Scientific literacy is the primary goal of elementary science education. Scientific literacy requires an overall understanding of what science is, and how and why scientific knowledge is developed. The normal assumption is that as students progress in school, they learn more. One would expect students to become more scientifically literate as they…

The field of geometrical optics features a broad knowledge base concerning conceptual learning difficulties and student conceptions. However, in contrast to other areas of physics, no widely used standard test instrument exists to assess middle school students' conceptual knowledge of geometrical optics. This is even more true for other areas of…

This work reports the development and application of an analytical tool for the analysis of the formation of the scientific mind of students who took part in inquiry activities, based on the philosophy of Gaston Bachelard, in a Chemistry Club. For the construction of the analytical instrument, an extracurricular course was offered to first-year…

This study aimed to examine the influence of a culturally adapted and context-specific technique of instruction called the culturo-techno-contextual approach (CTCA) on lowering student anxiety and fostering meaningful learning in difficult biology concepts. A quasi-experimental pre-test and post-test non-equivalent group design was used for this…

Some descriptions of learning represent the process as the development of organisations of elements. Various organisations have been proposed, for example, schemata and conceptual structures. Such representations assume that mental entities, such as concepts, are sufficiently stable and differentiated to be treated as units. We discuss these…

Representing conceptual change is challenging. Claims that conceptual change has occurred are sometimes based on data from a small number of probes given over a relatively long interval. Data collected in this way do not allow short-lived variability to be distinguished from more stable conceptual change and can lead to mistaken conclusions about…

Forming learners' science concepts and conceptual change entails adaptive epistemic beliefs to support a high degree of interactivity within a coherent knowledge structure. Adaptive epistemic beliefs are characterized by beliefs that knowledge is uncertain and should be justified through experimentation or multiple sources dependent upon the task…

This study aims to determine pre-service science teachers' metaconceptual activities about the design of processes to teach science concepts in their pre-active phase. A single-case design was used. The eight pre-service science teachers participated in this study. An activity journal and an instruction process evaluation developed by the…

Across science disciplines, light is a common tool for measuring, characterizing, and catalysing molecules and molecular processes. Despite the ubiquity of light-based tools, little research has been done to investigate how students understand light and light-matter interactions (LMI). This topic is typically first introduced in first-year…

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively assess the integration of computational thinking with learning about biological evolution. Specifically, we investigated the effectiveness of a framework from a recently developed learning progression that emphasises the complex nature of teaching both computational thinking and biological evolution.…

The field of science education has put effort into providing opportunities for students to position themselves as epistemic agents pursuing the goal of making sense of natural phenomena. However, students often struggle in adapting scientific practices to achieve the sense-making goal. In this position paper, we conceptualise students'…

Visualisation has been a critical means of scientific reasoning, knowledge development, and communication. In science classrooms, visualisation plays significant roles for teaching and learning. To better understand the landscape of the existing research on visualisation for supporting student science learning in K to 12 classroom contexts, we…

The study aims to investigate students' conceptualisation of the quantum numbers concept through their verbal descriptions and pictorial representations of the corresponding atomic structures. The study was conducted with the participation of 192 12th-grade students from six secondary schools in Northern Greece, via a paper-and-pencil test,…

Despite rapid changes in education, science classrooms will remain central forums where fragmented pieces of information are brought together to construct coherent knowledge as concepts and explanatory scientific storylines. There is limited work stressing the importance of the interplay between how content is communicated through pedagogical…

A widespread call has been made to develop and support more integrated approaches to STEM education. The first law of thermodynamics serves as a guiding principle for the crosscutting concept of energy and matter. A qualitative interview study was undertaken to support integrated approaches to STEM education by exploring how chemistry, physics,…