Demonstrating higher-order thinking skills is crucial for thriving in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. In science education, inquiry-based learning has increasingly been recognized as a potent approach to stimulate students' higher-order thinking skills. While prior research has shown evidence of its positive…

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an inquiry-based virtual reality (VR) science lab used in junior high school science classes. The "Scientific Investigation VR Lab" ("SIVRLAB") is designed for 9th-grade students to learn about electrochemical cells. It is situated in a guided problem-solving context, where…

This study examined the impact of a project-based learning module on young children's scientific practices in urban and Indigenous areas. The module was developed by drawing upon early science standards and research on scientific practices and project-based teaching approaches. Ninety-eight children from northern Taiwan participated. Their average…

This study examined the roles of gender and STEM major status as predictors of performance in formulating a research question and designing experiment among 70 undergraduate Taiwanese college students participating in inquiry-based learning (IBL). Student participants in this study were involved in discrepant demonstrations of scientific events…

Education research has shown that reflective study can efficiently enhance learning, and the acquisition of knowledge and skills from real-life situations has become a focus of interest for scholars. The knowledge-learning model based on verbal instruction, used in traditional classrooms, does not make use of real-life situations that encourage…

This empirical study investigates secondary science teachers' perspectives on science education reform in Taiwan and reflects how these teachers have been negotiating constructivist and learner-centered pedagogical approaches in contemporary science education. It also explores the challenges that teachers encounter while shifting their pedagogical…

This study explores the effects of metacognitive and cognitive prompting on the scientific inquiry practices of students with various levels of initial metacognition. Two junior high school classes participated in this study. One class, the experimental group (n?=?26), which received an inquiry-based curriculum with a combination of cognitive and…

Many scholars claimed the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is beneficial to the national economy and teachers and institutes have been working to develop integrated education programs. This study examined a project-based learning (PjBL) activity that integrated STEM using survey and interview…

This longitudinal study explores the effects of an after-school, inquiry-based science intervention on improving low-achieving elementary school children's affective perceptions of learning science (APLS) and positive thinking. Thirty-nine low-achieving children nominated by their teachers attended a three-semester intervention and formed the…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…