Annette Lykknes

The comprehension of the nature of science (NOS) is increasingly recognised as a crucial element of science education, and many countries have incorporated NOS-related elements into their national curricula. This development underscores the need to adequately prepare teachers to possess a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of NOS. This article explores pre-service teachers’ understanding of NOS when engaging with scientific biography. Using biographies is proposed as a pedagogical strategy for embedding NOS within the curriculum. Grounded in the consensus view of NOS, this study evaluates students’ conceptualisations by analysing interviews and student presentations of the scientists’ life stories. The findings reveal variations in the students’ awareness concerning general aspects of NOS. Some pre-service teachers demonstrate a more profound understanding of science, recognising its tentativeness, social dependence, and the influence of human factors. However, most students associate science and the generation of new knowledge primarily with the procedural aspects of experimental protocol writing. These findings suggest that biographical tasks may serve as an effective means of enhancing pre-service teachers’ understanding of NOS, thereby suggesting the value of integrating such approaches into teacher education programmes.

Chemical bonding is a fundamental concept in chemistry and is essential for understanding the chemical and physical properties of substances and their interactions. Despite its importance, students often hold alternative conceptions and exhibit poor conceptual understanding. This study examines the extent to which widely used textbooks in Turkey, Norway, and Czechia reflect key recommendations from science education research. We analysed textbook passages covering chemical bonding, assessing whether they: (1) focus on molecules and ions rather than atoms, (2) present bonds as electrical phenomena, (3) avoid anthropomorphic or magical language, and (4) take care with language, avoid mixing the macroscopic and submicroscopic levels. The findings reveal that most textbooks in the three countries do not fully incorporate these recommendations. Explanations frequently focus on individual atoms, combine electrical attraction with other models such as the octet rule, and employ anthropomorphic language. Additionally, linguistic precision regarding the macro–submicro-scale is often lacking. Notably, Turkish and Norwegian textbooks continue to rely heavily on the octet rule, whilst its use is minimal in Czech texts. The observed divergence highlights the persistent gap between science education research and textbook writing practices. We discuss potential reasons for this gap and outline implications for teaching, curriculum development, and future research.

Academic workspaces, such as faculty offices, seminar rooms, and other campus interiors remain a relatively underexplored area of research when taken as sites of knowledge production, adaptation, and circulation. Yet, understanding the significance of these environments is crucial not only for the historical insights they offer but also for informing contemporary debates surrounding campus-development initiatives at universities worldwide. This special issue brings new perspectives to the history of campus design, examining how buildings, corridors, indoor streets, and office spaces have shaped academic life and knowledge practices in Northern Europe and the United States from the early 20th century to the present. Collectively, the contributions highlight the dynamic interplay between materiality, spatiality, knowledge production, and the formation of both collective and individual academic identities—underscoring how meaning is constructed within the academic workplace.

Critical thinking (CT) is widely recognised as a key competency in education for sustainable development (ESD). However, international research shows that many teachers feel unprepared to teach CT, especially within the ESD context. Despite its importance, few studies have explored how CT is actually practiced in ESD, particularly in primary and secondary education. This article presents a systematic literature review of 43 qualitative studies published between 1990 and 2021, following the PRISMA guidelines. This review aimed to (1) synthesise research on teachers’ understanding of CT in ESD and (2) identify teaching practices where CT is integrated into ESD. The findings reveal that the concept of CT is frequently used but is not clearly understood in the context of ESD. Most studies focused on critical rationality (skills), with fewer addressing critical character (dispositions), critical actions, critical virtue, critical consciousness, or critical pedagogy. This review highlights a need for broader engagement with these dimensions in order to foster ethically aware and responsible citizens. We argue for teaching approaches that involve students in interdisciplinary, real-world problems requiring not only critical reasoning but also action, reflection, and ethical judgment.

‘Scientific practices’ are included as a core element in Norway’s new science curriculum as of 2020. In dialogue with international research on the teaching and learning of scientific practices, Haug et al. (2021) have identified and operationalised eight central scientific practices to support a shared understanding within science education. We are responding to Haug et al.'s invitation to contribute to the discussion about how we can understand and work with practices as they are described in the science curriculum in Norway. We supplement their approach, by enriching the eight practices identified by: (a) recognising the social and historical dimensions of science, (b) appreciating a plurality of knowledge-making practices beyond scientific inquiry, (c) connecting teaching to actual science practices. We further introduce a ninth practice we call “Doing science together”. This supplementary work is aimed at foregrounding the relationship between science practices and the nature of science. Implications for use are discussed, including suggestions for learning outcome areas for preservice and in-service science teachers.

This paper examines the impact of supervised laboratory instruction (SLI) on grade 12 students’ understanding of acid–base and solution chemistry topics in the context of Ethiopian secondary schools. A mixed-methods research design was employed, with a purposive sampling of 160 secondary students from six schools in Northwest Ethiopia. The students were divided into two groups: an experimental group (n = 76) and a control group (n = 84). The experimental group attended sessions that were designed based on self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies with SLI, and the control group attended regular instruction designed by the course teacher. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to explore the impacts of the experimental and control lessons on improving students’ conceptual understanding and motivation. Descriptive and inferential statistics (for the quantitative data)and reflexive thematic analysis(for the qualitative data)were employed to analyse the data. The findings showed that the SLI-SRL teaching approach for the experimental group resulted in a significantly higher conceptual understanding of the selected chemistry topics than the regular instruction for the control group. In addition, participants from the experimental group indicated that the SLI approach enhanced their motivation towards chemistry. These findings suggest that improving high-school students’ motivation and their conceptual understanding of chemistry requires paying attention to the lesson design.