Mueller, Tippins, and Bryan's contrast of the current limitations of science education with the potential virtues of citizen science provides an important theoretical perspective about the future of democratized science and K-12 education. However, the authors fail to adequately address the existing barriers and constraints to moving…

Beliefs about the nature of knowledge and knowing have been investigated extensively in educational and developmental psychology research. Hofer's framework on personal epistemology is adopted in the present study for assessing Lebanese university students' epistemologies of science. Participants were 213 students in their first year of…

This is a report, on a small-scale case study, of a programme of short industrial placements (5 day block) for student teachers of technology and design in Northern Ireland. Such placements increase student awareness and understanding of the nature of Engineering and Technology and therefore better prepare them to teach these subjects, as integral…

The parametric oscillations of an oscillator driven electromagnetically are presented. The oscillator is a conductive pipe hung from a spring, and driven by the oscillating magnetic field of a surrounding coil in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is an interesting case of parametric oscillations since the pipe is neither a magnet nor a…

The science-technology-society agenda has evolved over time to meet emerging educational aims in the light of changes in society and the environment. There is increasing emphasis on students' decision-making on socio-scientific issues (SSIs) not only to highlight the intricate relationships between science, technology, society, and the…

This research documents the creation, implementation, and evaluation of a novel chemistry curriculum. The curriculum allowed students to create theories situated in a variety of cultures while they investigated chemical phenomena central to all civilizations; it was a way of synthesizing chemistry, the history and nature of science, inquiry, and…

Understanding of the nature of science is key to the development of new curricular materials that mirror the practice of science. Three problem types (project level, synthetic planning, and day-to-day) in synthetic organic chemistry emerged during a thematic content analysis of the research experiences of eight practising synthetic organic…

Science teachers are often content to leave creativity to the arts and humanities classes. Fostering creativity in science, if attempted at all, is a challenge often relegated to the gifted classroom. But not just the privileged few have the capacity to be creative. Simply restructuring existing lessons can help promote creativity in all science…

The aim of this paper is to determine the acceleration due to gravity "g", using a simple and low-cost experimental device. The time taken for a metallic ball to travel a predetermined distance is measured and recorded by a series of optical sensors. Four pairs of sensors are placed along the external surface of a vertical methacrylate tube at…

The aim of this study is to compare the change of pre-service science teachers' views about the nature of scientific knowledge through Project-Based History and Nature of Science training and Conventional Method. The sample of the study consists of two groups of 3rd grade undergraduate students attending teacher preparation program of science…

The "Practical 1" paper combines Schwab's abiding concern, for the nature and quality of educational experience with another abiding concern, for how we think about what we do. The Practical 1 is the first of a set of four "practical" essays. These in turn are the product of his thinking about college education and his…

Argumentation in science is the process of coordinating theory and evidence to justify conclusions. This practice is at the heart of scientific journal writing and communication, but little is known regarding the argument quality of college science majors, the future scientists. Studies on written arguments at the college level have focused…

The aim of this study was to assess how the different aspects of nature of science (NOS) were represented in Finnish and Swedish upper secondary school chemistry textbooks. The dimensions of NOS were analyzed from five popular chemistry textbook series. The study provides a quantitative method for analysis of representations of NOS in chemistry…

We investigated students' conceptual learning of energy topics in an innovative college-level introductory mechanics course, entitled Matter & Interactions (M&I) Modern Mechanics. This course differs from traditional curricula in that it emphasizes application of a small number of fundamental principles across various scales, involving…

This paper reports case studies of five Chinese secondary physics teachers' beliefs and instructional decisions in relation to inquiry-based teaching (IBT). It is part of a larger study intended to explore Chinese secondary physics teachers' beliefs and the ways in which their beliefs influence their classroom practices in the context of the…