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The worrying decline in the status of primary school science in schools in England has been linked to low teacher confidence in teaching science and to schools being heavily focused on achievement in English and mathematics. This article reports on a novel professional learning strategy that was provided for 23 primary science leaders over five half-day workshops. Workshops focused on key topics that teachers reported having least confidence in teaching. Through a structured series of learning episodes, each workshop included knowledge and skills acquisition, opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills to primary-focused practicals, the introduction and application of scientific vocabulary, discussion and reflection time. Findings from pre- and post-workshop questionnaires undertaken with all participants and in-depth interviews with eight participants were examined from a phenomenological perspective. Participants reported that the workshops had significant and positive influences on raising their ability to teach science effectively and to build their confidence in leading colleagues. Participants also reported that the status of science in their schools had been improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thanks to the advancement of mobile technologies, Augmented Reality (AR) has become broadly accessible through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Mobile Augmented Reality can benefit science education in a variety of ways. However, except from some sporadic experimental cases, it is rather rarely employed by teachers and has not yet been fully introduced in education. Moreover, little research exists about the adoption behavior of mobile AR by pre-service teachers. Against this background, the current study proposes and validates an integrated adoption model to explain and predict the factors that significantly influence student teachers' intentions to use mobile AR in teaching primary science. The study also introduces two new constructs, Perceived Immersion and Perceived Educational Value in the context of mobile AR. Eighty-nine undergraduate pre-service primary school teachers participated in a mobile augmented reality workshop creating mobile augmented reality experiences for teaching physics to primary school pupils. Following that, student teachers answered an online survey. The quantitative survey data was analysed using structural equation modelling. The study confirmed the proposed model explaining and predicting approximately 72% of the variance of student teachers' Behavioral Intention to Use mobile AR to teach primary science. Perceived Immersion and Perceived Educational Value significantly influence Behavioral Intention to Use after being mediated by Perceived Usefulness. The study offers insight into the factors influencing pre-service primary teachers' intentions to utilise mobile augmented reality (AR) in their future lessons, which is relevant given the growing interest in utilising these technologies in education. Implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study aimed to assess the strength of primary school students' (aged 11–12 years old) Science Self-Efficacy (SSE) beliefs, identify emanating sources, and investigate any gender-related differences. School SSE is defined here as perceived capacity to complete learning outcomes from the upper Irish primary science curriculum. The strengths and sources of participants' school SSE beliefs were assessed quantitatively (N = 260) using the Irish Science Self-Efficacy Children's Questionnaire (IS-SEC-Q). Twenty-five students were interviewed to further explore the origins of their SSE, and their perception of science in the classroom. Results indicated that students' self-efficacy to perform scientific skills was lower than their self-efficacy to answer questions. Mastery experience was found to be the strongest predictor of self-efficacy in science skills, corroborating findings from other educational contexts. However, students report that they seldom engage in hands-on science during school, suggesting that Irish classrooms still lack student-led investigations. Gender-related results are also highlighted. This work serves as the first report of students' school SSE beliefs in Ireland, expands upon existing literature surrounding the SSE beliefs of pre-adolescent students, and discusses implications for classroom practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of science education, adults often set up practical-based activities with the idea of stimulating children's reasoning and approaching science in a playful way. Although the potential role of objects in stimulating social practices has been considered in the literature, how teachers work on semiotic aspects of argumentation is still less explored. In this paper, the purpose is to identify how practice-based experiences settled up by teachers shape children's argumentation in science education. We analyzed argumentation in science tasks involving a total of 39 children (6–7 years old) and their three teachers, coming from two different classrooms of cycle 1 (Harmos, grades 3–4)1 recruited in the French speaking-part of Switzerland. The tasks were video-recorded and then transcribed. Through the lenses of the pragma-dialectical approach, we selected the argumentative discussions emerging during the experiences and we performed a qualitative analysis of these interactions, by looking at different semiotic resources: speech, gaze direction, deictic gestures, and position of physical objects. The findings show that teachers play a crucial role in sustaining children's argumentation by the integration of different semiotic resources during the activities. As argumentation in classroom evolves through the mobilization of various communicative tools, the present study can contribute to strengthen the interplay between different channels of interaction during science education at primary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we narrow our investigation to the talk provided by one