This study used video vignettes of historical episodes from documentary films as a context and instructional tool to promote pre-service science teachers' (PSTs) conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The participants received explicit-reflective NOS instruction, and were introduced to techniques to be able to use scenes from documentary…

We explored the experiences of first year chemistry students of an Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL) approach to learning spectroscopy. An investigation of how students' perceived confidences changed as a result of their experience of using EBL in the spectroscopy course was carried out. Changes in the students' perceived confidence, both in their…

Physiology is an integral component of any medical curriculum. Traditionally, the learning of physiology has relied heavily on systems-based didactic lectures. In 2001, the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine (NRMSM; Durban, South Africa) embarked on a problem-based curriculum in which the learning of physiology was integrated with relevant…

The purpose of this study was to examine how prospective middle school science teachers understood and identified types of scientific knowledge in a presented vignette. Also, their definitions and views of the relationships between types of scientific knowledge (i.e. scientific facts, concepts, generalizations, theories, and scientific laws) were…