expert survey) aimed at adjusting the framework based on semi-structured interviews to employees in key positions of companies whose production portfolio or services are based on the knowledge and skills of their employees in natural science disciplines. Results: Qualitative analysis of interviews showed that the proposed framework seems as a useful tool for companies that can easier identify the skills and abilities for their employees. Conclusion: The framework has been slightly changed according to results of the analysis and can be used as a supporting tool bridging the gap between those who prepare students for a specific graduate job and the companies that employ graduates.

This study explored the perceived benefits and challenges that Natural Sciences teachers experience when using blended teaching in Smart Schools. This qualitative research focused on public township schools with challenging socio-economic contexts in the Gauteng Province, South Africa. A non-probability purposive sampling method was followed. The data collection technique used involved individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. Interviews conducted with 10 Natural Sciences teachers were analysed through inductive analysis. The key findings of this study portrayed that teachers perceived that the incorporation of blended teaching and learning presented major pedagogical benefits, such as increased learner enjoyment and improved engagement as visual enhancements of the scientific processes and concepts aid learning, save teaching and reduce learning time since complex scientific concepts are simplified and use virtual experiments instead of traditional hands-on practicals. Efficiency in long-term running costs was seen as another benefit. According to these Natural Science teachers, one disadvantage in particular was an increased workload owing to double lesson planning for classroom activities and particularly for science practicals with and without the use of smart equipment, where there were external challenges such as load shedding, inoperable devices, connectivity challenges and/or smart equipment thefts. It is recommended that Smart School teachers are encouraged to form communities of practice to share strategies to minimise the perceived or experienced challenges in blended teaching.

Natural science in education can be summarized as a complex system. The professional and methodological task in the teaching of natural sciences is to convey this complexity. The terms and models of graph theory can be used to model the system approach, such as networks. Networks consist of elements and connections between them, which can be well represented by graphs. Growing networks have a scale-independent property, i.e. the rich get richer principle applies. Internal connections may also appear within the networks, which strengthen the network. New theories related to education appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and are called reform or progressive pedagogical methods. Their common basic ideas include children's freedom, getting to know and helping the child as an individual, the coordinating and helping role of the teacher, and the existence of the appropriate quality of the pedagogical environment.

Controversial scientific issues, or socioscientific issues (SSIs), demand the consideration of more than scientific content when constructing decisions. The Justification for Knowing framework (JFK) was developed to categorize the information sources drawn upon when making SSI decisions within the academic domain of natural sciences. These information sources stem from personal sources (JPS), authoritative sources (JAS), or multiple sources (JMS). However, these sources may not explain the array of knowledge claims reflected upon during SSI decision making. This qualitative study aims to explore each JFK belief dimension across two SSIs and asks how contextual features are contributing to the selection of these beliefs. College students (N = 199) from various disciplines at a research-intensive public institution responded to a modified Decision-Making Questionnaire consisting of two SSI context scenarios. Participants responded to open-ended prompts asking them if they support the proposed SSI decision and to explain their decision. Through two rounds of thematic coding, we found several subdimensions of JAS and found how students are utilizing JPS. Although the frequency of these broad sources did not differ between contexts, we saw differences within the types of sources reflected upon within each context. We also found that SSI context may ignite specific identity commitments that operate as a vehicle to the selection of knowledge sources when an individual is supporting their SSI decisions. The results of this study provide insight into specific information sources students rely upon when justifying their knowledge. Furthermore, this work emphasizes how identity commitments may be contributing to the selection of these information sources during SSI decision-making tasks.

Scientists use specific terms to denote concepts, objects, phenomena, etc. The terms are then connected with each other in sentences that are used in science-specific language. Representing these connections through term networks can yield valuable insights into central terms and properties of the interconnections between them. Furthermore, understanding term networks can enhance assessment and diagnostics in science education. Computational means such as natural language processing and network analysis provide tools to analyze term networks in a principled way. This study utilizes natural language processing and network analysis to analyze linguistic properties of terms in the natural science disciplines (biology, chemistry, and physics). The language samples comprised German and English Wikipedia articles that are labelled according to the respective discipline. The different languages were used as contrasting cases. Natural language processing capabilities allowed us to extract term networks from the Wikipedia articles. The network analysis approach enabled us to gain insights into linguistic properties of science terms and interconnections among them. Our findings indicate that in German and English Wikipedia terms such as theory, time, energy, or system emerge as most central in physics. Moreover, the science-term networks display typical scale-free, complex systems behavior. These findings can enhance assessment of science learner's language use. The tools of natural language processing and network analysis more generally can facilitate information extraction from language corpora in the education fields.

The article investigates sustainable development from the holistic perspective, taking into account the complex nature of the world and the dynamism of the socio-economic systems. The study is interdisciplinary, as it addresses the issues of economics, mathematics and physics with the main focus on the modern perspective of sustainable development offered in the field of education. The article focuses on key questions concerning the expansion of the educational processes and deepening of ideas and knowledge about the dynamism and diversity of the planetary system. The holistic approach implies the interaction of various nonlinear features that have been used in the paper to build a mental model and a causal relationship schema. The understanding of the interaction of energy flows in socio-economic systems has been used by the authors to explain the underlying connection of various processes. The authors of the article propose a systemic dynamic model of sustainability, which can open up an understanding of some of the reasons for changes in the potential of the industrial sector. Modeling results have been obtained and interpreted using historical USA statistical data from 1949 to 2019. In the article, the authors reveal the relationship between nature, society and human from the point of view of promising and methodological approaches of the "new" and "old" world. The diversity of experiences makes it possible to question the dominant approaches of traditional teaching in education. This creates the need to look for new foundations that can promote the development of more sustainable learning for the future.