teacher in the exploration phase of a primary school science project. The exploration phase warrants attention given its role in providing students with a common base of science activities that draws on their prior knowledge. We examine lesson excerpts from a grant-winning primary years science teacher who sets up her Year 3 students to explore garden ecosystems. The study's analytic framework is derived from Systemic Functional Linguistics and focuses on the way the teacher uses certain aspects of ideational, interpersonal and textual functions to mediate between the instructional and regulative discourses. Our findings show that the teacher orientated to the regulative discourse to provide students with access to an instructional discourse. Additionally, the teacher used a significant number of pronouns for signalling, and sequencing connectives that flowed on to a significant number of complex noun groups. We draw attention to the range of speech functions and comment on their role in school science lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the prediction level of science success in high school entrance exams (HSEE/LGS) using artificial neural networks (ANNs) by associating students' success in science classes from the 4th-grade elementary level. The Pearson Moment Product Correlation analysis results were analyzed using the SPSS program to examine the connection between students' performance on the LGS science subtest and their academic achievement in science. In the MATLAB program, artificial neural network modeling performance was examined to understand the level of prediction. The data sets were obtained from the electronic school system of the Ministry of National Education for the 4th to 8thgrades of 1027 students graduating from 24 schools in 17 districts of Bursa in the 2017-2018 academic year and entered the 2018 LGS and LGS result documents without personal information. When the correlations between the LGS science sub-test and science test success were examined (p <.001), the highest and lowest correlations were found in the 8th-grade science exams (r = .70) and the 4th-grade ones (r=.57), respectively. The highest performance values were learning R=.80, verification R=.74, and test R=.75, RMSE=2.35 at the network architecture, generated in the second sub-problem and the trained network with 845 student data. A high-level relationship with r=.75 (p<.001) using the data of 182 students was obtained, while the correct numbers of simulated real LGS science sub-tests compared with the correct numbers predicted by the computer after the training process of the network. In addition, it was obtained that 124 students out of 182 were correctly estimated in the [+ 2, -2] error value range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to improve science process skills in science learning the material of changing the shape of objects in fifth grade students of SDS Plus Al Mubarokah through the experimental method. This type of research is collaborative classroom action research with the research design of the Kemmis & McTaggart model consisting of 4 stages including planning, action, observation, and reflection. The subjects of this research were 4 students of class V. This research was conducted in 2 cycles, each cycle consisting of 2 meetings conducted by applying the experimental method. The technique of collecting data in this research is through interviews, observation, documentation, and worksheets. Data collection instruments in the form of interview sheets, observation sheets, documentation sheets, and worksheets. In this study, the data analysis technique used was descriptive qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The results of this study indicate that the application of the experimental method can improve students' science process skills by 25%. The average score of students' science process skills in the first cycle was 62.5% and in the second cycle it was 87.5%. In conclusion, the application of the experimental method can improve the science process skills of the fifth grade (Five) SDS Plus Al Mubarokah students in learning the science of changing the shape of objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science learning should be carried out using a method that is in accordance with its nature as a product, process, and scientific attitude. One method that can be applied is the experimental method. The purpose of this study was to determine the improvement of science learning outcomes in fifth grade students of SDN Pucangan III through the experimental method. In this study, the data collection methods used were interviews, observation, tests, and documentation with quantitative qualitative data analysis techniques. The result of this research is that there is an increase in the science learning outcomes of the fifth grade students of SDN Pucangan III in each cycle. At the pre-cycle stage, the percentage of the number of students who completed was only 60% with an average value of 67. In the first cycle there was no increase in the number of students who completed, which was still in the range of 60%, but there was a slight increase in the average learning outcomes to 68. In cycle II, the percentage of the number of students completed and student learning outcomes both increased, respectively to 80% and 78. Based on this, it can be concluded that the experimental method can improve the learning outcomes of fifth grade students at SDN Pucangan III in science learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Science teaching has been called to contribute to citizenship insofar as it requires scientific competencies such as articulating theory and evidence, and the critical evaluation of different points of view. To promote argumentation in science teaching is key but not simple and requires teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of argumentation. International literature has reported low PCK of argumentation in science teachers, but we scarcely know about this in Spanish speaking countries. This paper reports a study aimed at describing the PCK of argumentation on 10 primary science teachers in Chile. Lessons were video recorded, and interviews were conducted. Results show low PCK of argumentation overall, and declarative PCK does not necessarily relates with procedimental PCK. Moreover, different configurations of the dimensions of PCK of argumentation were observed, suggesting that there is not one possible learning progression, but different ones. Educational and scientific implications 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]

