This paper looks into research aimed to elicit teachers' ideas about science through the development of resources as questionnaires, problematic tasks and interviews. It is focused on how those ideas are conceptualised and how such conceptualisations have been reflected in the methodological approaches adopted and the advantages and disadvantages…

This article discusses the resources available for teachers to apply higher-level thinking and cognitive complexity to their instruction and assessments. While designing higher-level assessments might be a challenging task, doing so not only can improve student achievement in science, it also prepares students for a changing world. Students learn…

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…

How do teachers help children understand the difference between the structure of a flower and that of a root? Depending on the time of year this activity is quite easy. Get a bunch of flowers, germinate some chickpeas and raid the kitchen for carrots and beetroots--the children can experience the "real thing". But what if teachers want the…

In this study, we explored the factors related to acceptance of evolutionary theory among students/preservice preschool education teachers using conceptual ecology for biological evolution as a theoretical frame. We aimed to examine the acceptance and understanding of evolutionary theory and also the relationship of acceptance and understanding of…

This study explored preservice teachers' views of their own cultural values, the cultural values they believed scientists hold, and the relationships of these views to their conceptions of nature of science (NOS). Parallel assignments in a foundations of early childhood education and a science methods course required preservice teachers to explore…

Science education researchers are concerned with preparing pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) to teach in ways that support students to learn science in a meaningful way. Preparing elementary teachers to teach science is complicated given that they tend to be generalists and may not have the same experience with science as secondary teachers.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between teachers' attitudes toward science, knowledge and beliefs about inquiry, and science classroom teaching practices. Specifically, the study addressed three questions: What are teachers' beliefs and knowledge about inquiry? What are teachers' teaching related classroom practices? Do…

This activity introduces students to the concept of reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions. To help students obtain a thorough understanding of redox reactions, the concept is explored at three levels: macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic. In this activity, students perform hands-on investigations of the three levels as they work at different…

This guided inquiry activity was developed to help students "view" an equilibrium system from the particulate level and make connections to their macroscopic observations. Part I helps students observe a physical equilibrium system in which water is transferred between two larger containers. In Part II, students examine what happens to a chemical…

Oxygen is one of the component gases of air at room temperature, making up around 20% of the atmosphere. But can oxygen be liquified? This article details a method for making small amounts of liquid oxygen in the classroom if there is no access to a cylinder of compressed oxygen gas, and two methods for identifying the fact that it is liquid…

Many students meet dipole-dipole potential energy quite early on when they are taught electrostatics or magnetostatics and it is also a very popular formula, featured in encyclopedias. We show that by a simple rewriting of the formula it becomes apparent that, for example, by reorienting the two dipoles, their attraction can become exactly twice…

"Tops" are mentioned in classical literature and references are even found in the ancient world. For many children a top is one of the first mechanical toys that they play with by themselves, yet a full appreciation of their motion is rare. My hope is that this article will stimulate the reader's interest in tops, will help with the first stages…

Not long ago, many political scientists suffered from economics envy. Some still do. They view economics as the queen of the social sciences, claiming that it is "scientific," like physics. Physicists and other natural scientists spend most of their time trying to explain phenomena, but non-behavioral micro-economists spend most of their time on…

When an object is immersed in a liquid and released, it may sink to the bottom or rise to the surface and float. If the object's density is greater than that of the liquid, it sinks. If the object's density is less than the density of the liquid, it floats. In the special case when the object's density matches the density of the liquid, it will…