How is knowledge pertaining to science best transferred to the public in order to bolster support for science-based policy and governance, thereby serving the common good? Herein lies a well-recognized challenge: widespread public support arguably requires a widespread understanding of science itself, but this is naturally undermined by the inherent complexities of the sciences, and by disparities in teaching and popular reporting. A common reaction to this has been to champion educational reform to produce broader scientific literacy, but prevailing conceptions of this, I argue, are misconceived. I consider an account of "knowledge transfer"--a practice whereby science is "transferred" between different contexts of use--to illuminate why some transfers are successful and others are not, and thus, why conventional appeals to scientific literacy are bound to be ineffective in producing public understanding that serves societal wellbeing. As an alternative, principal focus, what is required is a form of philosophical literacy regarding science, amounting to a particular understanding of the claim that "Whatever natural science may be for the specialist, for educational purposes it is knowledge of the conditions of human action" (Dewey, 1916, p. 128).

In the teaching of natural science, field trips are a means of bringing students directly into contact with the biological and geological aspects of the environment. The present study explored French students' views of fieldwork and the relationships they establish with the natural environment as a result. We analyzed the responses of 293 primary and secondary school students to a questionnaire administered immediately before and after a fieldwork. Students' interest in fieldwork was based on their affinity for nature and desire to learn, as well as their sensory experience of the natural world and the sense of wellbeing they derived from it. The relationship between affinity, self-interest and situational interest is discussed in terms of how a fieldwork can help to reinforce students' relationship with nature.

An attitude is a form of one's perception of an object that is described with expressions of like or not. The purpose of the study was to describe the attitudes of students towards the three indicators of the attitude of the junior high school in Batanghari. The research method uses quantitative survey research. The instrument used was a questionnaire that focused on three indicators consisting of 18 statements and also interviews. The sample in this study was 280 students in Batanghari. The results of research on three attitude indicators which became the dominant focus of research in the good category. The Social Implications of the Science show a good category with a percentage of 57.9%. The pleasure of science learning is well categorized with a percentage of 45.4%. The attitude towards the science investigation is categorized sufficiently with the percentage category of 41.1%. From the research that has been carried out, it can be seen that the attitude of students in junior high school is categorized as good, because the three indicators examined show good categories.

This research was aimed to develop economics learning media by integrating sharia economic materials into the economics basic competencies in 10th Natural Science Grade. This research uses descriptive analysis to measure feasibility and t test analysis to measure the effect of using the sharia economic learning media on learning outcomes, student interest, and activity. Validation of learning tools and worksheets by two experts in the field of sharia. The results of the validation of learning tools and worksheets are 80% with decent criteria. Then student worksheet which has been validated by experts was tested on 80 samples from the High School and Islamic High School majoring in economics at the Science Department in the term of determining the effect of using the sharia economic learning media on learning outcomes, student interests, and activities to help them learn economics. Sampling uses a purposive sampling technique. The analysis in this research used the t-test. The test results of the integrated sharia economic learning media on learning outcomes, the interest to learn, and the activity of the students during the activity presented a significant effect (p<0.05). Integrated sharia economic learning media can be applied in the economics learning process in the 10th Natural Science Grade 2013 Curriculum.

This research aims to investigate the development and effectiveness of motion graphic video media for Primary Schools students in learning Natural Sciences subject. This exploratory sequential mix method study employs combination of descriptive qualitative method to define the current situation and product development process and the experimental method involving 27 fifth grade students in each control and experimental groups. This research was conducted in two different selected primary schools. The researcher uses in-depth interview and observations methods for the qualitative studies, and tests to measure the effectiveness of motion graphics media developed. In the qualitative stage, this study found that there is a need to develop an interactive audio visual media. The result of t-test showed that there were significant differences in terms of cognitive learning outcome between control and experimental group. Therefore, the interactive motion graphic video media developed is feasible and effectively proven to enhance the students' science learning achievement of the fifth grade of primary school level.

Statistical competence is defined as the leader's feature of character, which characterizes his willingness and ability to organize, to process and interpret information, needed to implement management processes. Statistical competence should be considered as a substructure of functional competence of the leader as it is shown in the article. The evaluation of indicators for the basic level of statistical competence for different categories of principles of educational institutions was carried out. It is shown that for managers with humanitarian and historical and science education the probability of distortion is not less than 20%. In addition, the criterion of signs justifies the lack of effect of improving test results on the basics of mathematical and statistical literacy in the transition from a group of leaders with humanitarian, scientific and natural education. At the same time, the independence of the testing effectiveness on the basics of mathematical and statistical literacy of managers from teaching experience is shown. The obtained evaluation results and tested hypotheses indicate the need for the introduction of additional statistical education differentiated for groups of managers with mathematical education and natural sciences.

