Publications

Under the SciCar project (scicar.eu), job shadowing and site visit activities were organised in science and science education research laboratories in order to support science teacher educators and PhD students in science education, having a background in science or science education research, to become aware about science careers and how they can support pre-service science teachers develop approaches for science career awareness. The following paper puts forward examples aimed at demonstrating how a job shadowing program and 2 site visits were supported for participants to become familiar with scientific research, within in the framework of Scientific Career Awareness (SciCar) European project (scicar.eu). At the end of the activities, the participants claimed that these activities supported their career awareness and they learned how to encourage their students to choose career paths in scientific fields.

In the last twenty years, there has been a consensus around the world that effective science education is vital to economic success in the emerging knowledge age. It is also suggested that knowledge of science and scientific ways of thinking is essential to participation in democratic decision-making. Students may recognise differences and advocate diversity, but assimilating those ideas requires the creation of conditions in which students can think deeply about situations that require tolerance. Schools in many countries and regions of the world are places shaped by cultural diversity. One may observe that in many schools there are social developments like migration and demographic and value change, consequently increasing the diversity of students. The issue of diversity in science education is therefore tackled according to many aspects, e.g., culture, language, scientific literacy and gender. The aim of the present literature review is to align the ERASMUS+ project Diversity in Science towards Social Inclusion with studies and views regarding diversity and inclusion in science education. The main goals of this project were to promote inclusive education and to train and foster the education of disadvantaged learners through a range of measures, including supporting education staff in addressing diversity and reinforcing diversity among education staff. Practices dealing with dimensions of diversity and inclusion in science education are developed and the partners shared the good practices that they developed.

An understanding of how students learn chemistry and what can support better chemistry learning is a research field that has continuously developed during the last 50 years. Chemistry education researchers study how different teaching strategies either support or inhibit chemistry learning. They study the role of models and the process of modeling in chemistry learning and teaching. They examine ways in which technology can be integrated into chemistry teaching to surmount the difficulties associated with learning abstract chemistry concepts, which was recently demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic. They look for assessment approaches that can guide teaching, reflect goals, and promote learning of scientific concepts and skills. These studies, which enhance our understanding of learning and teaching chemistry, should be part of chemistry teachers toolbox and support their professional development. However, these studies seldom reach teachers and therefore are usually not put into practice as much as they should. In this special issue we aim to bridge this gap and to bring the contemporary studies in chemistry education, which were presented in the 15 ECRICE 2022 conference, the European Conference on Research in Chemical Education, which was held at the Weizmann Institute of Science in July 2022, to the international community of chemistry teachers. This collection of papers presents six contemporary issues in chemistry education research: teaching strategies, models and modeling, technology for chemistry teaching and learning, development of student skills, personalization of chemistry teaching for including a variety of students in the chemistry classroom, and finally, assessment, whichis an essential component of any learning process.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the set of 23 influential mathematical problems posed by David Hilbert that inspired a great deal of progress in the discipline of mathematics (Hilbert, 1901-1902). Einstein and Infeld (1938) claimed that \u201cto raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science\u201d (p. 95). Both Cantor and Klamkin recommended that, in mathematics, the art of posing a question be held as high or higher in value than solving it. Similarly, in the history of science, formulating precise, answerable questions not only advances new discoveries but also gives scientists intellectual excitement (Kennedy, 2005; Mosteller, 1980).Erreta: The original version of this article unfortunately contains correction.

Two different approaches for chemistry education are presented in this paper: teaching and learning chemistry through contemporary research and using a historical approach. Essential dimensions in science education are used to study the differences between the two approaches. This includes the rationale of each approach, the scientific content, as well as students and teachers perspectives. At first glance, the two approaches look different and even contradict each other. However, a deeper investigation shows that there are common themes that connect the two approaches. Chemistry education is used to represent the historical approach and Nanoscale Science and Teachnology (NST) in chemistry education is used as the context for learning science through a contemporary research approach. The paper can be used by chemistry teachers as a preliminary guide for consideration of adapting one of these approaches in their class.

