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Foreign Countries, Preservice Teachers, Science Teachers, Science Process Skills, Thinking Skills, Science Education, Critical Thinking, Ability, Scientific Concepts, Conservation (Concept), Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Malaysia

This article discusses a study carried out to investigate scientific reasoning skills among 82 science pre-service teachers at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), one of the public universities in Malaysia. Undeniably, the development of general scientific abilities is critical to enable students of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to successfully handle openended real-world tasks in their future careers. Teaching goals in STEM education include fostering content knowledge and developing general scientific abilities. One such important ability is scientific reasoning. Scientific reasoning encompasses critical thinking skills as a vital learning outcome in modern science education. Lawson (1978) categorized scientific reasoning into four domains: Conservative Concept, Proportional Concept, Control Variable and Probabilistic Thinking, and Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning. An instrument by Lawson (1978) was adapted for this study. The findings show that a majority of the science pre-service teachers possess low ability in scientific reasoning. It is also found that there was no significant difference among the science pre-service teachers of the physics, biology and chemistry disciplines when examined. The findings showed that Physics students had developed a higher ability in Conservative Concept, Proportional Concept, and Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning and chemistry students had a higher ability in Control Variable and Probabilistic Thinking, whereas biology students had a moderate ability in the four scientific reasoning patterns.

Instructional Effectiveness, Science Instruction, Physics, Computer Assisted Instruction, Individualized Instruction, Databases, Courseware, Undergraduate Students, Student Characteristics, Problem Solving, Foreign Countries, and India

Education for sustainable development is an emerging concept that encompasses a new vision in physics education that empowers the learner to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. Physics education is still struggling to adapt to the personalized approach in learning. Personalized learning thrives in this technology-rich environment, but it is not enough to revolutionize the learning experience. Physics is a challenging subject to learn at higher education level due to its heavy emphasis on problem-solving. Technologies in learning physics create a learner-centered learning environment that is individualized and interactive. The authors attempted to develop the software using database technology for assisting learners to keep their learning materials for learning physics step by step. Database tools are primarily used for storing, modifying, extracting and searching for information within the database. The tool used for this research was the Database software (CVLP) which was made available on the cloud platform. This tool was designed by using the relational database model. The researcher has used the experimental method in studying its effectiveness in learning physics. The samples selected for this study comprised of the students studying an undergraduate course in four colleges at Tamilnadu, India. In this study, t-Test was the statistical technique applied to draw conclusion. The higher difference in mean scores between the experimental group and control group indicates that the database software was effectively utilized by the learners. The results revealed that the database software developed by the researcher helped the learners in learning physics concepts and solving physics problems.

Nationalism, High School Students, Physics, Science Instruction, Problem Solving, Test Construction, Essays, Science Tests, Specialists, Test Validity, Test Reliability, Models, Essay Tests, Content Validity, Foreign Countries, and Indonesia

This research that aimed to (1) produce instruments that were feasible to measure the ability to solve physics problems and nationalism, and (2) determine the quality of instruments that have been developed. This research was conducted through four stages, namely the design, preparation of tests, test trials, and preparation of valid instruments. The instruments developed are physics problem solving ability test instrument consists of 10 number essay questions and nationalism questionnaire consists of 35 items arranged in the form of a Likert scale. This research used qualitative and quantitative analysis provided by eight validators (experts, physics teachers, and peer reviewers), and empirical validation analysis. The content validation showed that the instruments developed were in the valid category with a validity value of 1.00 for each item in the two instruments developed. Empirical validation involved 250 high school students who were randomly selected. It was found that: (1) instruments developed in accordance with Partial Credit Model (PCM) in which all items developed were in the range of 0.77 to 1.33, (2) the instrument reliability was in the good category with in the range of 0.72 to 0.98 for both instruments, (3) the level of difficulty of problem solving ability instrument has good criteria in the range of -0.88 to 1.81e.

Laboratory Manuals, Material Development, Physics, Engineering Education, Content Validity, Educational Quality, College Faculty, College Students, Foreign Countries, Needs, Competence, Student Experience, Teaching Experience, and Philippines