This study investigates the rhetorical choices of the engagement features in Pakistani Academic Research Discourse (PARD) of natural and social sciences. Using the 'Interaction Model' (Hyland, 2005), it explores how the writers of different disciplinary cultures employ engagement features to define and maintain their knowledge territories in their respective fields. Hyland's (2005) typology of engagement features includes; "reader pronouns," "directives," "questions," "shared knowledge" and "personal asides" as linguistic elements of engagement. The corpus data for this study comprised 120 PhD theses produced by Pakistani scholars in the domains of natural and social sciences. This data was accessed from Pakistan Research Repository (www.prr.hec.gov.pk ); and after cleaning, it was transferred into the text-file format. Corpus analysis tool AntConc 3.4.4w was used for generating Word-lists, Keywords, and Concordances to explore engagement features from PARD. The findings reveal that, in PhD theses of the social sciences, authors make more use of "reader's pronouns," "directives," "questions," and "appeal to shared knowledge" than in the natural sciences. The study concludes by emphasizing the need for more research to understand how, discursively, knowledge communities of natural and social sciences are established. The findings of the study may be used to develop English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses and resources aimed at improving the academic writing skills of new researchers.

This research is motivated by the low creative thinking ability of the fourth-grade primary school students in Cimahi City. The purpose of this research is to examine the achievement and improvement of creative thinking abilities of primary school students between those who used the Course Review Hooray (CRH) learning model assisted by monopoly game and those who used conventional learning. This research is a quasi-experimental type with a pretest-posttest control group design. The population in this study was the fourth-grade primary school students in Cimahi City, while the sample was determined using a purposive sampling technique obtained by class 4B as an experimental class with 35 students and class 4C as a control class with 35 students. The research instrument was a science creative thinking ability test. The results showed that the achievement and improvement of creative thinking abilities of primary school students with the CRH learning model assisted by monopoly game media was better than those who used ordinary learning.

The attitude of students during the learning process is essential to be known by an educator to understand how to deal with students in the class. This study aims to determine how students 'attitudes towards science subjects and this study also aim to determine whether there is a comparison of students' attitudes towards natural science subjects in junior high schools in Indonesia. This research was conducted at some state junior high schools in Jambi. Specifically, the research sites were Junior High School 5, Junior High School 6, and Junior High School 26 in Jambi. The research design used in this study was a quantitative approach with survey methods. The research instrument was a science attitude questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results showed that students' attitudes toward science subjects based on indicators of adoption of scientific attitudes, fun in learning science, and interest in increasing the time to study science were in good categories and also there are significant differences of students' attitude towards science subjects in the three schools with a comparison value of 0.042 < 0.05.

The properness of concepts, principles, and biological contents of natural science textbooks is essential. The aim of this research was to compare the biology content of natural science textbooks for VIII graders in second semester. The indicators used to determine the properness were the accuracy of Core Competence/CC and Basic Competence/BC, concept, principle, illustration, and word editing. The textbooks analyzed were those which published by Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (government) and private publisher. The sample of this qualitative descriptive research was three natural science textbooks which applied Curriculum 2013. The research procedure referred to Milies and Huberman. The results showed that the properness percentages of CC and BC of science textbook published by governmental and private publisher were 86.25% (excellent) and 74.28% (good) respectively. There were inaccuracy of 11 concepts, 1 principle, and 5 illustrations found in the textbooks published by governmental. Furthermore, there were 5 inaccurate concepts found in the textbook published by private publisher. Moreover, there were 37 typographical errors found in the Natural Science Textbooks published by government and none found in the book published by private publisher. Therefore, the textbooks published by private publisher is better than those which by governmental publisher.

This research aimed at investigating, within a focus group, the primary grades teachers' opinions concerning the use of photographs in Natural Sciences lessons. We asked teachers to answer nine questions on: the contents of the used photographs, their sources, the circumstances/reasons they took into account when selecting the photographs, the lesson stages when they used them, the used methods, the context in which they had got information about the manner in which photographs should have been used, the pupils' interest in using photographs during learning activities in Natural Sciences, which are the disadvantages/risks for pupils if photographs were not used, and on the challenges the teachers had to cope with when using photographs during Natural Sciences lessons. At the end of our study, we noticed the diversity of the topics and lesson stages when photographs had been used, teachers' preference for the Internet as a source of photographs although Internet connection in school was poor, and that teachers appreciated photographs as significant for pupils' motivation, to focus their attention, enabling perception and understanding of natural and human induced processes, to form their representations and enable knowledge retention in pupils' memory, to develop thinking, language, imagination, and creativity. They pointed out that in the absence of photographs for learning Natural Sciences, pupils would run the risk of not understanding or less understand the topics, and of making misleading representations.

