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Science education reform efforts have emphasized the incorporation of more authentic and meaningful scientific practices into formal learning environments. With this focus on practices, such as scientific modeling, a powerful tool for sense-making and reasoning, comes a need to observe and understand if and how it is actually occurring, particularly in elementary science learning environments. To address this need, and moving forward an international, collaborative research effort centered around scientific modeling, we undertook a cross-national observational study in which we used an observation protocol to characterize scientific modeling practices in elementary classrooms in both the United States and Germany. Drawing on existing video-based datasets from multiple projects, this study's findings provide empirical evidence for model-based teaching and learning and explore the relative frequencies of relevant modeling subpractices (i.e., "construction," "use," "evaluation," and "revision" of scientific models) in regular, day-to-day elementary science classrooms. This study also illustrates the differences and similarities between German and American science instruction. In general, students in both countries experience model "construction" more often than other modeling practices. German teachers more consistently foreground anchoring phenomena and students' questions/preconceptions as part of the modeling process, thus leading to slightly higher overall modeling scores--despite a complete lack of model "evaluation" and "revision" in any of the observed German classrooms. Ultimately, however, young learners in "both" nations seem to experience alarmingly little opportunities to engage in any of the modeling subpractices. Particularly in terms of modeling as a means to make sense of phenomena, constrained by teachers most commonly using finished representations (i.e., models) of phenomena and processes to teach science/deliver content. Our results indicate the need for a greater focus on all scientific modeling subprocesses, particularly the integration of scientific modeling with already established, more general (e.g., inquiry-based) strategies for effective science teaching and an emphasis on actualizing modeling as an authentic "sense-making" endeavor.

Students' interest in science declines substantially in the transition from elementary to secondary education. Using students' ratings of their instruction on the topic of evaporation and condensation, we examined if changes in instructional practices accounted for differences in situational interest in science instruction and enduring individual interest in science between elementary and secondary school classrooms. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted for a sample of 60 fourth- and 54 sixth-grade classrooms. The use of student experiments, the elicitation of student explanations, and lack of clarity accounted to varying degrees for disparities in science interest between grade levels. The impact of instructional practices on individual interest was mediated by situational interest. This corroborated predictions of the person-object theory of interest.

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