Over a period of more than 60 years, the chemistry laboratory has been extensively and comprehensively researched and hundreds of research papers, reviews, and doctoral dissertations have been published, investigating the laboratory as a unique learning environment. However, there were challenges and pedagogical questions regarding its educational effectiveness and benefits for teaching and learning chemistry. At the beginning of the 21(st) century there was a call to rethink (and research) the goals for learning chemistry in the laboratory. This is especially applicable in an era in which we are trying to enhance the goal of teaching "chemistry for all students" and/or for the benefit of what is fondly called "future citizens". Working for more than 15 years with colleagues and students, we researched the potential of establishing an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory for developing high-order learning skills, namely, skills for the future or skills for life, including metacognitive and argumentative skills, and the ability of students to ask relevant questions resulting from an inquiry-type chemistry laboratory.

Action research is suggested as a way to engage teachers in curriculum development and the betterment of teaching practices in schools based on educational research activities. As in other educational domains, action research in science education is employed with both aims to better understand and develop teaching practices and to contribute to teacher continuous professional development. A variety of methodological approaches using action research in science education exists, from more technical toward more emancipatory interpretations. The range of educational settings and goals for which action research is performed is also quite broad. The purpose of this analytical review of the international available literature is to provide an overview of the main aspects in applying action research in science education.

Rudduck and Kelly (1976) defined implementation as the process of moving from theory to practice using ideas and materials in practice.

This study focused on teachers' transfer of a variety of teaching methods from a teaching module on nanotechnology, which is an example of a topic outside the science curriculum, to teaching topics that are part of the chemistry curriculum. Nanotechnology is outside the science curriculum, but it was used in this study as a means to carry out a change in the way chemistry teachers teach. The participants in the study included nine high school in-service chemistry teachers. Three research tools were used: (1) semistructured interviews that were conducted with the teachers, after they had finished teaching their nanotechnology module, and follow-up semistructured interviews that were conducted 2 years after the teachers had taught the nanotechnology module , and teachers' assessment and evaluation of their own teaching method, determining how the nanotechnology modules influenced the students who learned according to this program. The data collection process continued for 5 years. Most of the teachers indicated that they continued teaching the nanotechnology module that they designed and all of them stated that they integrated the unique teaching methods into their teaching of chemistry. High efficacy beliefs were built based on the self-evaluation process that was part of the teachers' professional development program. Teaching self-efficacy beliefs and organization efficacy beliefs was found to contribute to teachers' sustainable changes. The findings in the current research are only limited to the topic of nanotechnology; however, we believe that similar results can be obtained for any modern scientific topic that is outside the high school science curriculum. We suggest that more research should be done to determine whether the same findings emerge by using the same approach but on another topic.

This paper discusses essential elements of the philosophical works of Ludwik Fleck (18961961) and their potential interpretation for the teaching and learning of science. In the early twentieth century, Fleck made substantial contributions to understanding the sociological character of the nature of science and explaining the embedding of science in society. His works have several parallels to the later and very popular work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, by Thomas S. Kuhn, although Kuhn only indirectly referred to the influence of Fleck on his own theories. Starting from a short review of the life of Ludwik Fleck, his philosophical work and its connections to Kuhn, this paper elaborates upon and illustrates how his theories can be considered for science education in order to provide learners with a better understanding of the nature of scientific endeavor and the bi-directional science-to-society links.

Throughout the last 60 years the goals and objectives for science teaching and learning have undergone changes many times, often leading to reforms in the way the science curriculum was developed, taught, and learned. Five key factors influence a change in curriculum goals: The learners (target population), the teachers, the science content, the context of learning and teaching both in and out of school, as well as the assessment of students' achievement and progress.

This chapter discusses the application of socio-scientific issues (SSI)-based science education in the secondary chemistry classroom. Issues of sustainable development are suggested to contextualize chemistry learning. If this is operated in an SSI-based approach controversial issues from the sustainability debate are used to motivate chemistry learning under thorough inclusion of a societal perspective. Apart from chemistry content learning the lessons focus on an understanding of how society is dealing with developments in chemistry and technology. Examples will be presented from secondary chemistry teaching in Israel and Germany. Alternative fuels and bioplastics will serve as examples. The discussion will show that a combination of SSI-based science teaching with issues of sustainable development offers a fruitful approach to motivate chemistry learning and contribute to the development of general educational skills.