The paper is focused on the investigation of impact of created experimental natural scientific programme for preschool-age children. Our programme concentrates on physics teaching adapted for preschool age in which children have possibilities to make experiments themselves--empirical cognition. Its innovation with respect to other stimulation programmes implemented in the past consists of including connection and thus developing a wide spectrum of intellectual abilities. Primarily, we are focusing on the impact of stimulation programme research on selected psychological variables, specifically intellectual abilities-intellectual maturity. Its second aim is to compare and test the validity of drawing tests designed for intellectual-level investigation of preschool-age children, school maturity, and school readiness. The obtained results do not provide evidence in support of the stimulation programme on developing intellectual/conceptual maturity. The results of the second part of the research (i.e., drawing) shows that the indicative level of intellect, perception, and motor maturity are closely related.

This study investigated the effect of the preventive, advocacy, distribution, repair, and adjustment function variables on psychosocial conditions, self-reliance, and student competency. The study was conducted on 12th grade students in the social science and natural science study programmes in four high schools in the national capital of the Republic of Indonesia, DKI Jakarta Province, with a sample of 130 students (74 males and 56 females). The results of the study showed that not all proposed hypotheses were acceptable but did show very meaningful results. The prevention, advocacy, and adjudication function variables have a positive influence on the development of psychosocial conditions of students, while the advocacy, distribution, and adjustment function variables have a positive influence on the development of self-reliance conditions. The two variables were able to become intermediate variables in influencing student competence. Considering the important function of counselling for BK/GC teachers, it is recommended that the government (especially the provincial government) be able to establish cooperation with universities in meeting the needs of BK/GC teachers.

This experimental study aimed to determine: 1) Differences in science learning outcomes between students who were taught via the Science Technology Society and the Quantum Teaching models; 2) Differences in science learning outcomes among students who have high, medium, and low critical thinking skills; 3) Relationship between these learning models and the critical thinking skills in terms of science learning outcomes. The participants of the study comprised 300 students from fifth grade of the private primary school in the Surakarta region. Out of the 300, 150 studentswere in the experimental group and 150 were in the control group. For the data collection two-way analysis of variance followed by the Scheffe test were administered. The result of the study showed that 1.) The level of science learning outcomes of the students who were taught via the Quantum Teaching model were higher than those taught via the Science Technology Society model. 2) There were differences in the level of science learning outcomes among the students who have high, medium, and low critical thinking skills. 3) There was no relationship between the learning models and the ability to think critically for improving science learning outcomes.

Conceptual understanding of calculus is crucial in the fields of applied sciences, business, and engineering and technology subjects. However, the current status indicates that students possess only procedural knowledge developed from rote learning of procedures in calculus without insight of core ideas. Hence, this paper aims to assess students' challenges and to get insight on common barriers towards attaining conceptual knowledge of calculus. A purposive sample of 238 grade 12 natural sciences students from four different schools in one administrative Zone of Ethiopia were selected to participate in this study. An open ended test about limit of functions at a point and at infinity was administered and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings reveal a number of factors about students' knowledge such as: lack of conceptual knowledge in limit of functions, knowledge characterized by a static view of dynamic processes, over generalization, inconsistent cognitive structure, over dependence on procedural learning, lack of coherent and flexibility of reasoning, lack of procedural fluency and wrong interpretation of symbolic notations. Students' thinking strategies influencing these challenges originate from their arithmetic thinking rather than algebraic, linguistic ambiguities, compartmentalized learning, dependence on concept image than concept definition, focus in obtaining correct answers for wrong reasons, and attention given to lower level cognitive demanding exercises.

This research aimed to contribute to the overall understanding of pre-service teachers' acceptance of the Digital Storytelling (DS) tool. The primary associations of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were tested in the academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 for statistical significance when the effects of the pre-service training teachers' digital age and status were controlled. Data from 296 pre-service teachers, from second and third study year, majority women considered vulnerable group were collected. The factor analysis and invariance tests on basic TAM were performed. The results revealed that DS tool usage intention was a function of perceived usefulness and ease of use. This research established the TAM applicability with the control variables addition to model the DS tool acceptance by pre-service teachers, as didactic material for natural sciences and technology education. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance were confirmed across both cross-temporal and cross-sectorial groups. Perceived ease of use of DS has strongly influenced both usefulness ([beta]=0.571, t=11.958, p<0.0001) and intention to use of DS ([beta]=0.763, t=19.914, p<0.0001), under the influences of the control variables. The outcomes contributed to the general understanding of DS pre-service teachers' adoption relevant for natural sciences and technology education and for recognition of vulnerable category behavior.

The present research verified the role motivational factors play in the learning process, using an undergraduate Natural Sciences course. The overall aim was to evaluate the motivation of these students, determine if motivation varied with the number of years of university attended and identify which motivational factors influence the learning of Natural Sciences. In total, 73 students, during different course offerings from 2012 to 2017, participated in the research, which corresponded to 56.5% of the total enrollment from that time frame. A questionnaire, which was organized into two parts, was employed for data collection, and scored using the Likert scale. In the first part, the following motivational factors were assessed: intrinsic motivation, self-determination, career motivation, self-efficacy and grade motivation. In the second part, the teaching strategies and activities utilized during the course were evaluated with regards to their motivational character. It was found that a majority of students were motivated and that the level of motivation increased throughout the course, being driven by intrinsic factors, that indicated that the students were trying harder to learn scientific concepts, rather than seeking approval and rewards. Furthermore, it was found that participation in projects was the most motivational activity, followed by the academic week and internships.

