Energy is a central concept across the sciences and an important goal of science education is to support all students so that they develop a full understanding of the energy concept. However, given the abstract and complex nature of the energy concept, only a few students develop an understanding so that they can use energy ideas to make sense of…

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practice (IBTP) is an essential component of science education, and promoting its implementation is at the heart of various reform efforts. Even though science teachers regard IBTP as an essential pedagogical method, they rarely use it for various reasons. This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework to examine…

In the socioscientific issues (SSI) classroom, students need to cross the border between the subcultures of science (i.e., school science vs. everyday science). Traditional school contexts tend to present science as positivistic knowledge and unshakable truth unaffected by sociocultural factors. In contrast, everyday science, including SSI, is…

This case study explores how a group of Grade 9 students engaged in sociopolitical discourses and actions in a science class in a mostly indigenous student school in Nepal. The study used sociopolitical consciousness (SPC) as a framework to document and understand indigenous students' SPC-oriented science interactions and subsequent social change…

Students at the junior high school (JHS) level often cannot use their knowledge of physics for explaining and predicting phenomena. We claim that this difficulty stems from the fact that explanations are multi-step reasoning tasks, and students often lack the qualitative problem-solving strategies needed to guide them. This article describes a new…

In this study we present an analysis of classroom interactions initiated by students' wonderment questions. Our interest in such events arises from their potential to stimulate active intellectual engagement in classrooms, which can impact upon the subsequent development of the classroom discourse. In investigating this issue we shall address the…

The development of scientifically literate citizens remains an important priority of science education; however, growing evidence of students' disenchantment with school science continues to challenge the realization of this aim. This triangulation mixed methods study investigated the learning experiences of 152 9th grade students as they…

"Situational interest" is a short-term form of motivation which occurs when a specific situation stimulates the focused attention of students (e.g., a spectacular science demonstration could arouse transient interest amongst nearly all the students in a class, even those who are not normally interested in science). However, there have…

This study was designed to identify and analyze possible factors that mediate the effect of gender on ninth-grade Turkish students' misconceptions concerning electric circuits. A Simple Electric Circuit Concept Test (SECCT), including items with both practical and theoretical contexts, and an Interest-Experience Questionnaire about Electricity…

This study was based on the framework of the "conflict map" to facilitate student conceptual learning about causes of the seasons. Instruction guided by the conflict map emphasizes not only the use of discrepant events, but also the resolution of conflict between students' alternative conceptions and scientific conceptions, using…

Compares the achievement in science for ninth grade students in China and the United States. Reveals a small difference between the two groups and presents a rationale for the comparison. Contains 31 references. (DDR)

Data from the 1983-84 Israeli IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement) science study were used to explore gender-related differences (and their determinants) in the learning of science. The study (n=1974) involved several measures of science learning, 10 attitudinal measures, and items and errors classification.…

Examined is the effectiveness of a smoking-prevention program in modifying high school students' attitudes and values in such categories as health, peer pressure, and social image as related to smoking. The intervention lasted four to six weeks within the framework of ninth- and tenth-grade biology classes. (Author/YP)

Describes a study designed to explore sources of influence on the judgements made by science teachers related to school characteristics, classroom features, and properties of a science curriculum. Results suggest that teachers' judgments center around concern for student ability and interest, teaching methods, and school spirit and morale. (TW)