The diversity of scientific methods has received widespread attention and recognition in recent years. Brandon's Matrix illustrated four categories of scientific methods, which was applied to establish the analytical framework of this study. This paper adopted content analysis to investigate how the diversity of scientific methods is represented…

Collaborative inquiry is an instructional approach that encourages student groups to engage in scientific inquiry processes, thereby enhancing their critical thinking and exploratory skills. The effective classroom implementation of this method requires ensuring student engagement in each inquiry stage, where technological tools and activity…

Background: Scientific thinking is an essential learning goal of science education and it can be fostered by inquiry learning. One important prerequisite for scientific thinking is procedural understanding. Procedural understanding is the knowledge about specific steps in scientific inquiry (e.g. formulating hypotheses, measuring dependent and…

In organismic biology, the formation of ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on the basis of observable morphologies is a central element of research, and by extension of teaching and learning. Often it is necessary to take account of complex combinations of factors, some of which may be far from obvious. In the work described here, hypothesis…

This paper begins with the view that the generation of meaning is a multimodal process. Props, drawings, graphs, gestures, as well as speech and written text are all mediators through which students construct new knowledge. Each semiotic context makes a unique contribution to the conceptualization of scientific entities. The human body, in…

"I Wonder...Gaining Wisdom and Growing Faith Through Scientific Exploration" is an intergenerational science curriculum designed to be used in congregations. The goal of this curriculum and the theoretical work underpinning it is to counter the perception that people of faith cannot also be people who possess a scientific understanding…

The fact that the future of a nation lies in the hands of its knowledgeable, technologically skilled, and civilized citizens is irrefutable. Secondary schools are primary centers for acquiring academic excellence as well as essential life skills. With each student being unique in his ability, learning styles, and social background, diverse…

Despite the importance of scientific inquiry in science education, researchers and educators disagree considerably regarding what features define this instructional approach. While a large body of literature addresses theoretical considerations, numerous empirical studies investigate scientific inquiry on quite different levels of detail and also…

The aim of this research was to explore the effects of two approaches, designated as the historical and the contemporary one, on the level of students' understanding of the properties and the practical use of gases. Our research hypothesis was that the historical context of the discovery of gases and the study of their properties would deepen…

Background: Elementary Science Education is struggling with multiple challenges. National and State test results confirm the need for deeper understanding in elementary science education. Moreover, national policy statements and researchers call for increased exposure to engineering and technology in elementary science education. The basic…

This article explains four kinds of inquiry exercises, different in purpose, for teaching advanced-level high school and college students the hypothetico-deductive (H-D) method. The first uses a picture of a river system to convey the H-D method's logic. The second has teams of students use the H-D method: their teacher poses a hypothesis…

The present study reports on the development and evaluation of a classroom module to train scientific thinking skills. The module was implemented in two of four parallel sections of introductory psychology. To assess learning, a passage-based question set from the medical college admissions test (MCAT[superscript 2015]) preview guide was included…

CREATE (Consider, Read, Elucidate the hypotheses, Analyze and interpret the data, and Think of the next Experiment) is an innovative pedagogy for teaching science through the intensive analysis of scientific literature. Initiated at the City College of New York, a minority-serving institution, and regionally expanded in the New York/New…

Journal clubs have been used to advance students' scientific skills beyond basic knowledge and comprehension, but students often view the traditional format of analyzing reported data and experimental design as laborious and intimidating. As such, the traditional approach can diminish student engagement and enthusiasm for the value of scientific…

Error-based simulation (EBS) has been developed to generate phenomena by using students' erroneous ideas and also offers promise for promoting students' awareness of errors. In this paper, we report the evaluation of EBS used in learning "normal reaction" in a junior high school. An EBS class, where students learned the concept…