High School Science Classes Research Articles

Improving Argument-Based Explanation Writing in Inclusive High School Science Class for Students with and without Exceptionalities

ABSTRACT There have been many calls for the development of discipline-specific argument writing interventions to integrate science-specific and general literacy standards and goals. Yet, adolescents with and without exceptionalities struggle to meet existing writing demands. This explanatory sequential mixed methods design draws from the strengths of multiple baseline design and integrates rich qualitative data, from a student perspective, to better understand the elements that contribute to effective discipline-specific writing instruction. The study examined the effects of implementing Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) through a writing-to-learn sensemaking framework adapting the DEFEND strategy to improve students’ written argument-based explanations across inclusive science classrooms and focus learners with exceptionalities. A ninth-grade science teacher delivered science and writing instruction and collected quick writes before, during, and after SRSD implementation. Results indicated that students’ argument-based explanations improved in discipline-specific components (i.e. claim, evidence, reasoning, knowledge) and general components (i.e. organization and writing quality). Students discussed the challenges of using their developing knowledge to write argument-based explanations using the DEFEND strategy, with particular difficulties in expressing reasoning and an appropriate counterclaim. Issues of feasibility and usability are discussed.

Pengembangan Video Tutorial Dampak Penggunaan Zat Aditif Pada Makanan Dan Minuman Mata Pelajaran IPA Sekolah Menengah Pertama

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the development of video tutorials for junior high school science classes about the impacts of additive use on food and beverages, as well as to gauge the effectiveness of the tutorials. The five steps of the ADDIE development model analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation are used in this work. This study discovered that junior high school science classes have gone through multiple phases of developing video lessons on the impacts of utilising chemicals on food and beverages. Among them are validation from material experts, which received a very decent rating of 95.4 percent, and validation from media experts, which received a decent assessment of 86.4 percent. Field trials were conducted to measure the effectiveness of this video tutorial media. This includes a 93% science teacher trial with very decent assessments; a small group trial with 9 students showed a result of 84.8% with a decent assessment; and a large group trial with 25 students from class IX C at SMP Negeri 1 Muaro Jambi showed a result of 90.8% with a decent assessment. This development shows that video tutorials on the effects of additive use on food and beverages, especially those related to science lessons in junior high school, can be considered a feasible, efficient, and high-quality learning method. This development shows that video tutorials on the effects of additive use on food and beverages, especially those related to science lessons in junior high school, can be considered as feasible, efficient, and high-quality learning methods. Based on this development, it is suggested that many people, especially science teachers in junior high schools, consider using this video tutorial as one of the most useful learning media. Therefore, it is expected to increase students' understanding and interest in learning about the impact of the use of additives on food and beverages in science studies.

Chemical Learning Module Based on Multiple Representations of Redox Materials

This study aims to create and evaluate the effectiveness of a chemistry learning module based on various redox material representations. Research and development (R&D) is the methodology used in this research: using a 4D model. It consists of defining, designing, developing, and disseminating stages. The research was carried out until the development phase. The quality of the module was assessed by material experts, media experts, and reviewers (chemistry educators). The respondents are 32 students in first grade of Senior High School Science class. Quality assessment and student responses were made using a Likert and Guttman scale questionnaire sheet. The result shows that the percentage of objectives found by validating all aspects of the module's content by media, reviewers, and chemistry educators experts are 91.6%, 94.7%, and 81.25%, respectively, with excellent categories, and students responded positively to the module. The module is considered helpful as a learning media for redox topics.

The assessment of student numeracy ability for sustainable learning in Indonesia: A study in a high school science class

This study aimed to measure student numeracy ability within the context of physics on the kinetic theory of gases. This study employed a quantitative method with descriptive and parametric statistics analysis. Sixty-two sample students were measured for numeracy ability. The research instrument applied was the ten numeration questions that had been tested empirically. The research indicates that the student cognitive level positively influences numeracy ability with an effect size value of 0.682 and an Adj. R2 value of 0.676. Furthermore, gender-related analysis proves that there is no gap in the numeracy ability with an effect size value of 0.030 and Adj. R2 is 0.014. This study has implications for designing physics learning that develops numeracy ability, especially in determining learning designs that accommodate cognition level and gender.

Recommendations for Optimizing xaʔtus (First Face) for Mental Health Training: Insights from Key Informants.

Native adolescents experiencing mental health challenges, including substance misuse, often prefer to seek support from their peers and other informal sources, which may be due to lack of access to, and cultural fit with, professional behavioral health services. xaʔtus (First Face) for Mental Health is a Tribal community-based intervention designed to strengthen networks of informal mental health support and open pathways to more formal support. We sought insights from key informants to optimize the planning, promotion, and delivery of First Face trainings to seven Tribal communities in the Northwest United States. We conducted three focus groups with (1) teens completing a residential chemical dependency program at the Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations (n = 10), (2) clinical staff representing the Healing Lodge's Behavioral Health Department (n = 9), and (3) community members representing educators and social service professionals at five of the Tribal nations that support the Healing Lodge (n = 6). Discussion generated planning, promotion, and training recommendations. Planning recommendations focused on showing respect for trainees' time by holding the training during convenient times and factoring in trainees' commitments to work and family, integrating the training into high school science or health education classes, and taking steps to protect trainees' physical safety in the age of COVID while avoiding "Zoom fatigue." Promotion recommendations highlighted community members' possible reluctance to become a First Face due to fear about the responsibilities associated with taking on this role and the need to emphasize the personal relevance of First Face training. In terms of training delivery, participants emphasized the importance of including engaging, interactive activities; instructing future First Faces in self-care; and acknowledging the impact of traumatic contemporary experiences on mental health, while at the same time preventing heated and distressing political debates. We describe our response to participants' recommendations and the rationale for those responses.

