Common objects are made of materials that have obvious physical features which, although readily observable, may be overlooked by children. Helping young children to notice characteristic features -- scientifically referred to as properties -- equips them to discern common and distinct (diagnostic) features. Once children begin to recognise…

School pedagogies that expand opportunities for learners to build and use knowledge for meaningful purposes are resources for hope. Internationally, standards-based reforms in science education position schooling as a context for building and using disciplinary knowledge to explain phenomena and solve problems. There is also growing research…

Many K-16 educators agree that active learning is a key component for student success in life sciences. At the same time, some instructors are frustrated by inconsistent student participation in these activities and may revert to traditional teaching strategies. Horse caregivers face a similar frustration when they lead a horse to water and it…

Hypothesis-based reasoning with conditionals is a skill that is required for engaging in integral activities of modern elementary school science-curricula. The teaching of this skill at this early stage of education, however, is demanding, particularly in whole school classes in which it is difficult to adapt teaching to children's individual…

The pandemic outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted an urgent need for infectious disease education for K-12 students. To gather a better understanding of what educational interventions have been conducted and to what effect, we performed a scoping review. We identified and examined 23 empirical researcher- and teacher-designed studies conducted in…

The purpose of the study was to investigate prospective early childhood teachers' conceptions of teaching science, and thus identify their strategies for enabling their future pre-K to 3rd grade students' construction of science content. For the purpose of this study, we subscribed to the view of conceptions of teaching as having dimensions and…

This is a review of the findings of a study investigating the impact of a project-based elementary science curriculum on academic achievement and aspects of social and emotional learning. The study by Michigan State and University of Michigan researchers found that use of the project-based learning (PBL) program, Multiple Literacies in…

Interest driven learning has the potential to enhance the inquiry based learning process by contextualizing curriculum as students investigate scientific questions, collecting and analyzing data, and construct reasonable conclusions relative to their interests. This paper presents a project and its findings that involved preservice elementary…

Cognitive style differences, also known as 'empathizing' and 'systemizing' have been argued as one reason that may explain differences in children's motivation to learn science. Researchers claim that people with a 'systemizing' cognitive style are likelier to engage in science than those with an 'empathizing' cognitive style. As such, they…

In "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," researchers call for teachers to make dramatic shifts in practice -- and sustain in these changes in practice -- so students can engage in rigorous and equitable three-dimensional science learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) motivates students from diverse backgrounds to persist in learning.…

This review study includes 19 articles from 2016 to 2021 focusing on in-service science teachers' professional development targeted to promote student conceptual understanding. The present study is guided by the following research question: "What characterizes high-quality in-service science teachers' professional development targeted to…

Early years science curriculum in England requires teachers to incorporate scientific enquiry in their classrooms. However, teachers perceive science teaching to be challenging because of their lack of subject knowledge. This paper aims to develop an understanding of science as an enquiry rich subject rather than a plethora of scientific…

The aim of the study was to examine the improvement of basic science process skills among second graders in science learning through an inquiry-based approach. The participants were 23 students from a second graders class. Participants were with the age around seven years old. The 5E model of inquiry-based approach was used to teach science. Mixed…

The present study aimed to determine the impact of argument-based laboratory method on the scientific process skills of pre-service primary school teachers and their views on the nature of science. The study was designed based on the pretest-posttest quasi-experimental method and conducted with 64 sophomore pre-service primary school teachers (37…

This research aims to analyse the process of grasping the Solar System by the students during their learning activities in which we used an animation film and other educational means (geographic globe, schematic drawings, 3D model, etc.), as well as the results obtained. In order to achieve this goal, we organized an action-research within…