Science Education International

Editorial

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

Dear Readers, The September 2026 issue of Science Education International presents 11 original research articles authored by scholars from 11 countries, including Germany, Slovenia and Italy, Finland and South Africa, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, Morocco, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Ireland, Croatia, and China. This issue reflects the journal’s commitment to advancing high-quality science education on a global scale by addressing themes such as inquiry-based learning, student well-being, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) career aspirations, digital transformation, conceptual understanding, and sustainability. The issue opens with a study from Germany by Karsten Damerau, Kimberly Mary Hansen, and Christine Börtitz, who investigate physiological stress among lower secondary school students during inquiry-based and non-inquiry-based situations in science classes. Using heart rate variability data from 86 valid datasets, the study examines whether inquirybased activities are associated with elevated physiological stress and whether students’ individual dispositions influence their responses. Although no significantly higher stress level was observed during inquiry-based situations overall, the researchers identified three distinct types of students with different physiological stress responses. These findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences when designing supportive and personalized learning environments in science education. The second article, by Lara Colja and Marjanca Kos, explores the use of live animals in science education across Slovenianlanguage primary schools in Slovenia and Italy. Based on responses from 208 primary school teachers, the study reveals that most teachers rarely or never include live animals in their lessons, despite recognizing their potential to increase motivation, encourage active learning, and develop empathy and respect for living beings. Organizational constraints, hygiene and allergy concerns, and financial costs were identified as important barriers. The authors also highlight teachers’ limited methodological knowledge and emphasize the need for professional training and appropriate systemic support for the responsible inclusion of animals in science education. The third article turns to students’ future aspirations in STEM. From Finland and South Africa, Elisa Vilhunen and Jari Lavonen explore the factors influencing upper secondary school students’ STEM career aspirations through semistructured interviews with 10 high-achieving, STEM-oriented students. Drawing on social cognitive career theory, the findings are organized around self-efficacy beliefs, interests and values, outcome expectations, and environmental supports and barriers. The study also identifies both positive and negative conceptions of STEM-related careers and emphasizes the importance of strengthening students’ interest and selfefficacy, providing realistic information about STEM career pathways, and supporting more informed understandings of STEM-related work. The fourth contribution explores an unconventional medium for communicating scientific ideas. From Brazil, Aleilson da Silva Rodrigues and Wilmo Ernesto Francisco Junior examine the representation and communication of sciencerelated ideas in six internationally popular anime productions. Using Fleck’s epistemology as a theoretical framework, the researchers analyzed the first 50 episodes of each production, or all available episodes for two shorter series, identifying and coding scenes containing scientific terms, expressions, or representations. Of the 396 science-related scenes identified, 377 were considered scientifically accurate. The findings suggest that anime can provide opportunities for communicating scientific ideas and facilitating interaction among specialized, school, and popular audiences, opening further possibilities for discussing science communication beyond conventional educational contexts. The fifth article focuses on the rapidly developing intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and physics education. From Chile and Argentina, Chia Shih Su, Chuan Chih Hsu, Kua I Su, and Chia Li Su present an exploratory systematic review of AI applications in physics education and their relationship to Sustainable Development Goal 4. Following the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, the researchers screened 105 records and included 12 empirical studies published between 2013 and 2025. The review identifies four major pedagogical roles for AI – as tutor, evaluator, assistant, and analyst – and reports potential benefits related to conceptual understanding, formative feedback, personalization, and self-regulated learning. At the same time, technical reliability, teacher preparation, acceptance, transparency, bias, equity, and data protection remain important challenges. The authors appropriately characterize their findings as an exploratory evidence map rather than consolidated empirical evidence. The sixth contribution addresses conceptual understanding in chemistry education. From Morocco, Meryem Janati Idrissi, Omar Aarab, Lahbib Abbas, El Houssine Mabrouk, Ahmed Sali, and Nabil Amri investigate misconceptions in atomistics among upper secondary school students and examine their associations with learning practices. The 32-item assessment demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency, strong item discrimination, and an appropriate range of item difficulty. Students’ performance differed significantly according to grade level, academic track, digital tool use, tutoring type, and self-assessment. Exploratory factor analysis further indicated three dimensions involving structural representations and quantitative chemistry, ionic classification