Teaching primary science through inquiry offers a number of benefits including developing pupils' science skills, progressing thinking skills and personal capabilities, and making science relevant to children's everyday experience. Ensuring that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are fully confident and competent in teaching inquiry-based science (IBS) however presents a number of challenges to initial teacher educators as teaching through inquiry calls for a high level of competence in classroom practice and an understanding of science concepts and theory. Opportunities to observe or teach IBS lessons during school experience are often limited thereby preventing PSTs acquiring personal experience of planning, teaching and evaluating inquiry-based lessons. This paper presents a model for coteaching where PSTs, initially, teach alongside peers before progressing to teaching with in-service teachers. Feedback from PSTs' written and oral evaluations indicate that the model is effective at developing their confidence and competence at each stage of their learning journey. We propose a sociocultural interpretation suggesting that coteaching addresses the cognitive and affective needs of PSTs and point to the valuable contribution which coteaching offers to all phases of science teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study explores how a science teacher adopted knowledge building and learning analytics to support a class of primary five students to collaboratively inquire and learn about electricity. Specifically, we aim to understand how the teacher implemented a lesson design guided by knowledge building principles of idea improvement and community knowledge and how he used visualisations from an analytics tool to facilitate students in collaborative inquiry in science. We collected student notes from their online discourse in Knowledge Forum, video-recorded a total of 11 lesson videos and conducted interviews with the teacher and students. We found that students' online discussion reflected explanation-seeking questions to sustain the inquiry on the topic and explanations to deepen and improve their ideas on concepts of electricity. We also found that the visualisations from our analytics tool supported (i) teacher-facilitated whole-class discussions on curriculum keywords and student ideas to develop conceptual understanding and idea-building, and (ii) students in exploring science ideas they were interested in. The findings from our study contribute to the understanding of teachers' enactment of inquiry-supported pedagogies in primary science classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estonian students' knowledge of science is, according to PISA (Program for International Student Assessment), good but their motivation to learn science is lower than expected. As primary teachers create a foundation for learning, it is important that they acknowledge and use teaching practices that support engagement. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between primary teachers' views on teaching and classroom activities and students' engagement in science lessons. A general sample questionnaire (N = 219), followed by classroom observations (N = 4) and students' self-reports (N = 46) were used. The results highlight that engagement depends more on the wider learning context rather on a specific teaching approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a qualitative study of teaching work in general at elementary schools, along with a specific view of teaching mathematics, Spanish, and natural science. An interdisciplinary team observed the classes of fifteen teachers for one week in Mexico City and in the state of Hidalgo, Mexico. Their observation and analysis consider referents from teaching specific disciplines and a sociocultural focus. The article presents a panorama of teachers' work, emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses in teaching specific subjects, as well as institutional factors that influence the process. We believe that the study's findings will be useful in designing programs for ongoing training and evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of exploring how children discuss underlying reasons for evolution and how materials function in children's meaning making processes, this article provides insight into how evolution theory can be introduced in preschool and in the early years of primary school. Video data from eight group discussions (N = 27) were analyzed using a multimodal perspective. Despite not having had any formal instruction about evolution theory, the 6-year-old children in this study made use of their previous experiences and the materials to make meaning and argue for different reasons for animal diversity. The results show that the children's discussions concerned four conceptual themes: animals are different because of kinship and heredity, environmental effects, the need for adaptation, and the need for geographic separation. The children used the provided materials, comprising photographs, figurines, and a topographic world map, as resources for providing meaning, as argumentative tools, and as tools for communication. By making observations in a logical and scientific way, the children spontaneously discussed similarities and differences in traits, which implies that variation might be a fruitful way to introduce evolution theory to preschool children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a qualitative study about the integration of STSE (Science-Technology-Society- Environment) approach in the current official