Reporting on a Grade 4 teaching and learning sequence, we highlight foundational constructs of measurement and data modelling which are fundamental to competence development in both science and mathematics. The sequence involved students generating and representing measures of their teacher's arm-span, with a focus on the invention and refinement…

Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) has been promoted as an inspiring way of learning science by engaging pupils in designing and conducting their own scientific investigations. For primary school teachers, the open nature of IBSE poses challenges as they often lack experience in supporting their pupils during the different phases of an open…

Science education today has become increasingly focused on research into complex natural, social and technological systems. In this study, we examined the development of high-school biology students' systems understanding of the human body, in a three-year longitudinal study. The development of the students' system understanding was evaluated…

A critical component of science and math education is reasoning with data. Science textbooks are instructional tools that provide opportunities for learning science content (e.g. facts about force and motion) and process skills (e.g. data recording) that support and augment reasoning with data. In addition, the construction and design of textbooks…

Teaching outdoors has been established as an important pedagogical strategy; however, science classes rarely take place outside. Previous research has identified characteristics of teachers who have integrated out-of-classroom opportunities into their teaching repertoire; yet little is understood as to why teachers make these different pedagogical…

Understanding bonding is fundamental to success in chemistry. A number of alternative conceptions related to chemical bonding have been reported in the literature. Research suggests that many alternative conceptions held by chemistry students result from previous teaching; if teachers are explicit in the use of representations and explain their…

Educational researchers and teachers are well aware that misconceptions--erroneous ideas that differ from the scientifically accepted ones--are very common amongst students. Daily experiences, creative and perceptive thinking and science textbooks give rise to students' misconceptions which lead them to draw erroneous conclusions that become…

To alleviate teachers' reluctance toward practical work, there has been much discussion on teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, teaching materials, and failsafe strategies for practical work. Despite these efforts, practical work is still regarded as a challenging task for many elementary science teachers. To understand the complexity of…

The aim of this research was to develop a model of factors affecting students' ability to interpret external representations (ERs) in biochemistry. The study was qualitative in design and was guided by the modelling framework of Justi and Gilbert. Application of the process outlined by the framework, and consultation with relevant literature, led…

This study is a secondary analysis of data from the 1995 administration of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The purpose is to compare the breadth, depth, and recurrence of the typical physics curriculum in the United States with the typical curricula in different countries and to determine whether there are…

The present paper reports the design process and the experimentation of a teaching-learning sequence about the concept of mechanical wave propagation and the role played by media where waves are propagating. The sequence focuses on the central issue of the relationships between observable phenomena, like macroscopic behaviours of waves, and their…

The purpose of the study was to describe the development and application of an instrument to identify various dimensions of the learning environment, as perceived by elementary and middle school students in Taiwan. The instrument, the New Constructivist Learning Environment Scales, includes four dimensions: attitude concerning instruction,…