One of the goals of science education is to provide students with the ability to construct arguments-reasoning and thinking critically in a scientific context. Over the years, many studies have been conducted on constructing arguments in science teaching, but only few of them have dealt with studying argumentation in the laboratory. Our research focuses on the process in which students construct arguments in the chemistry laboratory while conducting various types of experiments. It was found that inquiry experiments have the potential to serve as an effective platform for formulating arguments, owing to the features of this learning environment. The discourse during inquiry-type experiments was found to be rich in arguments, whereas that during confirmatory-type experiments was found to be sparse in arguments. The arguments, which were developed during the discourse of an open inquiry experiment, focus on the hypothesis-building stage, analysis of the results, and drawing appropriate conclusions.

Effective professional development needs to provide an opportunity for teacher reflection and learning about how new practices can be evolved or shaped from existing classroom practice. This is not a simple task in that it requires teachers to re-examine what they do and how they might do it differently. In addition, the attainment of complex learning goals in science by students demands significant change in teachers ' roles. Based on research findings, teachers who attend continuous development professional development (CPD) workshops, are more satisfied with their teaching, and have a closer contact with academic and education institutions on a professional basis. In addition, they get a sustained and continuous support, they feel a sense of ownership regarding their involvement in the education system, and become more concerned about improving their practice and learn how to share their ideas and experiences with their colleagues. This chapter discusses various strategies of professional development.

Action research is defined as using research activities to develop concrete societal practices. Action research understands the change of practice as being already a central aim of the research process itself, and it also seeks to contribute to the professional development of all participants in the particular field of study. Even though (or maybe even because) action research has a long history in the literature, there is a wide variety of interpretations of it. These range all the way from research supportive, via interactive, to emancipatory approaches. There is also a broad range of objectives covering both improving professional environments and generating results of general interest. This paper explores the spectrum of justifications given for action research with a specific focus on science education. Two completely different examples of action research selected from Israel and Germany help illustrate the diversity of the topic. The Israeli case focuses primarily on the professional development of a group of teachers; the German example hones in on the development of suitable curricula and lesson plans for wide dissemination. Comparison of these two projects is embedded in a theoretical framework which categorizes the different action research modes and contemplates teachers' professional development. The aim of this paper is to reflect upon the common potential inherent in differing forms of action research on science education, including the aspect of professional development among teachers.

Chemical bonding knowledge is fundamental and essential to the understanding of almost every topic in chemistry, but it is very difficult to learn. While many studies have characterized some of the central elements of knowledge of this topic, these elements of knowledge have not been systematically organized. We describe the development and testing of a matrix that represents: (A) a systematic organization of the conceptual knowledge on chemical bonding required at high school level and (B) a tool for representing students' conceptual knowledge of this topic. The matrix contains three strands: the structure of matter at the nanoscopic level, electrostatic interactions between charged entities, and energy aspects related to bonding. In each strand there are hierarchically ordered cells that contain fine grain elements of knowledge. Using various instruments, students' conceptual knowledge of chemical bonding was assessed and mapped onto the matrix, generating graphical representations of their knowledge. New computational and online technologies enable automatic data collection and its analysis. Therefore, we believe that this organization and representation of small grain size elements of knowledge can be a useful for the development of a detailed diagnostic tool of knowledge of chemical bonding.

Developing positive attitudes toward and interest in science in general and learning science in particular is one of the key goals for teaching and learning the sciences. Thus, over the years, this area fuelled many research studies, these being focused on: Content, pedagogical, and curricular issues. In this paper we focused on the issue of enhancing attitude and interests in the context of chemistry learning mainly at the upper secondary level of schooling. The authors of this manuscript suggest that the three key factors that should be considered for enhancing attitudes and interests are the methods used to present the content (e.g. relevance, and historical approach), instructional techniques that are implanted, and gender issues. Although throughout the years we have learned a lot regarding teaching and learning of chemistry we are unable to provide conclusive recommendations regarding how in the context of chemistry education affective constrains could be enhanced. However, based on scholarly developments and research we suggest areas (see above) that should be considered by science (chemistry) educators, curriculum developers, and chemistry teachers who believe that developing positive attitudes one of the central goals.