curriculum of 5th and 6th year of Primary Education in Spain. The study focused on determining what improvements have been achieved in the new science curriculum (LOMCE) regarding the STSE approach. The results indicate that this approach is present in the current curriculum but does insufficiently, just as it happened in the previous curriculum. The study contributes to reflection on the design of science curriculum of 5th and 6th year of Primary Education in accordance with the STSE approach. It is suggested that this approach be more clearly reflected. In addition, an analysis instrument has been developed that serves as a tool that can support and guide the authors of curriculum during the production of these resources, which we believe can be applicable at different levels teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This two-year, mixed-methods study explored teacher learning during a year-long professional development programme and during the year following the programme. The study examined patterns of change in primary school teachers’ inquiry practices, inquiry beliefs and physical science content knowledge during both years as well as the effects of school-level and individual-level factors on these changes in the year following the programme. Fifteen fourth-grade through sixth-grade teachers from three low-performing US schools participated. Results indicated that the programme was effective in advancing teacher change during the programme year, as scores in all three measures increased at statistically significant rates. Only content knowledge scores increased significantly in the year following the professional development. A combination of school-level and individual-level factors impacted the year 2 changes. School-level factors were: having supportive same-grade teams and/or a supportive mentor who advocated inquiry science and who prioritized science as a subject; principal prioritization of science; and having easy access to and training in the use of relevant materials. The primary individual-level factor was the degree of teachers’ willingness and readiness to change beliefs in fundamental ways. Implications for professional development providers and school administrators are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are children competent producing anatomy cross-sections? To answer this question, we carried out a case study research aimed at testing graphic production skills in anatomy of nutrition. The graphics produced by 118 children in the final year of primary education were analysed. The children had to draw a diagram of a human cross section, integrating knowledge of anatomy acquired from longitudinal sections. The results show that they have very limited skills in producing these graphics judging by the dimensions (scale, shape, organs represented and its organization inside the section) and their conception of human anatomy at thoracic level (location of the organs, elements in the spaces between them and connections between organs). The results also indicate that the only exposure to cross-sections in daily life is not enough by itself to draw them correctly, so this type of graphic production should be addressed from the earliest stages of education, since it contributes to the development of visual literacy, and this is a crucial skill when it comes to learning science concepts and developing scientific literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a description of an outreach project to local primary schools carried out by David Bell, aka the "Rock Man" (Figure 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is written for school teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand schools who teach science to Year 7-10 students or as part of a primary classroom programme under The New Zealand Curriculum. What can teachers do about inequity in science education for Māori students? Clear understanding of this complex issue is required, so this article offers a synopsis of the Māori science curriculum debate. Written from my perspective as an insider-researcher interested in this topic for many years, this article engages with important comments about Māori-medium science education made by Sir Peter Gluckman in a major report on science education (2011), and an earlier challenge by Graham Hingangaroa Smith (1995) about the 'Māori crisis' in science education. Towards the end I briefly discuss what teachers might do, and consider the potential of 'bilingual science' as an alternate approach with relevance for any classroom teacher, and a way of navigating the current theoretical impasse or 'crisis' in Māori science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When primary school science teaching is critiqued, much attention is paid to teachers' perceived deficiencies in their specific knowledge and beliefs about science, and about science pedagogical content knowledge. Scant credit is given to teachers' rich contributions derived from their knowledge and beliefs in three more generic domains - namely, their beliefs about students, about the broader purposes of science education, and about the purposes of education itself. However, some research now suggests that teacher capability in these three more generic domains can strongly influence primary science teaching. This paper argues that acknowledging and working with teacher knowledge and beliefs in all five domains jointly, may benefit science education. The entry point is facilitating teacher discussion in small groups, in which their beliefs (both in action and espoused) in all five domains are surfaced and negotiated, a process epitomised by Parker Palmer's (2007) luminous phrase "good talk about good teaching". We describe the construction and use of a new instrument to facilitate this, which has been derived from a protocol in a parallel tertiary project. Finally, we signal how this novel instrument is being developed to further promote individual and group professional development in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the nation's K-12 classrooms become increasingly more racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, it is incumbent upon the science community to seize opportunities to attend to the rhetoric of reform, namely to enhance scientific literacy for all students. