Meta-modeling knowledge is an established construct in science education, typically conceptualized in frameworks encompassing hierarchically ordered levels of understanding specific for different aspects (e.g., purpose of ...

This paper addresses the question if and to which extent linguistic surface features of test items in a physics assessment affect item difficulty. In an experimental study, linguistic features of test items in physics were ...

Despite the central role of Scientific Inquiry within science education, this topic is rarely focused upon during science lessons in Germany. A comparison with a school system that emphasises Scientific Inquiry in a ...

The ability to solve complex and real-life problems is one of the key competencies in science education. Different studies analyzed the relationships between complex problem solving (CPS) and covariates such as intelligence, ...

This study examines the relationship between students’ general visual-spatial ability and their understanding of electricity and electromagnetism, a topic that requires imagining many invisible, 3-dimensional phenomena. ...

Past research has examined students’ understanding of energy at different stages of schooling. This research has led to the widespread view that students progress in their understanding of energy through a sequence of key ...

We constructed paper-and-pencil test-items to assess chemistry student teachers’ scientific inquiry competencies. We focused on the inquiry method experiment, divided into three reasoning steps (question & hypothesis; ...

The expansion of the universe is one of three pillars of the Big Bang theory and, therefore, an important aspect in cosmology. How the understanding hereof, including the complex concept of an expanding space, is developing, ...

In this paper, we bring together a well-established and often-studied instrument assessing students’ understanding about force and motion, the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), and a proposed description of how students ...

From primary school through university and beyond, textbooks are crucial for teaching and learning science. In most cases the content of the books is aligned with intended state curricula, and teachers in many countries ...