Progressing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education in North Dakota with Near-Space Ballooning

The United States must provide quality science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in order to maintain a leading role in the global economy. Numerous initiatives have been established across the United States that promote and encourage STEM education within the middle school curriculum. This study integrated a three-week long Near Space Balloon project into six eighth-grade Earth Science classes from Valley Middle School in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was hypothesized that after the students designed, constructed, launched, and analyzed their payload experiments, they would have an increased affinity for high school science and math classes. A pre- and post-survey was distributed to the students (n=124), before and after the project, to analyze how effective this engineering and space mission was. The surveys were statistically analyzed, comparing means by the Student’s t-Test, specifically the Welch-Satterthwaite test. Female students displayed a 57.1% increase in math and a 63.6% increase in science; male students displayed a 46.6% increase in science and 0% increase in math. Most Likert-scale survey questions experienced no statistically significant change, supporting the null hypothesis. The only survey question that supported the hypothesis was, “I Think Engineers Work Alone,” which experienced a 0.24% increase in student understanding. The results suggest that integrating a three-week long Near Space Balloon project into middle school curricula will not directly influence the students’ excitement to pursue STEM subjects and careers. An extensive, yearlong ballooning mission is recommended so that it can be integrated with multiple core subjects. Using such an innovative pedagogy method as with this balloon launch will help students master the scientific process and experience real team collaboration, as they did with this successful mission.

Developing an Inquiry-based Study Program for Promoting Students’ Diachronic Understanding of Igneous Activities in a Junior High School Science Class: Designing a Unit Constitution and Application of the W-style Problem-solving Model Using Student Experiments

Developing an Inquiry-based Study Program for Promoting Students’ Diachronic Understanding of Igneous Activities in a Junior High School Science Class: Designing a Unit Constitution and Application of the W-style Problem-solving Model Using Student Experiments

Usefulness of Information Sharing with Using an Application for creating the slide in Collaborative Learning ：Case Study for Junior High School Science Class Electricity and Energy

Usefulness of Information Sharing with Using an Application for creating the slide in Collaborative Learning ：Case Study for Junior High School Science Class Electricity and Energy

Place-Based Environmental Civic Science: Urban Students Using STEM for Public Good

In the United States, Black and Latinx students are underrepresented in STEM courses and careers due to a dearth of culturally relevant opportunities, which in turn are connected to broader issues of social justice. Place-based environmental civic science offers potential for addressing these issues by enabling students to apply their STEM learning to mitigate local environmental problems. By civic science we refer to science in which all citizens, not just experts, engage for the public good. In this paper, we report on a study in which we followed middle-and high-school science and math classes in urban schools serving racial/ethnic minoritized students as they engaged in an innovative contextualized curriculum—a place-based civic science model in which students work with STEM community partners to address an environmental issue in their community. We draw from students’ open-ended reflections on what they learned from participating in place-based environmental civic science projects that could help their communities. Thematic analyses of reflections collected from 291 students point to beliefs in the usefulness of science to effect community change. Students articulated the science they learned or used in the project and how it could affect their community; they made references to real world applications of science in their project work and made links between STEM and civic contributions. In their own words, the majority of students noted ways that STEM was relevant to their communities now or in the future; in addition, a subset of students expressed changes in their thinking about how they personally could apply science to positively impact their communities and the ties between STEM and social justice. Analyses also point to a sense of confidence and purpose students gained from using STEM learning for their goals of community contribution. Results of this study suggest that focusing on local place as a foundation for students’ STEM learning and linking that learning to the civic contributions they can make, cultivates students’ perceptions of how they can use science to benefit their communities. Findings also suggest that engaging students in place-based civic science work provides effective foundations for nurturing STEM interest and addressing the underrepresentation of youth of color in STEM.

Engaging Students Through Escape Games and a Play Environment During Recess

The article describes projects that combined experiential learning and gamification with teachers and pupils in junior high school science classes. The pupils planned and designed projects and critiqued the quality of the final products. A field report study model was employed using principles from the world of play in order to better understand the production of a high-quality project. An “Octalysis” model was constructed to identify and analyze the factors that enhance human motivation, and principles for the creation of experiential learning and play. One of the significant characteristics that enabled the production of many varied products was the teachers' ability to find time and physical space in which to create the learning environments. Provision of experiential learning and play environments is demanding for the teacher, but rewarding since they involve pupils and deepen learning quality throughout the process. As a result of this experimentation and reflection, insights were gained concerning the creation of experiential learning and play environments.

