Teaching and Learning Nature of Science in Elementary Classrooms: Research Based Strategies for Practical Implementation

Our goal in this article is to provide research-based strategies for embedding Nature of Science (NOS) into science instruction at the elementary level. We thus intend to aid researchers, professional developers, and teachers in noting that not only is it important and possible to teach NOS at the elementary levels, but also that elementary students can learn ideas about NOS. The manuscript reviews research from the past two decades on what students of ages 5 to 12 understand about NOS after appropriate instruction. Research-based teaching strategies are then shared to provide methods for researchers, professional developers, and teachers to improve students’ NOS understandings. These strategies include embedding NOS into existing curricula, using classroom interactions, using visual representations, and using students’ written work

A video-based measure of preservice teachers’ abilities to predict elementary students’ scientific reasoning

In this mixed methods study, the researchers developed a video-based measure called a ―Prediction Assessment‖ to determine preservice elementary teachers’ abilities to predict students’ scientific reasoning. The instrument is based on teachers’ need to develop pedagogical content knowledge for teaching science. Developing a knowledge base for aiding teachers in their abilities to predict students’ scientific reasoning promotes student learning because it enables teachers to understand students’ current conceptions and to be able to build lessons to improve upon those ideas. To determine whether preservice teachers are improving in their abilities to predict scientific reasoning it is necessary to have an instrument that can measure their current abilities and then to measure whether those abilities improve through instruction. In the second part of this study the authors used the prediction assessment to determine whether the traditional or new (Iterative Model Building, or IMB) field experience improved preservice elementary teachers’ abilities to make reasonable predictions of student scientific reasoning. It was found that though preservice teachers in both the traditional and IMB field experience approaches improved their abilities to make predictions, there was a greater number in the IMB group who made reasonable predictions and based those predictions on student reasoning

Blended Engineering Design Process Learning Activities for Secondary School Students during COVID-19 Epidemic: Students’ Learning Activities and Perception

This study aims to present the teaching and learning activities of Engineering Design Processes (EDP) to secondary school students. The proposed teaching technique used was blended learning, which integrated group activities based on online learning and individual hands-on activities through independent study at home. The context of COVID-19 medical mask protection was used in comparison to the current situation. In order to test the effectiveness of the proposed learning activities, a single-group pretest–posttest design was employed to explore (a) the students’ perceptions of their problem-solving confidence before and after they underwent the proposed learning technique and (b) students’ perceptions of the designed course. After they had finished the 4 weeks of learning activities, the students were asked to complete the Students’ Perception on Problem-Solving Skill Questionnaire (SPPSS) and the Students’ Perception towards the Proposed Blended Engineering Design Process learning activities Questionnaire (SPBEDP) in order to gauge how confident they felt in their ability to solve problems and how they felt about the proposed course. There were 30 seventh-grade students enrolled in this course. An increase in the level of problem-solving confidence was found in the students after they were subjected to the proposed activities. Moreover, the students mentioned that, based on the proposed activities, “Identify Problem and Need”, “Design a Solution”, and “Developing Prototype” are the Engineering Design Process learning steps they enjoyed most since they were the steps in which they could use their creativity, and they were hands-on, fun, easy, challenging, and provided them with an opportunity to choose issues in which they are interested