A positive teaching climate has an important impact on pupils' attitude to learning subjects. The object of our research was to identify the factors affecting the climate of science subjects teaching. The research sample consisted of 454 primary and secondary school pupils. A questionnaire with 26 items was used as a research tool. Obtained data were subjected to factor analysis with loading factor of 0.45. Based on our research, four factors with a statistically significant impact on the climate of natural science subjects teaching was identified. At the same time, it was found that neither sex nor age of pupils has a statistically significant effect on the climate perception of natural science subjects teaching.

The aims of teaching have evolved along with the society in which we live, from a teaching based in memory to a one that teaches to reason, in order to adapt to the accelerated rate of change imposed by the application of scientific discoveries in our society. We have a society in continuous learning, which requires the ability to reason in order to adapt quickly. We are defining quality in teaching as your ability to teach to reason. This definition covers all new approaches: competencies, student-centered teaching, flipped classroom, etc. Each subject of the program is a pretext to teach to deduce or to induce, which are the two types of reasoning known. The teacher decides on each topic if he deduces it from previous knowledge or induces it from a demonstration or experimental data.

A practicum is beneficial in science learning to provide a concrete manifestation of a topic. This study aimed at creating a simulation-based interactive learning multimedia product to assist students' practicum. The product was developed for the topic of cell metabolism process focusing on the energy in living systems. The study employed the Research and Development referring to the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation model. During the development process, both product testing and users' response testing were carried out. To reveal the product impact, students' results of the pre-test and post-test were analyzed. The product was developed by using Macromedia Flash 8. The results of Alpha and Beta analysis showed that the results are 'feasible' and 'very feasible' for the product. Furthermore, based on the average value of 39.2 for the initial test and 82.5 for the final test it was obtained an Ngain value of 0.712 with the category of "High". Therefore, it proved that the developed interactive learning multimedia is effective in increasing students' analytical skills for the Science Learning materials in junior high schools.

This exploratory study sought to identify the existence of a "teaching persona" in college professors. Specifically, an examination of self-reported differences in traits displayed as teachers versus in everyday life was conducted. Also investigated were feelings of job satisfaction and burnout in relation to these differences. Findings suggest that professors see themselves as more extraverted, emotionally stable, caring/supportive, professionally competent, and better communicators as teachers than in their everyday lives. However, adjunct professors lacked distinctiveness in all areas. Social science professors were less open to new experiences as teachers than in their everyday lives, while natural science professors were more open. In a few instances, larger differences between one's teaching persona and everyday life were significantly related to more burnout and less job satisfaction. Being more conscientious, feeling more capable, and perceiving oneself as a better communicator in the teacher-role was associated with more job burnout.

In recent years, several innovations have emerged in the field of education, including Blended-Learning, Massive Open Online Courses, Flipped Classroom and Gamification. In particular, several investigations have highlighted the effectiveness of student response systems, or clickers, in different subjects and disciplines. Although some literature reviews have been published on this subject, none of them offer a review of a large volume of publications from a multidisciplinary approach. Similarly, in the literature there are no studies that have analyzed scientific collaborations on this subject. To respond to these concerns, we proposed the use of a bot to retrieve information from a large number of papers (1696 documents co-authored by a total of 4091 researchers) included in the Scopus database. The disciplines covered include natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, social sciences and humanities, and the arts. The review of the literature reveals that student response systems are generally well-perceived by teachers and students in all the disciplines. Another interesting result achieved from visual data obtained using network visualization software and word clouds is that student response systems are mainly used in some disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, medicine, and nursing. It is clearly observed that the relationship between researchers from the same country is stronger than between researchers from different countries. Finally, some reflections are included on the role of student response systems in online teaching, especially regarding the changes experienced after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A classic issue in the cognitive psychology of human category learning has involved the contrast between exemplar and prototype models. However, experimental tests to distinguish the models have relied almost solely on use of artificially-constructed categories composed of simplified stimuli. Here we contrast the predictions from the models in a real-world natural-science category domain--geologic rock types. Previous work in this domain used a set of complementary methods, including multidimensional scaling and direct dimension ratings, to derive a high-dimensional feature space in which the rock stimuli are embedded. The present work compares the category-learning predictions of exemplar and prototype models that make reference to this derived feature space. The experiments include conditions that should be favorable to prototype abstraction, including use of multiple large-size categories, delayed transfer testing, and real-world category structures. Nevertheless, the results of the qualitative and quantitative model comparisons point toward the exemplar model as providing a far better account of the observed results. Evidence is also provided that participants do not rely on all-or-none rote memories for the stored exemplars but rather use remembered exemplars as a basis for generalizing to novel transfer items from the learned categories. Limitations and directions of future work are discussed.