持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）の観点を含めた植物に関する中学校理科授業の開発と実践

持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）の観点を含めた植物に関する中学校理科授業の開発と実践

Evaluation of an Inquiry-Based Virtual Lab for Junior High School Science Classes

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an inquiry-based virtual reality (VR) science lab used in junior high school science classes. The Scientific Investigation VR Lab (SIVRLAB) is designed for 9th-grade students to learn about electrochemical cells. It is situated in a guided problem-solving context, where learners need to review the concept of oxidation-reduction reactions and assemble a voltaic cell to save a robot. The SIVRLAB features several cognitive supports and guides for students to plan and record experiments and resolve the problem. It has both a head-mounted display (HMD) version and a desktop VR version. The study recruited 66 9th graders from three classes to evaluate the two versions of the SIVRLAB. The students were assigned to one of three conditions, namely, (1) using immersive HMD SIVRLAB individually, (2) using desktop SIVRLAB individually, and (3) observing one student use immersive HMD SIVRLAB. The students were briefly introduced to the concept of electrochemical cells in the first class and were instructed to use the SIVRLAB sessions in the next class. The results from knowledge pre- and post-tests, a user experience survey, and students’ reflections were collected and analyzed qualitatively. The findings revealed that students who used the desktop VR obtained the highest test scores among the three groups. However, in the follow-up physical laboratory test, the performance of the students in the original HMD VR experimental group was better than those in the desktop VR experimental group. The paper also discusses student feedback and teacher observations regarding the design and interaction with immersive VR. Lastly, the implications of the study and recommendations for future studies are presented.

Parent and Sibling Science Support for Latinx Adolescents

Although previous literature indicates that parents and siblings each provide key support for Latinx adolescents’ academic success, most studies have not considered how parents and siblings work as a system to support adolescents in science. Informed by theories on family systems and family influence on youth’s achievement and education, this study aimed to (a) identify what Latinx adolescents believed were the most helpful ways that parents and siblings supported them in science, and (b) explore whether family science support varied based on parents’ science education. Using a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews from 90 Latinx adolescents (mean age = 15.54 years; 38% girls; 84% born in the U.S.) were analyzed using inductive and deductive approaches. We found that parents and siblings supported Latinx adolescents in science through various home-based strategies: active engagement (classwork help and monitoring), academic socialization (encouragement, conversations about the future, and advice) and providing resources (material and social resources). Adolescents mentioned their older siblings were particularly helpful in providing class-specific support based on the science classes that they had previously taken. Additionally, our findings suggest that siblings relied more on classwork help from only older siblings in families where parents did not take any high school science classes compared to families where parents took some high school science classes. Overall, this study highlights the complementary science support that parents and siblings provide Latinx adolescents and the valuable role that siblings can play in Latinx families when parents have limited science education.

Service Learning Opportunity for Undergraduate Science Students: Integrating Problem-Based Learning in the High School Science Curriculum

A service learning course has been developed through which undergraduate science students create problem-based learning materials for use in high school science classes. Undergraduate students research active learning pedagogies with a specific focus on problem-based learning, create original materials to be used in grades 11 and 12 chemistry and environmental science classes, and work in coordination with secondary school teachers to facilitate the use of their original problems in high school classes. For many of the participating students, this is their first experience with self-directed learning and a rare opportunity to develop pedagogical content knowledge. Beginning through a partnership with a single high school teacher, this program has expanded to include nine teachers at five different schools, and interest continues to grow. This article presents the motivations and goals of the course for participating students, the structure and outline of the course, sample works that have been created by students, as well as some student outcomes from past sessions of the course.

Rethinking the High School Biology Curriculum

Rethinking the High School Biology Curriculum

Antiracist Pedagogy in a High School Science Class: A Case of a High School Science Teacher in an Indigenous School

ABSTRACT This is a case study of a high school science teacher in an Indigenous public school in Nepal. In this paper, we share the success of the science teacher in antiracist and critical pedagogy in his science class. We focus specifically on how the science teacher was successful in drawing students to interact with historical and cultural discrimination through science. Our data analysis identified two themes showing successful antiracist and critical science teaching that is inclusive of diverse cultural experiences. The study points to potential for antiracist and critically oriented science education for social change in the context of the Global South.

科学概念構築過程における「俯瞰する行為」の思考要素に関する実践的検討―中学校理科授業における生徒の思考過程の分析をもとにして―

科学概念構築過程における「俯瞰する行為」の思考要素に関する実践的検討―中学校理科授業における生徒の思考過程の分析をもとにして―

Development of the Recognition of the Utility of Student’s ICT Use Scale in Junior High School Science Class

Development of the Recognition of the Utility of Student’s ICT Use Scale in Junior High School Science Class

How will elementary and junior high school science classes change?

How will elementary and junior high school science classes change?

中学校理科の『学び合い』の授業における自分自身の外見を気にして否定的な感情を持っている生徒とそうでない生徒の間の会話ケースに関する研究

中学校理科の『学び合い』の授業における自分自身の外見を気にして否定的な感情を持っている生徒とそうでない生徒の間の会話ケースに関する研究