and nomenclature, and fundamental atomic concepts. The findings underline the value of diagnostic assessment for identifying and addressing students’ difficulties with atomistic concepts. The seventh article examines the effects of AI chatbotsupported instruction on students’ experiences and attitudes in science learning. From the Republic of Korea, Heungjin Eom and Dongkuk Lee investigate an AI chatbot-integrated instructional program with embedded scaffolding in a high school Earth science unit on stellar types and evolution. Involving 138 eleventh-grade students, the study employed a quasi-experimental one-group pre-test–post-test design. The findings indicate significant improvements in students’ science-positive experiences, including affective experiences, science self-concept, motivation, science career aspirations, and attitudes toward science. Students’ attitudes toward AI also improved across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. Qualitative findings suggest that immediate feedback and hints provided by the chatbot reduced perceived cognitive burden and supported more active engagement in self-directed problem solving and collaborative inquiry. The eighth contribution shifts the focus from technology to educators’ systems thinking and sustainability. With researchers from the United States and Ireland, Jessica A. Cordaro, Cliona Murphy, and Jeremy Solin investigate systems thinking competence among STEM educators in Pennsylvania and examine its relationship with the integration of sustainability into teaching. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study finds that high school educators tend to demonstrate higher levels of systems thinking competence, place greater importance on education for sustainability, and incorporate sustainability topics more frequently than elementary educators. A positive correlation was also identified between educators’ systems thinking competence and their perceived importance of education for sustainability. These findings highlight the potential value of strengthening systems thinking among educators, particularly those working with younger learners. The ninth contribution examines peer interaction and meaningmaking in asynchronous physics learning environments. From the United States, Rex N. Taibu and Lloyd M. Mataka analyze 64 peer responses produced by 18 students across four mechanics discussion modules in an introductory physics course redesigned around process-based tasks. Through qualitative content analysis, the study identifies a range of discursive moves, including probing reasoning, interpreting representations, negotiating conceptual understanding, coconstructing explanations, and extending ideas. Conceptual negotiation and probing reasoning were particularly prominent, while surface-level responses were relatively limited. The findings illustrate how structured, process-oriented tasks can create opportunities for students to make their thinking visible and engage with peers around reasoning, representations, and conceptual ideas. The tenth article returns to primary science education by examining how young learners perceive animals. From Croatia, Alena Letina and Nika Hajduković investigate the perceptions of 189 students from Grades 1 to 4 and identify patterns that may contribute to misconceptions relevant to early science teaching. The findings show a strong relationship between the appeal of animals’ appearance and students’ levels of fear, indicating that students’ perceptions are shaped not only by biological characteristics but also by affective, esthetic, and experiential factors. Misconceptions included the overgeneralization of traits, the influence of fictional representations, and insufficient attention to ecological functions, particularly in relation to animals such as spiders, snakes, bats, and earthworms. The study highlights the importance of helping young learners move beyond appearance-based perceptions toward a more scientifically grounded understanding of animals and their ecological roles. The issue concludes with a contribution from China by Enhai Liu, Xin Huang, Xia Xu, Xianghe Liu, and Mingguo Peng, who present a case-based teaching model integrating project practice and problem chains within a curriculum framework. Guided by outcome-based education, the model uses practical cases, task-driven scenarios, and interconnected questions to encourage students’ problem-solving, reflective learning, and innovative thinking. The reported results indicate increases in students’ academic performance and course-objective achievement, as well as positive outcomes in practice- and innovation-related activities. The study also reports an increase in annual industry employment rates and continued growth in employers’ satisfaction with graduates. Overall, the findings illustrate how case-based and project-oriented approaches can be used to connect curriculum learning with practical problemsolving and innovation. Overall, the 11 articles in this September 2026 issue demonstrate the breadth and dynamism of contemporary science education research. From students’ physiological responses to inquiry-based learning and their developing STEM aspirations to AI, sustainability, science communication, conceptual understanding, and innovative approaches to teaching and learning, the contributions address both established challenges and emerging directions in the field. Together, these studies provide valuable theoretical insights and practical implications for researchers, educators, teacher educators, and other stakeholders working to strengthen science education in diverse educational contexts. We hope that this issue will stimulate further research, dialogue, and collaboration within the international science education community, reinforcing Science Education International’s commitment to advancing high-quality science education on a global scale.