The teaching of natural sciences and technology in primary schools presents an opportunity to use innovative approaches to teach STEM-based activities. The subject presents opportunities for learners to experience STEM-based instructional approaches in their early school years; therefore, it is essential that preservice primary school teachers are adequately prepared for the task. This study explored the perceptions of preservice teachers of STEM-based teaching in natural sciences and technology classrooms. Using a qualitative research approach and a single case study of a science and technology teaching methods course at a South African university, five participants were purposively selected from a group of 42 preservice teachers who had participated in a project to develop lesson plans and reflect on how to teach STEM. The data collected were analysed using thematic content analysis techniques. The findings indicate that the preservice teachers used natural sciences as an entry point to teach STEM and underestimated the technology component. The preservice teachers had the perception that STEM is taught through activity-based strategies while incorporating assessment for learning. Although they identified activities that could be used to teach STEM, they did not link the activities with developing specific skills in the lesson plans. The study recommends that preservice teachers be taught to link STEM activities with the development of specific STEM skills.

The aim of this study was to explore the teaching of senior phase of Natural Sciences with a focus on the Planet Earth and beyond knowledge strand. A qualitative case study design was used. Semi-structured interviews and observations were employed to collect data from two purposefully chosen teachers. The results of the study showed that some Natural Sciences teachers might lack the appropriate subject matter knowledge for the planet Earth and beyond knowledge strand for meaningful teaching. Moreover, teachers indicated poor knowledge of the context in specific aims and assessment strategies and chose poor and irrelevant instructional strategies. Furthermore, the teachers saw themselves as the authority figure in class and hence applied a dominantly teacher-centered approach. Therefore, it is recommended that there is a need to refocus on the in-service teacher training to improve teachers? subject matter knowledge as well as pedagogic content knowledge. The authors also recommend a large-scale study on the same strand.

Disciplines display field-specific ways of valuing research contributions, and these different 'styles of valuation' influence how academic careers are assessed and formed. Yet, differences in how research is evaluated are also prevalent between different levels of assessment: collegial and organizational. Consequently, we employ a multifaceted two-dimensional approach for studying styles of valuation where both horizontal (across domains) and vertical (organization levels) variations in assessment practices are examined. For this purpose, we make use of 16 faculty guidelines and 112 referee reports concerning candidates for becoming 'docent' (Habilitation) from four broad domains: the humanities, the social sciences, medicine and the natural sciences (including technology). By inductively identifying five broad dimensions used when assessing publication merits: (1) "Attribution of work," (2) "Qualities of content," (3) "Publication channel," (4) "Publication impact," and (5) "Publication volume" we can distinguish specific styles of valuation for each of our four domains. Moreover, by extending the analysis to an organizational level we detect opposing ways in which the evaluations are justified--what we call 'disharmonic styles of valuation'. Thus, when developing insights on 'quality understandings'--and their operationalization through styles of valuation--in academia we need to put less emphasis on their origins and rather focus on how they come to travel between and co-exist within specific evaluative contexts.

The preeminence of English as the lingua franca in global science has led to English-dominant publication practices, even in non-English-speaking countries. We examine the complex dynamics of language use in scientific publications in China, a major contributor to global scientific output, and the tensions between English and the native language. By analyzing 2,209,987 multilingual publications from 183,457 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, we reveal a strong preference for English as the publication language in China, with 66.2% of publications in English versus 33.8% in Chinese. Key projects and natural sciences and engineering projects favor English more; regional projects and social sciences projects use Chinese more. However, English has a growing prevalence over the years across all research fields, project types, and publication venues. There is a negative correlation between the shares of English usage in journals and conference proceedings. We find only a minor overlap between English and Chinese-language publications, indicating unique contributions rather than repetitive content. However, Chinese-language publications are more likely to be similar to English-language publications. For highly similar cross-language publication pairs, the Chinese version tends to be published earlier. The findings underscore the risk of underestimating China's scientific output by only counting English-language publications. We highlight the importance of creating a comprehensive multilingual database and the significant role of non-English-language research in global scientific discourse.Keywords: multilingual publishing; scientific communication; language policy; academic multilingualism; bibliometrics; quantitative analysis.

In response to the increasing alienation from nature exacerbated by digital living, this course design presents an advanced composition "rewilding" course. Combining natural history writing, nature therapy research, and mindfulness activities, the course aims to reconnect students with the natural world. Inspired by Micah Mortali's concept of rewilding and Barry Lopez's exploration of inner and outer landscapes, the course emphasizes experiential learning. Through natural history writing, students develop attentiveness to the environment, fostering a sense of wonder and connection. By centering on our innate relationship with nature, rewilding becomes a transformative practice, preparing students for ecological literacy and meaningful engagement with the world.

Spectrometers play a decisive role in the education of A-level and/or under-graduate students in the field of natural sciences. They are capable to demonstrate atomic emission, transmission, reflection and fluorescence spectra, but can be used for wavelength filtering, as well. Here, we present a do-it-yourself spectrometer setup based on a Czerny--Turner design that (a) can be used for all measurement types with one and the same setup and (b) is capable to spectrally resolve atomic emission lines. We use LEGO® bricks for the optomechanical construction and combine it with affordable, but high-quality optical components and linear array based on a charge-coupled device (CCD). A modular design is implemented and allows for a quick change between the various measurement techniques, but also fosters the technological understanding of the underlying systems' optical design.

