Students are making choices in middle school that will impact their desire and ability to pursue STEM careers. Providing middle school students with accurate information about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) careers enables them to make more knowledgeable choices about courses of study and career paths. Practical ways of helping students understand the nature of science careers are limited. This study investigates using video interviews of STEM professionals as a method for better informing students about STEM career possibilities. ANCOVA analysis was used to compare treatment and comparison student interest in pursuing STEM careers before and after viewing video interviews with STEM professionals. Evidence for implementing video interviews as a way to interest middle school students in pursuing STEM careers exists. No gender differential in interest in STEM was detected.

This study aimed to compare Mathematics and Science programs focusing on TIMSS content domains of Numbers and Biology that produced the largest achievement gap among students from Turkey and the USA. Specifically, it utilized the content analysis method within Turkish and New York State (NYS) frameworks. The procedures of study included matching the behaviors for the content domains of Numbers and Biology¸ as defined in the TIMSS 2007 framework, with the teaching program and guidebook for Mathematics courses (grades 6 through 8) in Turkey and NYS learning standards and core curriculum for Science and Mathematics for the U.S. Results of the study indicated differences between Turkey and NYS in terms of existence and distribution of and emphasis on TIMSS content domains of Numbers and Biology across the grade levels.

 
Learning about global problems, such as climate change, is not only a cognitive endeavor, but also involves emotions evoked by the seriousness and complexity of these problems. Few studies, however, have explored how young people cope with emotions related to climate change. Since coping strategies could be as important as the emotions themselves in influencing whether young people will acquire knowledge concerning climate change, as well as ethical sensibility and action competence, it is argued that it is important for teachers to gain insight into how young people cope with this threat. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore how Swedish young people – in late childhood/early adolescence (n=90), mid to late adolescence (n=146), and early adulthood (n=112) – cope with worry and promote hope in relation to climate change. A questionnaire containing both open-ended and Likert-type questions was used. Using thematic analysis, several coping strategies were identified, for instance, de-emphasizing the seriousness of climate change, distancing, hyperactivation, positive reappraisal, trust in different societal actors, problem-focused coping, and existential hope. Furthermore, the results show that the children used less problemfocused coping and more distancing to cope with worry than the two older groups. Concerning sources of hope, the children used less positive reappraisal and instead placed trust in researchers and technological development to a higher degree than the two older groups. Practical implications for education for sustainable development are discussed. 
 

Grasping the dynamics of molecular phenomenon appears to be rather challenging for students in the context of life science. To pursue the origin of such difficulties this paper investigates students’ (n=43) meaning making, in interaction with peers and an animation, of the dynamic process of ATP-synthase. To support this inquiry we introduce the CharMframework (Characteristics of Metaphors), which accounts for students’ experiences of metaphors while interacting with external representations (ERs) when trying to make meaning of molecular phenomena. Student-expressed metaphors are outlined and related to the animator’s intentions while designing the animation. The analysis shows that some of the used metaphors possess in-built problematic characteristics that could act as potential problems for learning. For example, the metaphors machine and watermill possess problematic characteristics that are a possible reason for students’ difficulties with understanding the ATP-synthesis as a reversible and non-deterministic process. Furthermore, we also conclude that students’ use of metaphors is highly influenced by the ER, which is designed according to the animator’s internal representation of the scientific phenomenon and his intentions. The challenge associated with designing educational representations that sufficiently represent molecular processes is somewhat similar to the challenge student face while linking the characteristics of metaphors to the molecular processes. The CharMframework can assist in the design process by allowing designers to reflect on how ERs could be interpreted or misinterpreted and also guide teachers’ choice of educational representations. 

Up until now, very few models conceptualizing students’ competence in evaluation, argumentation and discourse in the context of science education have been proposed. Most suggestions for analyzing this particular competence in students are normative and the empirical support for them remains weak. The problem becomes even more severe when such evaluations include ethical and societal perspectives as part of the analytical parameters. In support of this topic, this paper presents two approaches for handling students’ evaluation capabilities in the context of multidimensional discussion situations. One approach focuses on the quality of learners’ arguments concerning levels of justification; the second reflects upon the quality of pupils’ complexity of argumentation. Both approaches were created using group discussion data collected for evaluation purposes. The data stems from a curriculum innovation project focusing on the teaching of climate change in four teaching domains: Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Politics. Participants from 20 different learning groups conducted semi-structured, pre- and post-group discussions on the issue of climate change. Analysis of a total of 76 group discussions showed positive potential in both evaluation grids on the topic.

Inquiry-based learning [IBL] enhances students’ critical thinking abilities and help students to act as a scientist through using scientific method while learning. Specifically, inquiry as a teaching approach has been defined in many ways, the most important one is referred to nature of constructing knowledge while the individuals possess a question about natural worlds and explore the answers for the questions. The aim of this content analysis study was to analyze research related to inquiry based teaching through published research reports in the form of full papers and theses by Turkish researchers. For these purpose national and international journals and data bases were searched and totally 40 studies including 23 papers and 17 theses published in the last ten years were analyzed in terms of methodological approaches used and the subjects studied. Each paper and theses selected for analysis is subjected to a content analysis by using “Paper Classification Form [PCF]” developed by the researchers. The results indicated that studies focused on teaching are most frequent with 77.5%. Regarding the research methods, quantitative approaches were the most common with 72.5 % and 62.5% quasi-experimental research method used widely. Commonly used data collection tools were achievement, aptitude, attitude, perception and personality tests together with alternative assessment tests. Most widely studied samples were selected from the primary level in national papers while undergraduates were most commonly studied groups in the international studies. The findings of this study indicated that inquiry based teaching is a new research area in Turkey and mostly practiced in science and technology education at primary level. This study may help researchers in other areas realizing practicability of inquiry in teaching and apply it into their disciplines.

Schools, as institutions for general education, are believed to have a responsibility to equip their students with the knowledge and commitment to take personally meaningful decisions and action to address the challenges posed by both lifestyle and societal conditions. Achieving this goal requires, among other things, adequate integration of the ‘challenges’ into the school curricula. This paper reports results of a study that assessed whether (and the extent to which) loss of biological diversity and climate change have been incorporated into Biology curriculum guides for Ethiopian secondary and preparatory schools. To this end, content analysis has been used as a principal technique. The findings revealed that the revised curriculum guides have integrated a number of issues that could enhance understanding about the significance of biodiversity and consequences of its loss. Issues related to biodiversity have been addressed, in one form or the other, in all grades except grade eleven. When it comes to climate change, the revised curriculum guides offer little opportunity to integrate the issue. The paper thus argues that, where such issues are not ‘manifestly’ integrated into the curriculum guides, one cannot expect concrete action planned and executed against loss of biodiversity and climate change. The paper calls for redressing some of the observed limitations through interdisciplinary collaboration and/or revision of existing content.

The aim of this study is to determine what trends Turkish biology education studies indicate. To achieve this aim, the researchers examined online databases of the Higher Education Council and open access archieves of graduate thesis in web sites of Turkish universities. Finally, totally 138 graduate theses were elicited to analyze in regard to following matrix: year, research interest, research methodology and sample. The results show that descriptive study for research interest and survey for research methodolody are highly dominant in the graduate theses under investigation. Also, even though learning involves an interaction amongst student, teacher, parent and administor, there is no study on investigating what the student parents think about their learning responsibility. It is suggested that further studies should be undertaken to emerge Turkish biology education trend.