The aim of this study was to compare the 5E learning model with traditional learning methods in terms of their effect on students' conceptual understanding of water subtopics. The participants of the study were grade 8 students of 2021 academic year. While 27 of them were randomly assigned to the experimental group, the other 27 were assigned to…

This inquiry sought to investigate the opportunities and potential challenges of engaging in a self-study approach as a strategy for enhancing professional growth during my teaching of the topic of evolutionary genetics to 24 twelfth-grade students. I had, for many years, experienced pedagogical deficits and shortcomings when teaching evolutionary…

Title I middle schools face challenges delivering effective inquiry-based science instruction within the framework of Title I requirements. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore Title I middle school teacher and principal perspectives on and experiences with the challenges of delivering inquiry-based science instruction within…

Using Bruno Latour's framework of a "collective of humans and nonhumans", this paper presents an analysis of chemistry instruction in a high school curriculum and professional development setting to present the chemistry education community with a new way to think about reality and knowledge construction and, at the same time, to…

As a teacher educator, I became concerned that my practice did not reflect my constructivist perspective. This realization disrupted my belief about my teaching efficacy. I understood that teacher education is often criticized for not sufficiently preparing teachers. Was I part of the problem? As a result, I initiated this study to examine my…

Academic language is the language that students must engage in while participating in the teaching and learning that takes place in school (Schleppegrell, 2012) and science as a content area presents specific challenges and opportunities for students to engage with language (Buxton & Lee, 2014; Gee, 2005). In order for students to engage…

Constructivism was introduced to Vietnam through many ways such as workshops, books, the Internet, and so on. However, due to the lack of professional education, fundamental ideas of constructivist learning perhaps were missing or neglected through classroom activities. Furthermore, due to the influence of culture and society, Vietnamese…

The purpose of this study was to explore to what extent the in-service chemistry teachers improved their PCK after attending the training program at the Faculty of Education. The research questions were: (1) How do in-service teachers' personal perceptions about the teaching/learning process change after attending the training course at the…

This study examines teachers' and students' self-efficacy in the US and Egyptian context. More specifically, the study examines teachers' and students' self-efficacy in twelve classrooms; six in the US and six in Egypt. The research questions are formulated in order to understand the relationship between students' self-efficacy, their perceptions…

With only 34% of 8th grade students earning a rating of proficient or higher in science education (from the 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress data), much work is needed in our classrooms to achieve the new more rigorous performance expectations found in the "Next Generation Science Standards." For decades, researchers have…

This study examined the efficacy of a curriculum-based intervention for high school science students. Specifically, the intervention was two years of research-based, multidisciplinary curriculum materials for science supported by comprehensive professional development for teachers that focused on those materials. A modest positive effect was…

Teachers in districts with high rates of poverty and low-achieving schools often lament the lack of resources for instruction. However, when a teacher in a third-grade inner-city classroom began a lesson about natural resources by saying, "We will find out what we know before we start," she used a precious resource--students' ideas.…

This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to explore randomly assigned treatment and control participants' frequency of inquiry instruction in secondary science classrooms. Eleven treatment participants received professional development (PD) that emphasized a structured approach to inquiry instruction, while 10 control…

To help explain the differences in students' performance on internationally administered science assessments, cross-national, video-based observational studies have been advocated, but none have yet been conducted at the elementary level for science. The USA and Germany are two countries with large formal education systems whose students…

Open-ended interviews were used to study differences in Grade 7-8 teachers' beliefs about exemplary classroom practices produced by exposure to in-service professional development programs based on different theoretical frameworks. Teachers who had participated in an intensive, inquiry-based, in-service professional development program that…