The present study examined to what extent inquiry-based investigation as an instructional approach associated with students' overall science achievement and achievement in cognitive domains, including knowing science facts, applying scientific principles, and reasoning with scientific concepts to solve problems. Using TIMSS 2007 science…

This study introduces a teaching concept based on the Standard Model of particle physics. It comprises two consecutive chapters--elementary particles and fundamental interactions. The rationale of this concept is that the fundamental principles of particle physics can run as the golden thread through the whole physics curriculum. The design…

In this study, the effect of group work and traditional method on 9th grade students' misconceptions about Newton Laws was investigated. The study was conducted in three classes in an Anatolian Vocational High School in Ankara/Turkey in the second term of the 2014-2015 academic year. Two of these classes were chosen as the experimental group and…

This paper reports a cross-grade comparative study of Chinese precollege students' epistemological beliefs about physics by using the Colorado Learning Attitudes Survey about Sciences (CLASS). Our students of interest are middle and high schoolers taking traditional lecture-based physics as a mandatory science course each year from the 8th grade…

Many traditional classroom science and technology activities often ask students to complete prepackaged labs that ensure that everyone arrives at the same "scientifically accurate" solution or theory, which ignores the important problem-solving and creative aspects of scientific research and technological design. Students rarely have the…

Understanding the nature of science is even more important than mastering its details, says Alan Leshner, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in an interview with Educational Leadership. In this article, Leshner discusses the controversy about teaching evolution, and he asserts that demands to…

Model-eliciting activities (MEA), specially designed client-drive, open-ended problems, have been implemented in a first-year engineering course and in secondary schools. The educational goals and settings are different, but the design of an MEA enables it to be versatile. This paper will introduce the reader to the principles that guide MEA…