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) as a framework, this study examined 112 nature of science (NOS) research peer-reviewed studies conducted in the U. S. from (1967 to 2013). Results suggests that while White participants are being represented in the NOS research, Black, Latino, Native American and other people of color, were found to be disproportionally excluded as participants. Implications of excluding these individuals are explored and suggestions for making NOS research more equitable are discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 1546-1570, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we explore the places pre- and primary school (K-6) student teachers associate with their science learning experiences and how they view the relationship between these places and science. In doing so, we use 'place' as an analytical entry point to deepen the understanding of pre- and primary school student teachers' relationship to science. Inspired by theories from human geography we firstly explore how the university science classroom can be conceptualised as a meeting place, where trajectories of people as well as artefacts come together, using this conceptualisation as the stepping stone for arguing the importance of the place-related narrations of science the students bring to this classroom. We thereafter analyse how a sense of place, including affective dimensions, is reflected in Swedish student teachers' science learning narratives (collected in the form of an essay assignment where the student teachers' reflected upon their in and out of school science learning experiences). The empirical material consists of 120 student essays. The most prominent feature of the empirical material as a whole is the abundance of affective stories about the student teachers' experiences in natural environments, often expressing a strong sense of belonging to, and identification with, a particular place. However, the student narratives also give voice to an ambivalent valuing of the affective experiences of natural environments. Sometimes such affective experiences are strongly delineated from what the students consider actual science knowledge, on other occasions, students, in a somewhat contradictious way, stress natural environments as the authentic place for doing science, in contrast to the perceived in-authenticity of teaching science in the classroom. When student teachers explicitly discuss the classroom as a place, this was almost without exception with strong negative emotions, experiences of outsideness and alienation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integral and deep pedagogical content knowledge can support future primary teachers' ability to follow ideas of education for sustainability in science class. Initial teacher education provides opportunity to learn what and how to teach but still the practical experiences of teaching can reveal uneven development of student teachers' professionality. The aim of the study is to describe how future primary teachers reflect on their experiences about science teaching and what components of science pedagogical content knowledge they see as meaningful. A questionnaire and interviews were used. The results reveal the deep impact of teaching practice on students' understanding of the role of a teacher in supporting pupils' acquisition of scientific skills. The experiences described are related more to teaching and learning in general and less with science-specific factors. Nevertheless, students described changes in mission e.g. how they learned about their role through pupils' achievements and thinking about science. Changes in professional identity were mentioned rarely but this could point to an underestimated resource issue for teacher education. Positive changes in professional identity may help students to decide to choose more integral strategies in science teaching and thus promote more sustainability oriented teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers that the science teacher should mediate in the acquisition of reading and writing abilities in the area of Natural Science. This means making students interact progressively with the specific genres of the disciplines, starting in primary school. This article proposes the approaching of the genre procedural recount with the aim of favoring the learning of scientific contents by writing about the procedure followed during experimental activities carried out in the Natural Science class. The study, made with a group of fifth grade students attending a primary school in the province of San Juan, (Argentina) consisted of two classes during which the teacher worked with contents related to the sound and its characteristics. In the analysis of the texts written by the students we considered the structure of the recount written in each instance and the scientific content stated in the students productions. The results suggest that when the structure of the genre is given to students, the written production is favored. This is shown in aspects related to the ordering of the ideas, its presentation in a more complete manner and the attempts to explain the phenomena under study, improving the use of the language of science and the learning of the discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this paper, we review research on how students' interest in science changes through the primary to secondary school transition. In the literature, the findings generally show that primary students enjoy science but come to lose interest during secondary school. As this claim is based mainly on interview and questionnaire data, that is on secondary reports from students about their interest in science, these results are reexamined through our own extensive material from primary and secondary school on how interest is constituted through classroom discourse. Our results suggest the possibility