Gamification has been gaining attention in STEM education for its potential to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes. Teachers' acceptance and effective use of gamification depend on their knowledge and beliefs about its implementation. This study employs a mixed-method design to explore Croatian physics teachers' knowledge and beliefs…

Physics education researchers have called for a shift from traditional laboratory (lab) instruction to labs that focus on the development of experimental skills. Although research has demonstrated the efficacy of such reformed labs, much work remains to determine what these labs can and should teach students and how best to achieve these goals.…

The formation of chemistry identities among students is closely linked to the norms and practices prevalent in their chemistry learning environments. However, these norms may not be equally accessible or aligned with formal assessment criteria, leading to disparities for students in cultivating a positive chemistry identity. This study…

This study examined the impact of integrating virtual science inquiry activities with Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) teaching strategies on 5th graders' understanding of science concepts and epistemic beliefs in science. A cohort of 80 5th graders (mean age of 12 years old, 40 boys and 40 girls) from a public primary school in North China took part…

Students' perceived values and costs of learning chemistry influence their performance and intentions of choosing chemistry-related majors or careers. Based on Situated Expectancy-Value Theory, this study adopted a mixed method approach to examine the conceptualization of values and costs among Chinese high school students and identify their…

Throughout the years, scientific research has increasingly aimed to identify students' misconceptions and alternative views regarding fundamental concepts and principles of chemistry. Valuable international bibliographic information was created, including details on teaching density and gaining respondent acceptance. The study aimed to explore…

International research shows that primary school teachers don't have the necessary level of self-efficacy to provide high quality science learning and teaching opportunities to their students. The aim of the present study is to validate the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) and to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of 408…

We investigate students' misconceptions in electrostatics, direct current (DC) and magnetism which are important in electricity and magnetism. We developed and administered a multiple-choice questionnaire test to reveal students' misconceptions related to charged bodies, lightning, electric fields, electric potential, forces, DC resistive electric…

A large body of research shows that using interactive engagement pedagogy in the introductory physics classroom consistently results in significant student learning gains; however, with a few exceptions, those learning gains tend not to be accompanied by more expert-like attitudes and beliefs about physics and learning physics. In fact, in both…

Plants are crucial parts of ecosystems but are traditionally considered boring and difficult by students. It is therefore not clear whether factual knowledge about plants contributes to building positive attitudes and interest in botany. We investigated whether factual knowledge about monocotyledonous plants is associated with secondary students'…

This study belongs to assessment-related research and aimed to investigate Finnish high-school students' (n = 211) topic-specific epistemic beliefs about climate change and whether the Norwegian topic-specific epistemic beliefs questionnaire (TSEBQ) was also valid among Finnish respondents. Thus, research data were not only derived from the TSEBQ…

The aim of this study is to examine the "Knowledge of Student Understanding (KSU) of pre-service science teachers on "Heat and Temperature" topics. The sample of the research consists of 268 pre-service teachers studying at the 4th grade in the science teaching program of five different universities in Turkey. This research is a…

The annual National Collegiate Soils Contest (NCSC) has long been anecdotally recognized as a beneficial event for participating students to practice soil profile descriptions and landscape interpretations. The objective of this study was to quantify student learning outcomes and to identify how students' perspectives shifted over the course of…

It is widely acknowledged that understanding of science is key to becoming global citizens and to embrace technological advancements. Although research suggests that girl's performance in science has improved over the years, there are still concerns about the under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)…

The present study compared Portuguese and Spanish children in the 6th year of primary school in terms of their knowledge and live experience of animals from the Iberian Peninsula (IP) and the African savannah. A questionnaire was administered to 420 children from state schools, 215 from Portugal and 205 from Spain. The questionnaire included…