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Background Intrinsic motivation plays a unique mediating role in student academic performance. An inquiry-based learning (IBL) physics practical is studied in terms of effects on secondary school students’ intrinsic motivation towards performing science practicals. Results After performing IBL experiments on ionizing radiation, 38 secondary school physics students were interviewed and expressed their need for support in two main areas: the inquiry process and non-salient tasks, i.e., operating the equipment. The IBL experiments were revised accordingly, providing scaffolding through revised worksheets and videos on the use of the equipment. Subsequently, a quasi-experiment was carried out. One experimental group received both a revised worksheet and a video (N = 88), the other only received the worksheet (N = 67). Students performing the same practical on the basis of a step-by-step instruction sheet were used as a control group (N = 87). Five subscales of the intrinsic motivation inventory were used as a pre- and post-test for all three groups. Results show significant gains in the Interest/Enjoyment as well as Effort/Importance subscales favouring both IBL groups. With an instructional video, all five subscales show a significant increase as compared to the control group. Conclusions The results point to the advantages of using an IBL approach for practicals, provided appropriate scaffolding is used in terms of equipment operation and inquiry process.

Previous studies have documented the promising results from student-constructed representations, including stop-motion animation (SMA), in supporting mechanistic reasoning (MR), which is considered an essential thinking skill in science education. Our current study presents theoretically and empirically how student-constructed SMA contributes to promoting MR. As a theoretical perspective, we propose a framework hypothesizing the link between elements of MR and the construction nature of SMA, that is, chunking and sequencing. We then examined the extent to which this framework was consistent with a multiple-case study in the domain of static electricity involving five secondary school students constructing and using their own SMA creation for reasoning. In addition, students' reasoning in pre- and postconstruction of an SMA was examined. Our empirical findings confirmed our framework by showing that all students identified the basic elements of MR, that is, entities and activities of entities, when engaging in chunking and sequencing. Chunking played a role in facilitating students to identify entities responsible for electrostatic phenomena, and sequencing seemed to elicit students to specify activities of these entities. The analysis of students' reasoning in pre- and postconstruction of SMA found that student-generated SMA has a potential effect on students' retention of the use of MR. Implications for instruction with SMA construction to support MR are discussed.

This study focuses on the perceived gap between the required and actual level of digital research skills (DRS) of students entering tertiary science education. By combining existing frameworks for research skills and digital literacy skills, a guiding framework of DRS was constructed. The DRS framework incorporates seven categories and is evaluated using an exploratory qualitative study employing semi-structured interviews with university teachers (N = 15). The level of DRS at the start of university science education and university teachers’ perceptions of first-year students’ level of DRS have been investigated. The results show that the skills of writing a research paper using digital tools, using proper resources, and analysing, transforming, and visualising data were generally found to be wanting.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic forced a sudden transition to emergency online education in early 2020, academic discourse quickly shifted to focus on the new situation and what could be learned from it. The present study gives an overview of the discourse on education during the pandemic in publications that appeared in the top-50 journals on the Clarivate Education list in the period April 2020–May 2021. Based on a final selection of 63 articles and 12 editorials, mostly on higher education, five main themes were identified: affect, teaching practice, teaching context, achievement and assessment, and equity. The academic discourse in these publications indicates that the emergency situation exacerbated previously existing issues: mental distress was observed to rise sharply for all stakeholders and gaps in access to education between different social groups widened. In response, teachers revisited the core values of education to guide them in approaching online teaching. Management focused less on procedures and communicated in a more human and empathic way. We argue that the acute interconnectedness experienced during the pandemic can be used to develop a pedagogy of care in which support is explicitly organized on both socio-emotional and academic levels.

There is a growing research interest in mechanistic reasoning (MR) in the field of science education, as this type of reasoning is perceived as an essential thinking skill for science education. This literature review synthesized 60 science education studies on MR published from 2006 to 2021. The findings showed three common aspects of conceptualizations of MR in science education: (1) causality in relation to MR, (2) use of entities and their associated activities, and (3) use of entities at (at least) one scale level below the scale level of a target phenomenon. While most of the reviewed studies related the importance of MR to cognitive aspects, a smaller number associated its value with scientific modelling. Three main difficulties in generating MR were categorized: (1) identifying and using unobservable entities, (2) assigning activities to entities, and (3) identifying and using an appropriate number of entities. Various types of support for fostering MR were identified. Implications and future studies are discussed.

As education was forced to go fully online in early 2020 as a consequence of the imposed lockdowns, concerns were raised related to student well-being. This study examines student well-being at the science faculty of a large urban university in the Netherlands within the framework of Basic Psychological Need Theory, a sub-theory of Self-Determination Theory. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining the results of an online student survey with 16 Likert-scale questions as well as two open ended questions (2228 participants, corresponding to a response rate of 32%) with a student focus group interview. The Likert-scale questions were subjected to factor analyses and reveal problems with well-being in four areas: study, personal worries, personal well-being, and societal worries. The analyses of the answers to the open ended questions as well as the focus group data show that students are positive on the autonomy offered by the inherent flexibility of online education, e.g., as a consequence of reduced travel time. However, the psychological needs of competence and relatedness are seriously undermined during times of lockdown, mainly because of poorer student-teacher interaction, lack of structure, loneliness, and helplessness. Students state that they need more support in these areas, for example by on-campus meetings whenever possible, psychological support, improvements in online education, online social events, adequate communication, and leniency in the interpretation of regulations and deadlines. Implications are discussed.