Inquiry-induced Stress? Physiological Stress Levels of Lower Secondary School Students in Inquiry-based Situations in Science Classes

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

In recent years, psychological strain among young people has increased worldwide due to numerous social crises. School and classroom performance requirements are primary sources of stress for students. Classroom stress emerges when the demands of a teaching situation surpass personal resources, such as self-efficacy beliefs (SEB). Scientific inquiry-based activities, including experiments or modeling, pose a significant challenge in science lessons because students have limited resources in this area, even by the end of lower secondary school. Consequently, an elevated stress level is anticipated in such situations. This exploratory study examined secondary school students’ heart rate variability (n = 86 valid data sets), an indicator of physiological stress, during inquiry-based and non-inquiry-based (communication) situations in science lessons. Moreover, a hierarchical cluster analysis was conducted to investigate whether stress levels differed as a function of individual dispositions that encompassed both stress levels and scientific SEBs. Overall, no significantly elevated stress level was observed during inquiry-based situations. Nevertheless, three types of students with different physiological stress responses were identified, suggesting that individual dispositions are pivotal in guiding personalized stress prevention in science lessons.

Involving Live Animals in Science Education: Exploring Cross-Border Practices among Slovenian-Language Primary Schools in Slovenia and Italy

2026-10-06T14:05:01-06:00

Involving live organisms into the educational process is recognized as one of the most effective strategies for younger children to acquire scientific knowledge about animals and develop positive attitudes to them. The described approach provides benefits that extend well beyond science education. Previous research has shown the need for further study of the demographics of educational practices involving animals in various international contexts. Our aim was to determine the current ways this approach is practiced in science lessons at Slovenian-language primary-level schools in Slovenia and Italy. Atotal of 208 primary school teachers completed an online survey, with the majority of responses revealing no significant differences between the two countries. Overall, most teachers reported not including live animals in their lessons at all, while those who employ this approach do so very rarely. The reasons most frequently stated for involving animals were to make students more motivated, encourage their active learning, and develop empathy and respect for living beings. Teachers perceived the biggest barriers to implementing this approach as organizational constraints, concerns with hygiene or allergies, and financial costs. Notably, over one-third of all respondents self-assessed their knowledge of appropriate methodological approaches for including live animals in lessons as very poor or poor. Most teachers stressed the need for training programs on this topic, along with systemic regulation that encompasses professional assistance and suitable conditions for integrating animals into the curriculum. Our results indicate that teachers’ knowledge of methodological approaches, animal care and breeding, as well as animal biology, forms a crucial foundation for incorporating live animals in the educational process.

Understanding the Factors Influencing Upper Secondary School Students’ STEM Career Aspirations

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

This study examines factors influencing upper secondary school students’ career aspirations and their conceptions about careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related fields. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews among high-achieving, STEM-oriented students (n = 10). According to a qualitative content analysis, students described several factors influencing their career choices. These factors were categorized under four main themes, following the terminology of social cognitive career theory: Self-efficacy beliefs, interests and values, outcome expectations, and environmental supports and barriers. Furthermore, students described both negative and positive conceptions about STEM-related fields. The findings of this study have important implications for both upper secondary school science instruction and career counseling. Finally, recommendations for practice are introduced to (1) promote students’ interest and self-efficacy in STEM subjects, (2) provide practical information on choices related to STEM careers, and (3) support the development of more realistic conceptions of STEM-related jobs and careers.

Science in Anime? A Debate from the Content and Characteristics of Communication of Science-related Ideas

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

To investigate the content and characteristics of the communication of science-related ideas in anime, this work examined six productions of worldwide popularity. Fleck’s epistemology was employed as theoretical background to understand the communication of ideas. The first 50 episodes of each anime (except for two that comprised 35 and 21 episodes at the time of the research) were watched, and all the excerpts containing terms, expressions, or representations referring to science were identified, transcribed, and coded. The overall results indicate the strong presence, both unintentional and intentional, of representations of science (396 scenes), most of which are scientifically accurate (377) and combine visual and verbal texts to display mentions or explanations. The set of anime analyzed demonstrates a potential role for the exchange and the furtherance of intra- and intercollective interaction of scientific ideas, as well as for discussion between specialized, school and popular audiences.