that primary students do not lose their interest in science, but rather that an interest in science is never constituted. The overview indicates that studies relying on interviews and questionnaires make it difficult to ascertain what the actual object of interest is when students act in the science classroom. The possibility suggested should, if valid, have consequences for science education and be worthy of further examination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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There has been a call for effective professional learning to improve the quality of the science teaching of primary teachers in Australia. It seems from the literature that teaching science effectively is a challenging endeavour for primary teachers. Professional learning based on the instructional core framework is an emerging approach that has been utilised sparingly in teacher professional learning in Australia. This paper reports on a case study that investigated the outcomes of one instance of a professional learning programme for primary science teachers based on the instructional core. Using a case study methodology, the current study collected data from multiple sources, including video-taped lesson observations, teacher interviews, field notes and transcripts of the teacher learning sessions. The study shows a number of positive outcomes with reference to the three areas of the instructional core framework: content, pedagogy and student skill outcomes. The findings of the paper are especially relevant to teacher educators, coaches and mentors who are interested in professional learning approaches that achieve positive outcomes in student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the socio-cultural activities that have direct and indirect impacts on critical thinking practices in primary science classrooms and what kinds of teachers' activities help to foster the development of critical thinking practices in children. Meanwhile, the constructivist and the socio-cultural theoretical dimensions have been taken as the conceptual bases for this study. This study has highlighted the major conceptual and methodological issues in identifying and assessing children's critical thinking as well as the educational implications for the promotion of children's original thinking. It used the qualitative research approach to pursue the objectives of the study. Science classroom observation and an interview with the science teachers were the major tools to collect the required information. Critical thinking is essential in critical science processes and practices. Hands-on, minds-on and hearts-on teaching learning strategies help to develop critical thinking to primary level children in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on 3-D design class for teaching the engineering design process to middle school students. It states that scicence teachers can become proficient in a 3-D modeling program through online tutorials and lessons. Much of this software is available for free, and there are several classroom-tested software downloads from which to choose.

Enquiry-based science in primary classrooms is key to encouraging children's interest and curiosity about the world around them and as a result helps to stimulate their understanding and enjoyment of science. Yet many primary teachers lack the confidence to implement enquiry-based approaches effectively. The reasons are myriad and often result in the teacher controlling and orchestrating the lesson leaving little room for children's exploration and autonomy. This paper explores how one infant school teacher was willing to relinquish control and ‘let go’ and expand her pedagogical repertoire to manage the many obstacles to including enquiry-based science in her classroom. The autonomy the children were given resulted in genuine enquiry-based science with the consequential benefit to their learning. Furthermore the teacher's confidence and self-efficacy seem to have been raised ensuring that that she would continue to include enquiry-based science as part of her practice in the future. As a model for other primary teachers this approach could help them overcome their reticence to engage with enquiry-based science. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background.The dynamic model of educational effectiveness (DMEE) is a comprehensive theoretical framework including factors that are important for school learning, based on consistent findings within educational effectiveness research.Purpose.This study investigates the impact of teacher and school factors of DMEE on mathematics and science achievement, and identifies factors with equalising qualities in terms of helping low-achieving student groups to catch up with their better-achieving peers.Sample.Data were retrieved from a large-scale, longitudinal project conducted in 571 classes in 334 schools in 6 European countries (Belgium/Flanders, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland and Slovenia). In each country, a sample of about 50 schools was drawn, and tests in mathematics and science were administered to all grade 4 students (N = 10,742) at the beginning and end of school-year 2010–2011.Design and methods. Data on teacher factors were collected through student questionnaires, and data on school factors were collected through teacher questionnaires. Two-level regression models were applied. Interaction effects between the factor and the group composition were estimated, while controlling for prior achievement.Results.Our results confirm the importance of most tested teacher factors (except for modelling and qualitative structuring) and all tested school factors of DMEE for effective math and science education. The majority of these factors appear to make an even greater difference for low-achieving student groups.Conclusions. Our results provide further validity to DMEE at classroom and school level, and indicate that most factors make a greater difference for low-achieving student groups. Thus, effective teaching is an important aspect for reducing the achievement