Science education involves students learning explanations of natural phenomena which are neither obvious nor intuitive. Generally, they have been arrived at and refined by years of dedicated inquiry on the part of large scientific communities. At the same time, these phenomena often concern the objects of everyday experience regarding which…

States of matter are structures that we may easily encounter in the universe as well as our close environment. The plasma state is the fourth state of matter, and it has much different properties in comparison to the solid, liquid and gas states of matter. In order to understand the universe and the environment we live in better, one needs to have…

High school students are generally uninformed about the benefits of enrolling in a full sequence of science courses, therefore only about a third of our nation's high school graduates have completed the science sequence of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The lack of students completing a full sequence of science courses contributes to the deficit…

This quasi-experimental study aims to investigate the documentary films' influence on 8th grade students' nature of science views. The study's participants were 113 8th grade students from two different schools taught by two different teachers. The study was completed over a 6-week period, during which topics related to "Cell Division and…

This study sought to examine the activities that go on in physics classrooms in Senior High Schools in Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the pattern of interaction and instructional methods used for teaching physics and level of coverage of physics syllabus. The survey design was employed for the study in which questionnaire was…

A variety of e-learning theories, models, and strategy have been developed to support educational settings. There are many factors for designing good instructional settings. This study set out to determine functionality of mobile devices, students who already have, and the student needs and views in relation to e-learning settings. The study…

In Turkey, a new Turkish High School Physics Curriculum (THSPC) was put into practice, starting initially with the Grade 9 in the 2008-2009 education-year. When compared with the previous ones, this curriculum emphasized the importance of students' active involvement in learning, use of real-life contexts and development of new skills. Even though…

In response to continuing concerns about student attainment and participation in science and mathematics, the "epiSTEMe" project took a novel approach to pedagogy in these two disciplines. Using principles identified as effective in the research literature (and combining these in a fashion not previously attempted), the project developed…

The purpose of this study was to a) investigate prospective physics teachers' views on their knowledge about new physics concepts introduced in Turkish High School Physics Curricula; b) investigate the sources of their acquired knowledge about these new physics concepts; and c) explore if there were differences in views on knowledge about these…

This study investigated the basic knowledge levels of teacher candidates' from different branches regarding the subjects of radiation and radioactivity. 42 variables were determined in relation to the specified titles. In the preparation stage of determining the variables, all the related programs were examined, and attention was paid to include…

The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. This compendium, one of a series, details the results of a survey of high school…

In this paper, we describe empirical research on the recording of primary school and preschool student teacher conceptions of the concept of distant force interactions in different contexts related to the school curriculum for this subject. For this objective to be achieved, we undertook ten semi-structured interviews with student teachers. Based…

The purpose of this study was to determine physics teachers' opinions about student-centered activities applicable in physics teaching and learning in context. A case study approach was used in this research. First, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 6 physics teachers. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the data obtained…

Reports results of an informal questionnaire sent to university physics departments (N=33) to determine attitudes towards Nuffield and traditional A-level physics. Concludes that Nuffield students perform better at practical work, universities prefer the traditional background, and Nuffield students lack mathematics skills. (DC)

Reports results of a survey of 398 physics departments. General areas considered include undergraduate majors, programs, teaching, and undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants. States that faculty rarely are given release time for new course or curriculum development. (SK)