This study aimed to identify the least learned competencies, needs, and challenges of engineering physics students and teachers, and develop a laboratory manual for Engineering Physics through a mix method design and ADDIE model, but limited to analysis, design and development of Laboratory Manual only. The participants were six Engineering Physics Laboratory teachers and ten second year engineering students. The result showed that the prevailing challenges that needs to be addressed in the laboratory class were lack of updated instructional materials such as laboratory manuals and laboratory equipment, old laboratory apparatus that give inaccurate data and the least learned competencies were thermodynamics, waves and optics, and electricity and magnetism. From the least learned competencies, a laboratory manual was developed to address the needs identified by students and teachers. Results revealed that the developed laboratory manual is much acceptable (M=4.64), by experts. In particular, the laboratory manual is acceptable in terms of Content Quality (M = 4.69), Instructional Quality (M = 4.64) and Technical Quality (M = 4.58). In conclusion, the implementation of the engineering physics curriculum faces many challenges especially the lack of laboratory facilities and instructional materials. The validated developed laboratory manual was found very much acceptable and can be used to address the needs of the students and teachers of engineer physics. It is recommended that the laboratory manual will be used as a supplemental instructional material. Also, further review and evaluation of the manual maybe considered to make it more contextualized, localized and indigenized in the Philippine setting.

STEM Education, Instructional Effectiveness, Science Process Skills, Skill Development, Knowledge Level, Physics, Computer Simulation, Active Learning, Inquiry, Student Attitudes, Undergraduate Students, Preservice Teachers, Student Motivation, Foreign Countries, and Turkey

In this study, the effects of STEM education in the simulation-based inquiry learning (SBIL) environment on the students' scientific process skills and STEM awareness were investigated. In addition, the use of simulations in STEM education was discussed by evaluating students' views on activities. Study group of the research consists of 39 students enrolled in science teaching undergraduate program at a university in Turkey. Results of the study showed that STEM education performed in the SBIL environment has a positive effect on the development of scientific process skills and STEM awareness. The students expressed a positive opinion on the STEM education that it provided the development of scientific process skills and increased their attitude and motivation towards the course. The students stated that the simulation program used in the STEM activities provided important advantages such as designing and developing engineering products, experiments and reducing errors.

Web 2.0 Technologies, Authentic Learning, Problem Solving, Physics, Science Instruction, College Students, Foreign Countries, Technological Literacy, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Technology Uses in Education, and Indonesia

A blog page is a vital tool to share and discuss information in real-world problem-solving. Unfortunately, this potential of blogs rarely was used to facilitate the problem-solving in specific physics topics. This study aimed to describe and examine a blog transformation in improving students' problem-solving. Through 40 university students, this study compared two physics learning sessions using transformation blogs and modules as resources. The results showed the advantages of blog transformation. We also discussed the differences between students' cognitive levels based on the new taxonomy of educational objectives. Instructors can model this study in designing a transformative technology to solve, map, and improve students' problem-solving skills in the semiconductor topic.

Physics, Science Education, Educational Innovation, Educational Research, Science Instruction, Citation Analysis, Periodicals, Extracurricular Activities, Journal Articles, and Teacher Education

This article presents a systematic mapping review on educational innovation in the area of physics education. We identified 508 articles published in journals from 2015 to 2019 from the "Web of Science" and "Scopus" databases. We found that research in educational innovation in the teaching of physics has focused on the analysis of didactic proposals and their evaluation. The analysis reveals areas of opportunity for the area of educational management, where we found some of the most cited articles, as well as for the study of innovative extracurricular activities related to the teaching of physics. There is an inconsistency between the large proportion of articles focused on teacher education and the absence of this kind of study at the basic levels. In general, the study of educational innovation in physics takes place at the high-school and university levels. The mapping provides information that supports researchers, professors and managers interested in educational innovation.

Physics, Science Achievement, Mathematics Achievement, Elementary Secondary Education, Achievement Tests, International Assessment, Foreign Countries, Science Tests, Mathematics Tests, Comparative Education, Grade 4, Grade 8, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, Italy, Norway, Russia, Slovenia, Sweden, United States, and Philippines

The study aimed to determine the extent of associations of physics, mathematics, and between physics and mathematics based on the results of the 2007, 2011, and 2015 Trends in Mathematics and Science Survey achievement tests. Utilizing educational data mining and correlational data analysis (significance set at [alpha] = 0.05), this study's findings revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between elementary physics and secondary physics (r = 0.821, [rho] = 0.045), between elementary mathematics and secondary mathematics (r = 0.914, ? = 0.011), between elementary physics and elementary mathematics (r = 0.914, [rho] = 0.011), and between secondary physics and secondary mathematics (r = 0.891, [rho] = 0.017). With these findings, the study concluded that physics and mathematics in elementary and high school are significantly associated that physics is not significantly associated with previous-level mathematics and that advanced courses in physics and mathematics are not associated with the secondary counterparts. Furthermore, implications toward physics education in the Philippines are formulated.