Artificial Intelligence in Physics Education: An Exploratory Systematic Review of Educational Applications, SDG 4 Alignment, and Sustainability Competencies

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

This paper presents an exploratory systematic review of artificial intelligence (AI) in physics education and its alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines (Page et al., 2021), a Web of Science search conducted on January 15, 2025, yielded 105 records; after independent dual-reviewer screening (Cohen’s κ = 0.82 on n = 105 title/abstract decisions), 12 empirical studies published between 2013 and 2025 were included and analyzed. Given the small corpus and emergent nature of the field, findings are explicitly characterized as exploratory evidence mapping rather than consolidated empirical conclusions. The corpus spans educational contexts from secondary school to teacher training and engages AI types including intelligent tutoring systems, machine learning, natural language processing, and generative models. Results indicate that AI is used in four pedagogical roles: tutor, evaluator, assistant, and analyst, with documented benefits in conceptual understanding, formative feedback, personalization, and self-regulated learning. Alignment with SDG-4-relevant sustainability competencies (critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and digital literacy) was identified through a secondary interpretive analysis by the review authors against Education for Sustainable Development competency frameworks (Rieckmann, 2011; UNESCO, 2017; 2024); this alignment is inferential and design-based rather than directly measured by the primary studies. Ongoing challenges include technical reliability, teacher preparation and acceptance, and ethical concerns regarding transparency, bias, equity, and data protection. The review contributes an initial, disciplinary-specific evidence map at the intersection of AI, physics education, and SDG 4, and identifies six evidence gaps for future empirical research. No protocol was preregistered prior to conducting this review; this absence is acknowledged as a transparency limitation.

Misconceptions in Atomistics among Moroccan Upper Secondary Students: Diagnostic Assessment and Associations with Learning Practices

2026-10-05T00:01:27-06:00

Students’ understanding of atomistic concepts remains a central challenge in chemistry education, specifically because it requires the articulation between macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic representations. This study assessed Moroccan upper secondary students’ understanding of atomistic concepts, combined with the investigation of learning practices associated with their scores. The instrument (32 items) showed satisfactory internal consistency, strong item discrimination, and appropriate range of item difficulty. Students’ scores were moderate, with significant differences by grade level and academic track, digital tool, tutoring type, and selfassessment. Exploratory factor analysis suggested a three-dimensional construct involving structural representations and quantitative chemistry, ionic classification and nomenclature, and fundamental atomic concepts. The study findings support the use of diagnostic assessment to identify students’ misconceptions about atomistic concepts.

Effects of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot-Integrated Instruction on Science-Positive Experiences and Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence: Focusing on the Unit of Stellar Types and Evolution

2026-10-01T05:16:08-06:00

This study examined the effects of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot–integrated instruction with embedded scaffolding on high school students’ science-positive experiences and attitudes toward AI in the Earth science unit on stellar types and evolution. To this end, the researchers developed an instructional program grounded in the Exploratory Scientific Data Analysis Inquiry Model and designed an AI chatbot to support students’ inquiry processes and conceptual understanding. The participants were 138 11th-grade students, and a quasiexperimental one-group pre-test–post-test design was employed. The results indicated that the intervention significantly improved students’ science-positive experiences across all subdomains – affective experience in science learning, science self-concept, motivation for science learning, science career aspirations, and attitudes toward science. In addition, students’ attitudes toward AI significantly improved across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions. Qualitative findings revealed that the AI chatbot’s immediate feedback and hints reduced students’ perceived cognitive burden in science learning and encouraged more active engagement in self-directed problem solving and collaborative inquiry. Students also came to perceive AI as a useful tool for learning, career exploration, and everyday problem-solving.

Exploring Systems Thinking among Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Educators to Advance Education for Sustainability

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

While systems thinking is recognized as a main competency of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and education for sustainability (EfS), the ways educators apply these skills in the classroom and how they shape instruction remains unclear. This study investigates systems thinking competence among STEM educators and its impact on the integration of sustainability topics and content into the curriculum. Using a mixed methods approach, data were collected from STEM educators across the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The results indicate that high school educators tend to have higher systems thinking competence, place greater importance on EfS, and more frequently incorporate sustainability topics into their lessons compared to elementary educators. In addition, a positive correlation was found between an educator’s systems thinking competence and their perceived importance of EfS. These findings suggest the potential value of supporting the development of systems thinking skills among K-12 educators, particularly those teaching lower grades, which may help strengthen their perceptions of the importance of EfS and support related educational outcomes.