Environmental forensics is the application of knowledge from geosciences and chemistry in a legal setting, e.g., to determine the origin and consequences of contamination events. Teaching environmental forensics requires reactivating prior knowledge from different fields of natural sciences, filling knowledge gaps, and connecting pieces of scientific evidence to form logical chains of arguments. Here, we present a cooperative teaching format that successfully covers the challenges of interdisciplinary teaching while further developing learners' soft skills. Through role-playing in a mock trial of a famous hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] contamination case in California, learners choose to team with the town of Hinkley, as the plaintiff team, or with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the company accused of the contamination, as the defense team. After introductory sessions, the teams summarize facts, and build and present arguments to support their claims regarding the formation of the Cr(VI) plume, the impact on the population's health, and remediation efforts taken by PG&E. These arguments are delivered in front of their peers and instructors, acting as judges, in a mock trial. Here, we summarize different modalities that have been tested over the past 10 years regarding role assignment and team building. This teaching format has been shown to be successful in engaging learners with the scientific aspects of the case-based trial while helping them become critical about information they are confronted with, delivering arguments in structured ways, defending their points of view, and improving communication skills on a peer- and layperson-level.

In this article we present the results of a biology teaching module offered at university bachelor level for law students and social sciences students in Lima, Peru. The objective was to trigger philosophical reflection on the notion of nature (cognitive dimension) and to assess if and to what extent the use of poetry contributes to the students' understanding of nature by adding emotional and conative (desire for action) dimensions. We accounted three dialectical moments of natural sciences and nature poetry in history and discussed their meaning in the context of biology teaching nowadays. We also highlighted the importance of poems as semiotic resources for science learning and explored bibliographic accounts of similar studies. Our results indicate that nature poetry fosters a holistic view of nature, allowing students to combine knowledge with value concerns, and cognitive with conative and emotional dimensions. Also, poetry allows them to connect or confront scientific information with traditional indigenous knowledge. Finally, we found that poetry afforded students a sense of freedom to present and discuss their personal experiences with nature. We concluded that this module can be used as a supplementary educational tool in biology courses and those meant to inspire action and reflection in the face of global environmental challenges.

The international mobility of academics is one of the key mechanisms through which university internationalization occurs; yet, fewer studies have investigated the impact that it has on academics' teaching, research, and service. This study investigates the relationship between short-term international mobility and changes in academics' research networks. Using bibliometric data, research collaboration patterns of 303 U.S. Fulbright academics were analyzed to determine with which academics abroad they are more likely to collaborate and which factors influence the likelihood of research collaboration. The findings demonstrate a positive relationship between short-term international mobility and subsequent research collaborations between mobile academics and host institution and host country academics, but co-publications were more likely with host institution as opposed to host country academics. The results also indicate that this positive relationship is mediated by academics' pre-existing networks, characteristics of the abroad experience, and academics' sociodemographic characteristics.

The history and philosophy of science (HPS) plays a special role in education. An elective HPS course on the philosophy of scientific experimentation for young scientists and graduate students of natural science is presented. The course bears a pragmatic character, and its main aims include the development of critical thinking (CT), familiarization with philosophical problems in the relevant areas of knowledge, and the cultivation of a taste for reflective, critical analysis, both individual and group based, which contributes to a deeper understanding of the features of scientific practice in the context of modern complex group cooperation. Students are offered a classical HPS program that included debates on the relationship between empiricism and rationalism, the role of Kant's transcendental philosophy, modern topics associated with the practical success of rationalism in the emergence of modern natural science, and the theory-ladenness of experimentation. Particular attention during the course is paid to the problems of megascience, the inclusion of which is justified by the specifics of the students' engagement with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Emphasis is placed on the structure and typology of the collective subject in the modern educational process as well as in experimental practice. Lessons on the methodology of expert text analysis (META), which are aimed at the development of critical thinking skills and the creation of an interdisciplinary discussion space, are included in the course and relied on the example of the history and philosophy of high-energy physics to motivate professional reflection. META classes included in the course prepare graduate students for teamwork in big science, proto-megascience, and megascience. The course offers practical recommendations that could be applied to students' own research and could be useful for practitioners.

The study describes an innovative methodology for teaching natural and mathematical sciences in the context of distance learning using modern technological solutions and based on the concepts of active social learning that involves constructivist, problem-oriented, project and research approaches. The proposed methodology was tested on 80 students enrolled in two training courses in [BLINDED] University and [BLINDED] University, respectively: "Mathematics Teaching" in the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context and "Molecular Biology." The psychological safety of the proposed pedagogical methodology was investigated by assessing the level of psychological well-being of the participants in the educational process using the Scale of psychological well-being questionnaire developed by C. D. Ryff that was adapted to the educational context. The results of the study showed that the proposed pedagogical methodology was safe in relation to the life of students. It generally improved their perception of learning and themselves in the role of its participants, promoted positive self-esteem in group learning contacts, and, by developing learning involvement and interest through the Clil technology, qualitatively contributed to the achievement of educational progress by each student. The developed innovative methodology for teaching natural and mathematical sciences can be used as a pedagogical model for developing effective training courses. The demonstrated assessment of the level of psychological well-being adapted to the educational context can serve as a basis for the development of motivational learning strategies that support students in crisis learning conditions during the pandemic.

