Science literacy enables citizens to make informed decisions in their everyday lives. Educators can enact science teaching practices in science classes to develop science literacy in the youth. As pre-service teachers transition from coursework to student teaching, they enter a new authentic discourse where they navigate their position as student teachers. This multiple case study explored the student teaching experience of Emma and Grace as pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) in two different rotations. PSETs rotated to a different classroom with new students and a cooperating teacher at the midpoint of student teaching. Semi-structured interviews, surveys, and artifacts were collected. Emma’s and Grace’s use of core science teaching practices (CSTPs) was identified through inductive content analysis. In addition, the identified CSTPs were compared between rotations to explore the contextual constructs that impacted their experience. Contextual constructs were interpreted using the conceptual framework of disciplinary literacy to present a framework called Framework to Develop Scientific Literacy (FDSL). The study findings identified relationships, time, school structure, and community as contextual constructs. Contextual constructs function as the power shared or denied by people for control. With enabling influences, power and control are shared between the participants and contextual constructs. With disabling influences, the contextual constructs deny power and control, leading to control of the participants’ utilization of CSTPs. The findings of this study suggest that teacher education programs should consider introducing the FDSL to PSETs before they enter student teaching to contextualize their experience.
This study examines whether cooperative learning contributes to developing problem-solving skills and self-efficacy among pre-service teachers. A total of 477 students participated (M = 19.28; SD = 2.66). Findings show that, in permanent groups, the relationship between cooperative learning and self-efficacy is mediated by specific problem-solving skills, such as emotional regulation and evaluation of outcomes. However, newly formed groups did not show significant improvements in problem-solving skills or self-efficacy. These results highlight the potential of cooperative learning to enhance key competencies in stable groups and emphasize the need to intentionally develop its foundational elements in new groups.
This article examines the development of Israel’s system of higher education over three decades, focusing on the paradox between mass quantitative expansion and ‘functional convergence’. While the number of students grew 3.5-fold and the system underwent an accelerated process of massification, functional differentiation remained limited due to institutional isomorphic pressures and promotion incentives that sanctify the research university model. The analysis reveals how academic drift and maximally maintained inequality (MMI) mechanisms preserve social and institutional stratification even under the guise of formal pluralism. It is evident from the research findings that Israel’s system of higher education is caught in a loop of research prestige leading to neglect of its teaching and community engagement missions, requiring a paradigmatic change to “uncertainty as a foundation” and distinct mission-oriented management.
This paper applies Philip Crosby’s core ideas from Quality Is Free to contemporary educational assessment, arguing that simplifying and clarifying definitions of quality can make assessment more reliable, equitable, and effective. Crosby’s four principles—quality as conformance to requirements, prevention rather than inspection, zero defects in system design, and measuring the price of nonconformance—offer a useful framework for addressing long-standing assessment challenges such as vague criteria, inconsistent grading, weak alignment, and inequitable outcomes. Drawing on literature in constructive alignment, formative assessment, rubrics, validity, reliability, and sustainable assessment, the paper shows that unclear conceptions of “good work” create substantial hidden costs for students and institutions, including remediation, misclassification, disengagement, and excessive workload. In contrast, clear learning outcomes and simplified success criteria support consistent scoring, meaningful feedback, and student understanding of quality. A prevention-oriented assessment system—featuring formative assessment, feedback cycles, and opportunities for revision—reduces defects in final performances and strengthens mastery-based learning. The paper concludes that while care must be taken to avoid over-simplification, a Crosby-informed approach redirects assessment toward clarity, alignment, and fairness, making high-quality assessment an attainable and sustainable goal.
This study examines what student voice offers to curriculum and teaching in the Korean educational context. Drawing on major Anglophone scholarship on student voice, the study first explores how students’ words may be understood not simply as criticism of school, teachers, or learning, but also as proposals for school improvement, resources for teacher reflection, and forms of participation in meaning-making. It then considers practical challenges accompanying student voice, including formal participation, representation and exclusion, interpretive asymmetries in knowledge production, constraints of time and place, and differences in modes of expression. On this basis, the study proposes three implications for curriculum inquiry: students should be recognised as co-inquirers rather than objects of research; inquiry with students should be understood as a process of teaching and learning; and curriculum should be understood as a generative process and outcome co-constructed by teachers and students. The study argues that student voice should be treated not merely as data about schooling, but as an epistemic and practical resource for rethinking curriculum and teaching.