Peer Discourse in Process-Based Physics Tasks: Discursive Moves and Meaning-Making in Asynchronous Learning

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

This study examines the nature of peer discourse in an asynchronous introductory physics course that was intentionally redesigned from traditional discussion formats to process-based tasks requiring students to externalize their thinking through handwritten work, diagrams, concept maps, tables, and structured explanations. Drawing on qualitative content analysis, 64 peer responses generated by 18 students across four discussion modules in mechanics were analyzed. Rather than applying predefined instructional categories or assigning a single dominant code, responses were coded inductively to identify all discursive moves present within each contribution, allowing multiple overlapping forms of engagement to be captured within individual responses. The analysis revealed that peer discourse was strongly characterized by active engagement, including probing reasoning, interpreting representations, negotiating conceptual understanding, co-constructing explanations, and extending ideas. Conceptual negotiation and probing reasoning were particularly prominent, indicating sustained attention to underlying physics concepts and solution processes, while surface-level responses constituted a relatively small portion of the dataset. Qualitative examination of full student responses further demonstrated that individual contributions frequently integrated multiple discursive moves, highlighting the layered and dynamic nature of peer interaction. These findings suggest that process-based task design not only supports individual reasoning but also reshapes peer discourse by centering visible thinking and reasoning processes. In the context of increasing reliance on AI tools, this approach offers a pathway for promoting authentic student engagement and reducing dependence on answer-focused interactions. The study contributes to understanding how instructional design influences peer interaction and highlights the potential of structured, process-oriented discourse as a site of learning in asynchronous environments.

Primary Students’ Perceptions of Animals: Insights for Primary Science Education

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

A scientifically grounded grasp of the living world is bound up with students’ prior conceptions, which can shape how new scientific knowledge is acquired and interpreted. This study examined primary-school students’ perceptions of animals as a component of their prior conceptions and sought to identify patterns of thinking that may contribute to misconceptions relevant to early science teaching. The sample comprised 189 students from the first to the fourth grade. Data were gathered by questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analysis, t-tests, analysis of variance, and qualitative content analysis of students’ justifications. Astrong association emerged between the appeal of animals’ appearance and the intensity of fear toward them, showing that students’ evaluations are shaped not merely by biological characteristics but by esthetic, affective, and experiential factors. The identified misconceptions involve the overgeneralization of traits, fictional representations, and the neglect of ecological function, particularly for less appealing animals such as the spider, snake, bat, and earthworm. Boys reported less fear of animals than girls, whereas no differences emerged by grade. The results point to a need for reshaping students’ representations by redirecting them from the appearance criterion to a grasp of the ecological function of animals.

Research and Practice of a Case-based Teaching Model Using Project-Based Problem Chains in Curriculum

2026-09-30T07:52:49-06:00

This study explores a teaching model that integrates case-based teaching with project practice, guiding students to investigate solutions and strategies for problem-solving during practical processes. By constructing scenarios and task-driven approaches based on practical cases, an “innovation-driven motivation” is fostered. Guided by the outcome-based education (OBE) philosophy, typical “chainquestion” teaching cases are designed, preliminary case studies are conducted, and the curriculum teaching model is optimized. With questions as the link to drive the advancement of students’ thinking and strengthen reflective learning, students are motivated to engage in independent innovation and inspire creative ideas. The purpose of this model is to enhance the cultivation of students’ innovative thinking abilities, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of course learning, restructure course teaching content, and ultimately provide feedback and enhance classroom teaching quality. The results indicate that the excellent rate of students’ academic performance and the achievement rate of course objectives have increased significantly, with the growth range ranging from approximately 3.48–4.84%. Students have achieved excellent results in practice and innovation-related modules (including practical training and competitions). The annual employment rate in the industry has increased by about 2.01%. Employers’ satisfaction with graduates has been continuously rising, demonstrating good effectiveness and high professional matching degree.