Feeling like an impostor is common among successful individuals, but particularly among women and early-career professionals. Here, we investigated how gender and career-stage differences in impostor feelings vary as a function of the contexts that academics have to navigate. In particular, we focused on a powerful but underexplored contextual feature: the extent to which raw intellectual talent (i.e., "brilliance") is prized in an academic field. We hypothesized that gender and career-stage differences in impostor feelings would be magnified in fields that value brilliance. We tested this hypothesis using the largest sample of academics that has been brought to bear on the impostor phenomenon to date, with over 4,000 academics recruited from nine research-intensive U.S. universities and representing more than 80 fields across the natural and social sciences, the humanities, and medicine. Consistent with our hypothesis, the more that success in a field was perceived to require brilliance, the more that women--especially women from racial/ethnic groups that are traditionally underrepresented in academia--and early-career academics felt like impostors. Impostor feelings were also related to a lower sense of belonging in a field and lower self-efficacy, highlighting the potential negative implications of the impostor phenomenon for academics' long-term success and for the diversity of fields that value brilliance.

In this study we examine upper secondary students' notions of contraceptive methods, as human reproduction and contraception are common content in sexuality education in Sweden and worldwide. Our data were constructed during an extensive educational sequence in natural science sexuality education and include audio recordings of 17-18-year-old students' stories. Since the main body of the stories was about hormonal and digital contraception and contraceptive responsibility, these stories are the focal point of our analysis. Our study further aims to problematize, challenge, and develop education on contraceptive methods, and Donna Haraway's theoretical perspectives have been particularly useful. We have in the analytical process linked Haraway's cyborg image with her later work on tentacular thinking. Our result shows that scientific facts about human reproduction are important for the students' ability to navigate between the advantages and disadvantages of various contraceptive methods. However, sexuality education turns out to not only be a matter of scientific facts. This study accentuates how natural science, historical, political, cultural, and market-oriented intertwinings affect students' notions of contraception--and thereby also the construction of natural science sexuality education.

The purpose of research was to investigate students' attitudes towards natural science in Muaro Jambi, Indonesia. The attitude of the students studied was represented by three indicators, namely the attitude towards the investigation in the Natural Sciences, the adoption of a scientific attitude, and a career interest in the science field. The research was a survey research. The instruments in this study were attitude questionnaires and interview sheets. Data analysis techniques for attitude questionnaires used descriptive statistics while for analyzing interview data using the Miles and Huberman model.The study found students' good attitudes towards natural science subjects.

The purpose of this research is to know how the attitude of junior high school students to science mathematics with three indicators adopted from TOSRA are: 1) pleasure in learning science, 2) interest to increase study time of science, and 3) interest in a career in the science field. This research uses survey type research with design research is quantitative design. This research was conducted in several junior high schools in Muaro Jambi district with total 2815 of total students. The instruments used are attitude questionnaires and interview sheets. The data analysis used for quantitative data is the descriptive statistical type and reinforced by interview analysis. The result of the research shows that students with the indicator of pleasure in learning science, and interest in increasing the study time dominant IPA has a good attitude category, while the indicator of career interest in the field of IPA dominant has a fairly good attitude category.

This study aims to determine the views of students majoring in mathematics education and natural science faculty of teacher training and education science at Universitas Jambi to use electronic's module in physics practicum which is based on science process skills. The study involved 117 students majoring in mathematics education and science which consists of 59 students of physical education and 58 students of mathematics education. This research is descriptive quantitative research in order to obtain information mean (M), median (Me), mode (Mo), percentage, the range of the maximum value and the minimum value. Data was collected by using questionnaires and interviews. Based on the research results from students' perceptions of physical education in good category at 64.4% while the student's perception of mathematics education in good category amounting to 55.2%.

Teachers' approaches to teaching at undergraduate level in universities have long been considered very significant for students' learning. Teachers can develop critical thinking skills in students at this stage which in turn aid problem solving, that is essential to the social and economic development of a nation. This study aims to explore teachers' approaches to teaching at university level in Punjab, Pakistan through quantitative research and adaptation of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI), a reliable and valid survey instrument. Cluster stratified random sampling technique was applied to select one hundred and twenty teachers from eight public and private Universities. The results of this study indicate that the teachers use both Conceptual Change-Student Focused (CCSF) and Information Transmission-Teacher Focused (ITTF) approaches. A comparison of approaches to teaching in public and private universities showed no significant difference between them. However, the results of this study indicated that female teachers use ITTF approach more than male teachers. Professional development of university teachers regarding approaches to teaching is recommended based on the findings of this study.

The type of tests used most by Primary Education teachers in the Spanish education system is traditional examinations, despite not fulfilling the educational qualities that pedagogy and the Spanish law prescribe for assessment processes. In this study, an assessment test has been designed by applying game-design elements to examinations of the Natural Sciences subject of Spanish Primary Education, considering the potential games have for learning at school. A sample of 217 teachers divided into two groups was studied. Teachers who agreed to apply gamification in class were included in the experimental group and teachers who declined to apply gamification were included in the control group. Both groups answered a questionnaire on their perception of how each type of assessment influenced different didactic aspects. The comparison of the traditional assessment model and the game-based model revealed that the gamified exam presented notable advantages associated with increased motivation and increased capacity of the assessment activity to continuity the learning process beyond the school context.