Articles in the National Association for Science Teachers [NSTA] elementary journal "Science and Children" that describe an activity related to teaching nature of science [NOS] were analysed to ascertain the extent to which those activities align with research based suggestions for teaching NOS and the extent to which articles have…

Recent efforts to reform science education have strongly emphasized the understanding of the nature of science (NOS) as important to achieving broader scientific literacy. Despite the realization that students' understanding of NOS is important, there is a gap between research and practice. In order to teach NOS effectively in pre-college or…

This article presents the results of an analysis of three Slovenian textbooks for high school physics, from the point of view of simplifications and idealizations in the field of mechanics. In modeling of physical systems, making simplifications and idealizations is important, since one ignores minor effects and focuses on the most important…

A number of science education policy documents recommend that students develop an understanding of the enterprise of science and the nature of science (NOS). Despite this emphasis, there is still a gap between policy and practice. Teacher professional literature provides one potential venue for bridging this gap, by providing "activities that…

This work is a systematic review of studies that investigate teaching experiences applying History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) in physics classrooms, with the aim of obtaining critical and reliable information on this subject. After a careful process of selection and exclusion of studies compiled from a variety of databases, an in-depth review…

This paper looks into research aimed to elicit teachers' ideas about science through the development of resources as questionnaires, problematic tasks and interviews. It is focused on how those ideas are conceptualised and how such conceptualisations have been reflected in the methodological approaches adopted and the advantages and disadvantages…

The philosophy of biology today is one of the most exciting areas of philosophy. It looks critically across the life sciences, teasing out conceptual issues and difficulties bringing to bear the tools of philosophical analysis to achieve clarification and understanding. This essay surveys work in all of the major directions of research:…

The National Science Foundation-sponsored report "Fostering Learning in the Networked World" called for "a common, open platform to support communities of developers and learners in ways that enable both to take advantage of advances in the learning sciences." We review research on science inquiry learning environments (ILEs)…

This study used scientometric methods to conduct an automatic content analysis on the development trends of science education research from the published articles in the four journals of "International Journal of Science Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Research in Science Education, and Science Education" from 1990 to 2007. The…

Engaging students in authentic scientific research has become an important component of undergraduate science education at many institutions. The purpose of this paper is to explore authentic research experiences as contexts for learning. The authors review empirical studies of undergraduate research experiences in order to critically evaluate the…

Problem Statement: Since the 1970s, scientific literacy has been a major goal of national educational systems throughout the world, and thus reform movements in science education call for all students to be scientifically literate. Despite some good curricular changes and developments across the globe, much remains to be achieved. Given that…

The goal of scientific literacy has led to a steady increase in argument-based interventions in science education contexts. It has been suggested that student participation in argument develops communication skills, metacognitive awareness, critical thinking, an understanding of the culture and practice of science, and scientific literacy.…

Researchers and practitioners alike express concerns about the conceptual difficulties associated with the concepts of momentum and kinetic energy currently taught in school physics. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the treatment given to them in 44 published textbooks written for UK secondary school certificate courses. This is set…

This review examines 105 empirical studies that investigate students' views of the nature of science (VNOS), effects of curricular interventions on changing students' VNOS, and relations between VNOS and demographics, majors, and learning of science. The reviewed studies can be categorized into three theoretical frameworks: the unidimension, the…

Science education models for secondary and college students as well as K-12 teachers have been dominated by classroom-based approaches. Recently, research apprenticeships wherein learners worked with practicing scientists on authentic scientific research have become increasingly popular. The purpose of this critical review of the literature was to…