Involving undergraduate STEM majors in authentic research has been cited as being an imperative goal in advancing the field of science and preparing students for careers and post-graduate educational programs. An important component of authentic research that is often overlooked is student understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) and how this…

This study investigates the perceptions of a sample of Arab science teachers pertaining to the cultural factors affecting pupils learning processes in three Arab countries. A randomly sampled group of 169 science teachers from the three countries comprised the participants, Egypt (N=37), Yemen (N=53), and Saudi Arabia (N=79). A questionnaire…

In this paper, I present a critical review of the recent book, "On Teaching the Nature of Science: Perspectives and Resources," written by Douglas Allchin (2013). This publication presents an in-depth examination of the nature of science construct, as well as instruction for educators about how to teach it effectively utilizing…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of the explicit nature of science instruction embedded in the Argument-Driven Inquiry method compared with an implicit inquiry method on eleventh grade students' conceptions of NOS. The study used a pre-/post-test control group design to investigate the influence of the explicit nature…

Science education researchers have long advocated the central role of the nature of science (NOS) for our understanding of scientific literacy. NOS is often interpreted narrowly to refer to a host of epistemological issues associated with the process of science and the limitations of scientific knowledge. Despite its importance, practitioners and…

For the forty-fourth time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented online and onsite during the annual AECT Convention. Volume 1 contains papers dealing primarily with research and development topics. Papers dealing with…

In this paper, we describe two central epistemological norms related to the importance of making investigations and to scientific language and its logic. These norms have been identified in empirical material consisting of 200 video-recorded lessons in three different science classes. With regard to the learning of science and socialization, we…

This study brings an anthropological perspective informed by sociolinguistic discourse analysis to examine how teachers, students, and scientists constructed ways of investigating and knowing science. The teaching and learning processes for a group of third grade students and how, in the following academic year, these same students drew upon their…