The study describes the process of adopting new curriculum materials, which had been developed in the PARSEL project in several European countries, into the local educational science classroom of another country. The goal of the PARSEL project was to raise the popularity and relevance of science teaching by enhancing students scientific and technological literacy and by identifying suitable teaching/learning materials, based on relevant context-based educational approaches. All PARSEL materials are organized in a website and are freely accessible by science teachers around the world. In order to increase the teachers ownership towards the new materials, a "bottom-up" approach that included a teacher workshop for modifying the PARSEL modules for the needs of teachers was implemented. The teachers used the modified modules in their classes and reflect upon the whole process, after it was completed. Data have been collected using various research tools, such as, teachers questionnaires, teachers interviews and teachers focus group interviews. The results indicate that the "bottom-up" process increased teacher ownership towards the PARSEL modules and helped the teachers to align their teaching with the philosophy and the teaching style of the PARSEL project. It was also indicated that the students found the modules to be popular and interesting. (Contains 1 figure and 3 footnotes.)

In this study our goal was to better understand the development of chemistry teachers who are involved in a continuous professional development (CPD) programme, focusing on using the inquiry approach in the chemistry classroom-laboratory, followed by protocols assembled in a portfolio that can be used to demonstrate evidence-based practice in chemistry teaching in the inquiry laboratory. Fourteen experienced chemistry teachers participated in a workshop, coordinated by three CPD providers from the Department of Science Teaching, at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The meetings, lasting about three hours, were conducted once a month. Of the fourteen teachers, some were videotaped while conducting inquiry-type experiments in their classes, and were interviewed immediately afterwards. Based on the findings, we conclude that the CPD programme contributed to the professional development of the teachers. The teachers became more reflective and more aware of their practice. In addition, we observed a change in their pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge regarding the inquiry teaching. Moreover, their anxiety concerning the implementation of the programme was reduced significantly throughout the year.

We describe a workshop in which 10 teachers from 10 schools, located in central Israel, participated in the development of alternative assessment tools in the context of implementing a new science curriculum for senior high-school students, namely "Science for All" (an STS type curriculum). In order to assist a group of teachers (who began teaching the "Science for All" program) in both teaching and assessment strategies, it was decided that the Department of Science Teaching at the Weizmann Institute of Science would sponsor a workshop for them. An evaluation study was conducted during the workshop and at its completion. The main goal of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of the workshop and to determine whether its objectives were attained. The research tools consisted of (a) an attitude questionnaire administered to participating teachers, (b) structured interviews with the teachers, (c) structured interviews with students, and (d) an attitude questionnaire administered to the students. Based on the results of the questionnaires and the interviews, it seems that all the teachers who participated in the workshop gained self-confidence in using the teaching strategies and assessment methods of this new interdisciplinary curriculum. The interviews with students revealed that their active involvement in their own assessment improved their sense of responsibility for their achievements. The variety of assignments enabled them to be at their best with certain assignments and to succeed less with others. In conclusion, we found that running a new interdisciplinary curriculum requires a professional development program that will stimulate teachers' creativity and diversify the instructional strategies that they use in the classroom. Such skills should improve their ability to understand the goals, strategies, and rationale of the curriculum, as well as their students' learning difficulties.

Ten high-school chemistry teachers and two staff members from the Science Teaching Department of the Weizmann Institute of Science who served as coordinators participated in a one-year professional development program aimed at enhancing the teaching and learning of chemistry using Action Research methodology. In Action Research, teachers research their own practice of teaching. The program involved monthly meetings throughout the year at the Science Teaching Department. Here we present two case studies which will serve as examples of the program. In the first study, teachers investigated their students' misconceptions about the electrical conductivity of metals and ionic materials. The second study focused on the behavior of non-science-oriented students and their attitudes toward chemistry studies. The program included an evaluation of the process that teachers underwent while doing their classroom research; the evaluation was done by the workshop coordinators. Based on the findings of these two studies, we may conclude that involving teachers in an intensive workshop dealing with various aspects of teaching and with investigating their own work, provides teachers with tools for systematically diagnosing students' learning difficulties and the ability to change their instruction accordingly. Moreover, the workshop experience supported an environment of collegiality and enabled teachers to collaborate with professional researchers and other teachers.