gap. This illustrates the importance of placing the most effective teachers in schools with the highest percentage of underachieving students. Policy should encourage good teachers to teach in low-achieving schools by making these jobs more attractive, both financially and in terms of work conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study describes primary school students’ knowledge about rainfall, clouds and rainbow formation together with teachers’ predictions about students’ performance. In our study, primary school students’ (N = 177) knowledge about rainfall and rainbow formation was examined using structured interviews with open-ended questions. Primary school teachers’ (N = 110) awareness of students’ understanding was measured with questionnaires and the results will be discussed in relation to teaching experience and the use of different teaching practices. Our results show that students in every grade hold a wide-ranging set of misconceptions that reflect different combinations of their own understanding and learnt scientific knowledge. Teachers tended to overestimate students’ performance and described second-grade students’ knowledge more accurately than fourth- and sixth-grade students’ knowledge. Teachers with less teaching experience were found to less overestimate and more underestimate sixth-grade students’ knowledge than teachers with more teaching experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research project uses the methods of Crowder and Callinan and Sharp to assess year one children's (age 5–6) personal understanding of scientific concepts. This research project uses video recording as a primary resource of data collection within a case study approach using a participant observer method. Analysis supports the work of Crowder and Callinan and Sharp with one child demonstrating an understanding of a scientific concept that her scientific language did not transmit, therefore, answering the research question in the affirmative. This research, like others calls for more research to be carried out and offers a refined taxonomy to strengthen future research findings. More questions arise from this research such as: What effect does the type of questions asked by the teacher have on the type of gesture used? What is the effect of using gesture in teaching? And can gesture recognition be used by the teacher to aid with assessment? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The last two decades have seen unprecedented interest in science curricula, with many governments seeing improvements in the performance of their school students in science as key to future economic prosperity. We present the results of an analysis of the curriculum documents for primary and secondary science in Australia (New South Wales and Queensland), Canada (Alberta and Ontario), Finland, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and the United States (Florida and Massachusetts). Beyond our specific findings, we note a degree of convergence across these 11 very different jurisdictions. The Asian ones have made and are making changes to encourage students to be more creative and better able to apply their science knowledge and develop their scientific literacy; the ‘Western’ ones are becoming more knowledge focused. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This European project investigates the impact of the school factors included in the dynamic model of educational effectiveness on student achievement. In each participating country (Belgium/Flanders, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland and Slovenia), a sample of at least 50 schools was drawn and tests in mathematics and science were administered to all grade 4 students (n = 10,742) at the beginning and end of school year 2010–2011. Teachers completed a questionnaire measuring school policy on teaching, the school-learning environment and the evaluation of school policy. Multilevel analysis revealed that the school factors measuring policy on teaching, the school-learning environment and the evaluation of school policy explain student achievement gains in mathematics and science across countries and in each participating country. The effect sizes of these factors are equally important for explaining variation in student achievement in each subject. Descriptive analyses also show that there is scope for improving the factors included in the dynamic model in each country. Implications for research, policy and practice are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of inquiry- and context-based science education (IC-BaSE) have shown that teachers find these approaches problematic. In this study, 12 primary school teachers’ reflections on challenges related to IC-BaSE are explored. The aim of the study was to investigate which challenges primary teachers experience when working with IC-BaSE and how these may be solved. Group discussions and individual portfolios were used for data collection. Content analysis showed that the challenges teachers experienced were mainly practical relating to: how to find contexts, lack of time, handling big classes, students working at different paces, handling materials, and the teachers' need of control. The teachers also presented their own ideas of solutions to the challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study how a group of Primary Pre-service teachers' conceptions about assesment in science changed. The research is part of a R+D+I proyect in the context of an initial training course based on inquiry-based science education and interaction with innovative teaching practices. A qualitative metholodogy was used and the fundamental data collection were students' written documents through the three moments in which the study is divided. The analysis of these productions is concluded that there is progress in their knowledge of assesment in the three categories studied (conception, instruments and content assesment) next to a traditional teaching model, but without reaching the alternative model we consider desirable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]