This paper focuses on pupils´ perceptions of water issues. The instructional situations take place in a Finnish primary school and aim at introducing the Science-Technology-Society (STS) study approach. The primary aim of this study is, in the context of STS instruction, to describe issues that pupils associate with water. This paper involves fourth and fifth graders from a rural primary school in eastern part of Finland aged between 10 and 11 (n= 52). Pupils were asked to write down the issues that came to mind when they thought of water, both before and after instruction. In addition, in the beginning of the process, pupils were asked to draw something about water. After the first set of writings and drawings, pupils participated in a teaching and learning process, which was supervised by master level teacher students. Prior to this process, pupils mostly associated the role of water for human beings, with drinking and washing as well as recreational pastimes such as swimming and fishing. The issues in this process varied from scientific to environmental protection, although the pupils’ perceptions were very limited. After instruction, pupils wrote about the meaning of water in more general terms, relating to science, technology and societal issues, including the idea of the water cycle. This study increases and broadens researchers’ and teachers’ knowledge of pupils’ ideas and thoughts about water in an authentic school context. The study focuses on water issues in science, society and technology and aims to support pupils´ understanding towards becoming more systemic, multidimensional and critical. Environmental and science education are enriched with technological issues and this study reveals the challenges of integrated instruction. Methodologically, the study discusses the role of essays and drawings in interpreting the research results.

This study examined elementary education pre-service teachers‟ attitudes towards biotechnology processes. A sample comprised 88 elementary education pre-service teachers at a mid-sized university in the Midwest of the USA. Sixty and 28 of these pre-service teachers were enrolled in Introductory Science Methods course and Advance Science Methods Course, respectively. Data were collected using a questionnaire which had 15 statements on a 3 Likert-scale and required students to indicate whether each statement is acceptable or unacceptable. The results indicated that elementary education pre-service teachers from both courses generally held a wide range of attitudes towards biotechnology. Notably, majority of the pre-service teachers approved the genetic modification of microorganisms and plants, but disapproved the processes that involved the insertion or removal of genes in humans and animals. Implications for science teacher education, curriculum as well as recommendations for further research are discussed.

Research has shown that emotions play a significant role in the learning process and academic achievement. However, the fact that measurement of emotions during or after instruction usually requires written responses on lengthy research instruments has been given as a reason why researchers have tended to avoid research on this topic in classrooms. Consequently, we developed a short Likert-scale instrument which used only three items within the three factors of interest, well-being and boredom to measure adolescent emotions during instruction in science education. We present four different studies in four populations to assess the validity of the scale. In order to determine the reliability and validity of the instrument, it was administered to pupils across a range of grades (grades 6-12) after being taught standardised lessons by 14 teachers in south-western Germany. The data generated were analysed statistically in terms of their reliability and validity. As the three independent factors (interest, well-being and boredom) had been derived from theoretical constructs, confirmatory factor analysis was applied. In a second study based on pupils from different age groups, grades and school subjects, we found different scores according to age and subject, suggesting that the scale is sensitive to these parameters. A third study used two standardised educational programs in zoology and botany for 5th and 6th graders to assess the scale‘s sensitivity towards changes in emotions. Pupils rated the zoological topic as more interesting than the botanical topic, as less boring and they felt better. External validity was determined by correlating the data that was generated using our scale in a fourth study on University students with the data generated by an established measurement of motivation (the shortened German version of the KIM - ―Kurzskala zur Intrinsischen Motivation‖). The data generated suggest that the three factors cluster satisfactorily and that the instrument, which can be administered with minimum disruption of classroom time, is both reliable and valid.

Student labs are out-of-school learning environments that are assumed to promote students‟ interest in science. They are characterised by aspects of situated and authentic learning, a prominence of application contexts presented by scientists, and a high amount of practical work. Research has shown the potential for promoting students‟ interest in science for each of these aspects when implemented separately as a teaching approach in science education. This study aims to explore, whether (i) these aspects can be shown to be separately effective on students‟ interest even when realised jointly in the learning environment and, if so, (ii) which reciprocal effects can be shown with regard to students‟ attributes (prior individual interest, self-concept, gender) and the degree of pre-visit instruction in school. A questionnaire was developed based on interest theory and theories of interest development. A total of 378 upper secondary students completed the questionnaire. A factor analysis indicated the students‟ interest in the lab to be three-dimensional with the factors having a strong relation to (1) experiments, (2) application contexts of research, and (3) authentic learning environments. Structural equation modelling dictated significant interrelationships between students‟ interest in the student lab and students‟ attributes (e.g. prior individual interest in science), the degree of pre-visit instruction in school and the quality of instruction in the student lab. The analytical framework used in this study is based on theories of interest development by considering the basic needs as mediator variables and offers a means of assessing students‟ interest in out-of-school settings.

In Brunei, more girls are enrolled at the institutions of higher education than boys. The aim of this study was to evaluate if a constructivist teaching approach, enriched with interactive whiteboard technology could empower males to minimize gender differences in achievement in Chemistry. Two groups of students were taught for six weeks: one group using the constructivist teaching approach enriched with interactive whiteboard technology and the other group using a traditional teaching approach. The results of the study demonstrated statistically significant gender differences in pre-test mean achievement scores of both the groups. There were statistically significant gender differences in post-test mean achievement scores for group taught traditionally, however, mean achievement scores of male and female students taught using constructivist approach were statistically non-significantly different. It is believed that this technique has potential to minimize gender difference in chemistry achievement. Implications of this research in Bruneian context are discussed and future research in this area is recommended.