Preservice Teachers, Middle School Teachers, Scientific Concepts, Concept Formation, Misconceptions, Value Judgment, Science Education, Physics, Predictor Variables, Thinking Skills, Public Colleges, Learning Strategies, Questionnaires, Foreign Countries, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and Turkey

This study aimed to determine the extent of pre-service science teachers' (PTS) process and materialistic understanding of sound concept and the role of their task value beliefs in their scientific conception of sound. With this aim, the Sound Concept Inventory Instrument (SCII) was translated and adapted to Turkish. The SCII was administered to 320 PTS from four universities across Turkey. The average percentages of correct responses of PTS to the main and subcategory questions of the SCII showed that PTS hold both materialistic and process views of sound. Moreover, the results of the regression analysis indicated that PTSs' task value belief was a significant predictor of their scientific view of sound. Based on these findings, a number of recommendations have been suggested for PTS education programs in Turkey.

Scientific Research, Research Skills, Science Process Skills, Hypothesis Testing, Preservice Teachers, Science Teachers, Foreign Countries, Knowledge Level, Science Tests, Scores, Action Research, Majors (Students), Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Yemen

Preparing pre-service science teachers (PSSTs) with the scientific research skills (SRSs) is an ultimate aim of PSSTs' programs. This study aimed to explore PSSTs' understanding level of SRHs (SRHUL). To this end, an action research (AR) was adopted using a pre-post-test design. In doing so, a multiple choice test which consists of 15 items was developed and conducted on a random sample comprising 120 subjects. Results of the study revealed that participants showed insufficient performance on the test of understanding scientific research hypotheses (SRHUT) for both pre and post-test. Besides, results of t-test showed a significant difference between mean scores of pre-test and post-test. The difference was in favor of post-test. Also, results of one-way ANOVA revealed a non-significant difference between or within mean scores of compared groups. Based on the results of the study, some recommendations were made.

Electronic Learning, Physics, Science Instruction, Science Teachers, Foreign Countries, Educational Equipment, Educational Technology, Technology Integration, Teacher Qualifications, Teaching Experience, Access to Computers, Electronic Equipment, Equipment Utilization, Secondary Schools, and Nigeria

The study was intended to examine the utilization as well as the availability of E-learning facilities in the teaching of senior school physics in Ilorin, Nigeria. The study was a survey type and all physics teachers constitute the population. A total of 60 teachers was sampled for the study. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted in the selection of respondents. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 20 out of 35 secondary schools. Two structured checklists were used to collect data. Percentage and mean were used to answer the research questions while ANOVA was used to test hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding revealed that printers, photocopying machine, desktop computers, laptop computers, Android phones, electronic typewriters and scanners were available, E-learning facilities were not utilized, there is no significant difference in the utilization of E-learning facilities for teaching physics based on teachers' qualifications and experience. It was then recommended that physics teachers should be given proper training on how to use as well as maintain E-learning facilities in their various schools in order to equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge and values that will enable them optimize teaching in a fast changing world.

Outdoor Education, Preservice Teachers, Science Education, Field Trips, Foreign Countries, Preservice Teacher Education, Educational Environment, Social Environment, Expectation, Science Activities, Hands on Science, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, Space Sciences, and Indonesia

Field trip activities are often considered additional activities and are considered recreational activities rather than ones that teach science effectively to students. Field trip activities are one form of effective experience-based learning to train pre-service teachers in the outdoor environment. This study attempted to describe the design of outdoor science learning in the form of the field trip for pre-service science teachers (PSTs) and the condition of psychosocial learning environments in outdoor activities. This research is a case study carried out in a pre-service science teacher training program at Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kudus, Indonesia. The field trip was designed with field visits on six objects for three days in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The field trip activity was attended by 70 PSTs. Qualitative data is captured through the documentation of activities at each outdoor learning location. Quantitative data collection instruments included seven psychosocial scales, namely (1) Environmental Interaction; (2) Integration; (3) Students cohesiveness; (4) Teacher supportiveness; (5) Open-endedness; (6) Preparation and organization; (7) Material environment. The field trip design for PSTs recommends activities that lead to observation and exploration of visiting objects relating not only to the content of the science but also to the pedagogical aspects of the science. The psychosocial aspects of PSTs indicate that field trip activities show a positive meaning in all aspects, although there are significant differences in the conditions of expectations and reality experienced by PSTs. The integration aspect is not significantly different. The decline in perception is still at the medium level, and the condition of the perception is still at a positive level. Research and development studies that emphasize the process of integrating classroom learning with outdoor activities can be carried out further to be able to give meaning to science learning, which is not limited by classrooms or laboratories.