Along with substantial consensus around the power of active learning, comes some lack of precision in what its essential ingredients are. New educational technologies offer vehicles for systematically exploring benefits of alternative techniques for supporting active learning. We introduce a new genre of Intelligent Science Station technology that…

The study investigated how explicit instruction of argumentation-in the context of socioscientific issues (SSI)- and explicit instruction of NOS, compared with explicit instruction of argumentation only, can develop grade 10 students' argumentation skills and NOS conceptions. Participants were 36 grade 10 students enrolled in two sections that…

Newton's third law is one of the most important concepts learned early in introductory mechanics courses; however, ample studies have documented a wide range of students' misconceptions and fragmented understandings of this concept that are difficult to change through traditional instruction. This research develops a conceptual framework model to…

Understanding the nature of science, one of the most important dimensions of scientific literacy, is regarded as an absolute necessity in science education. To teach students the nature of science, science teachers should emphasize the nature of science in the classrooms. This is possible through the training of science teachers with knowledge of…

This study examines the use of an explicit, reflective method for teaching the difference and relationship between scientific theories and laws to ninth-grade students. Students reflected individually and then as a whole class on theories and laws using a Venn diagram, both before and after reading short articles describing features of theories…

Science curricula and teaching methods vary greatly, depending in part on which facets of science are emphasized, e.g., core disciplinary ideas or science practices and process skills, and perspectives differ considerably on desirable pedagogies. Given the multi-faceted nature of science and the variety of teaching methods found in practice, it is…

Service-learning (SL) is an active learning approach that connects the knowledge a student acquires in the classroom to an application that benefits the community. Increasingly popular in the chemistry curriculum, service-learning is reported to provide student benefits including improved cognitive goals; increased academic, interpersonal, and…

The current study compared the effectiveness of two methods in biology teaching that are based on the science-as-inquiry approach: visits to authentic university laboratories (AULs) and analyzing adapted primary literature (APL). The methods' effectiveness was measured in terms of high-school students' increased understanding following a 6-week…

The purpose of current research is to explore the influence of a science teaching method course incorporating explicit reflective NOS instruction on pre-service science teachers' views of NOS and justifications in their arguments related to their decision-making on socio-scientific issues. This study is a case study and the participants were 5…

This qualitative study explores the experiences of six students enrolled in a special topics biology class that exclusively used primary literature as course material. Nature of science (NOS) conceptions have been linked to students' attitudes toward scientific subjects, but there has been little research specifically exploring the effects of…

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…

We present an empirical investigation of a classroom training fostering vocational students' consideration of source information when deciding about science-based controversies. The training was specifically aimed at raising students' awareness of the division of cognitive labor and the resulting need to take a source's competence into account…

The study evaluated the effectiveness of using short, school lab investigations to teach about the nature of science (NOS). A manipulated lab inquiry approach was used, which modified the investigations in ways that students were compelled to experience certain NOS aspects. An investigation about apple browning was used to teach about the…

In this work, we present a teaching-learning sequence on colour intended to a pre-service elementary teacher programme informed by History and Philosophy of Science. Working in a socio-constructivist framework, we made an excursion on the history of colour. Our excursion through history of colour, as well as the reported misconception on colour…

The flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein, otherwise known as the "central dogma" of biology, is one of the most basic and overarching concepts in the biological sciences. Nevertheless, numerous studies have reported student misconceptions at the undergraduate level of this fundamental process of gene expression. This…