An element of social justice to be promoted through Environmental Education (EE) is that it questions some features of existing power relationships in education and community. In this paper, we describe an unusual and versatile assessment procedure supported by the blended learning platform that provides a wealth of insight into thinking. It has been trialed with secondary science students in the UK, and with STEM teacher educators in Uruguay and through Edmodo social learning platform under SEAMEO networking school project initiative. The study discovered that educators provide only a few questions, whereas younger participants provide many. We will also describe a session with Uruguayan STEM teacher educators learning to use this unusual method in their teacher training programs. In conclusion, the question generating that is proposed in this study was found to be a useful method for formative assessment both for pupils and for teachers in training especially suited when it is supported by blended learning platforms and digital tools. It provides insights into the way in which participants are thinking about a content area, giving information about the depth and security of understanding and potentially revealing misconceptions.

In the present study, what attracts the attention of science and non-science specialist teachers think in chemistry diagrams are explored. The data were gathered from 50 (25 female, 25 male) teachers of primary and secondary schools in Turkey. Twenty-seven (27) 27 of the participants are science specialists and 23 are non-science specialists. The data were collected in 2012. A qualitative approach was adopted. The data were collected in three steps. Firstly, chemistry diagrams from internet were collected and some chemistry diagrams (12) were chosen by the researchers. In second step, selected diagrams were shown to the teachers. In this step, the participants were asked to think aloud about what they noticed when they looked at these diagrams. In the third step, semi-structured interviews were carried out in order to examine further the thoughts of the teachers on these diagrams. In our study, we found there were no significant differences in responses between the science and non-science specialist teachers. We conclude that it may be helpful to train teachers in the processes of constructing and reading diagrams.

Scientic diagrams are one of the tools of explanation, alongside text. The paper is a part of research on the role of diagrams in learning, here focusing on what is known as whitespace. Whitespace, which is not always white, is often seen as empty space, that is space without content. However, many diagrams have active whitespace, such the green background in safety diagrams which indicates action to be taken, and is a positive colour. Some have red 'whitespace' indicating the danger of undertaking an action. These all promote 'noticing', that is, drawing features to the observers' attention as part of the diagram purpose. The paper explores two clear examples on safety diagrams (signs) and one where observers were unclear about what was whitespace and what was active content.

In my experience, the role of the teacher is often seen as that of an individual, separated from colleagues. Priestly, Biesta and Robinson have looked at teacher agency from the perspective of the ...

Developing ideas about the history and philosophy of science was a central objective of the EU HIPST project ( http://hipstwiki.wetpaint.com/ ). Not only are the stories of scientific development and discovery motivating for young learners, especially when attached to the human actors involved, the stories are also a fertile ground for becoming engaged with the nature of science. Embedded within the context of acidity, a long-term story within chemistry that ranges from characterisation of how an acid behaves through to explanations of what an acid is, this work, funded by the EU, provides opportunity for students aged from 12 years to become chemical historians for a while. The traditional practical activities have been transformed by changing the questions normally asked, leading the students through an inductive process to the notion of an ideal acid. Along the way, working definitions of terms such as theory and concept are elaborated for both teachers and students. Innovative pedagogy for assessment is integrated into enjoyable yet challenging sequences.

Climate change education occupies a major node in school education. It is cross-disciplinary and therefore can be a subject challenge for many teachers; its knowledge claims are based on modelling from uncertain and partial data that challenge traditional views of what a science is; its breadth encompasses subject content knowledge, attitudes to the environment, and commitment to action, a complex set of interactions in comparison with most themes; its strong links to personal and communal action, often political, may make development of climate change education in conventional classrooms controversial; characterization of learning is multi-faceted and often beyond the skills sets of many teachers. The research question was: what are the features of climate change education that promote engaging teaching and learning? It used a mixed-methods approach drawing on a variety of written evidence and observations of teacher education sessions. Validation was provided by using perspectives from two researchers in the analysis. This paper draws on evidence from a European Network (Changing with the Climate) and its activities with schools across nations, an exercise with future science teachers about the place of Climate Change Education in the Curriculum in comparison with a published study in Florida and Puerto Rico, and responses to a Manual for Teachers using innovative pedagogy during trials in French and English Schools, and with their teachers. The outcomes were quite mixed, with much positive engagement by established and future teachers in three of the six countries, but highly successful learning when adopted. Using the data from the research on the nature of climate change education in the UK and Florida, the differences can be accounted for by the participants’ views about teaching in general, and about climate science as a science.

Douglas has provided a thorough description and analysis of the interactions of student teachers with schools and mentors in their practicum, through an ethnographic Case Study qualitative approach...

Many students regard physics as an isolated, sophisticated and perhaps a boring branch of science. Meanwhile, physics is embedded in most events and issues of society, culture and everyday life. To find and include such relevant contexts is one of the challenges for every physics teacher. Here we present our findings, which concern the classic The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Some important questions are still open and disputed, such as the dates of events in the story. In particular, physics can provide a method for an approximate estimation of the dates and places of the events in the tales. This paper provides some of the details.

In the present study, we have explored an aspect of teachers' perceptions of biology diagrams. The research was performed in Turkey. The data were gathered from 50 (25 female, 25 male) teachers of primary and secondary schools and 34 (18 female, 16 male) academic staff of different universities in Turkey. Some of the participants are science specialists and the others are non-science specialists. The data were collected in 2012. A qualitative approach was adopted. The data were collected in three steps. First, biology diagrams from the internet were collected and some (12) biology diagrams were chosen by the researchers. In the second step, these selected diagrams were shown to the teachers and academic staff. In this step the participants were asked to think aloud about what they saw when they looked at the diagrams. In the third step, semi-structured interviews were carried out in order to examine further the thoughts of the participants about what they saw in these diagrams. In our study we found there were no significant differences in responses between the science and non-science specialist teachers and academic staff. We conclude that it may be helpful to train teachers in the processes of constructing and reading diagrams.

In the present study, the understandings of student teachers (training for the primary phase and Master's degree students from a primary science and technology education department) about flowers and plant cells using the method of drawing in combination with interviews are explored. The data were gathered from 116 student teachers and 10 Master's degree students training for the primary phase from Turkey. The sample was selected due to one of the researchers being a member of staff in this faculty. A qualitative approach was adopted. A measuring instrument consisting of 10 open-ended questions was prepared and given to the students. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 student teachers and six Master's students; these students were randomly selected from the total sample. In our study we found that they were simply copying internet or book diagrams instead of drawing their own diagrams. We conclude that it may be helpful to train student teachers in the processes of contsructing and reading diagrams.

In this study, student teachers ideas about chromosome, gene and DNA in the method of drawing in combinations with interviews are examined. The data was gathered from 79 student teachers (54 female and 25 male) from Turkey and collected in the school year 2010-2011. The data was collected in three steps. Firstly, the students were asked to draw diagrams of a  chromosome, DNA and a gene. In the second step, a survey instrument consisting of 12 open-ended questions was given to the students. In the third step, semi-structured interviews were carried out with 20 students. The data was treated by qualitative data analysis (open coding). In our study we found that they were simply copying book or internet diagrams instead of drawing their own diagrams. We recommend that the student teachers be taught how to ‘read’ diagrams, and how to filter the valuable from the insignificant. Keywords: Diagram, chromosome, DNA, gene, student teachers