This study explored views held by pre-service and in-service science teachers regarding the nature of science and technology particularly: (a) the characteristics of science and technology; (b) the aim of science and scienti c research; (c) the characteristics of scienti c knowledge and scienti c theories; and (d) the relationship between science and technology. The views held by science teachers at pre-service and in-service levels were assessed using a questionnaire. The ndings revealed that generally science teachers at both pre-service and in-service levels showed similar views in relation to the nature of science and technology. While the participants displayed mix views regarding science as content oriented or process oriented, technology was viewed as an application of science. Implications of these views for classroom teaching and learning are presented.

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<p class="apa">Research studies that deal with student ability to investigate and carry out inquiry oriented investigations often call for educational practitioners to pay particular attention to incorporating the skills of scientific inquiry in the process of teaching and learning. This has the aim of helping learners acquire the skills needed to become problem solvers and independent thinkers. One aspect of the inquiry practice that is directly related to student ability to carry out scientific investigations is the ability to handle and control experimental variables. This skill is commonly known as ‘control of variables ability’. Control of variables, as a process skill, has been widely regarded as an important ability in scientific investigations. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to assess how well students across educational grade levels develop this important process skill. Specifically, this study was designed to assess the understanding of the control of variables of selected sample of science students from grades 8, 10, and 12 and to compare these students in relation to the development of this ability across grade levels. Using an assessment framework developed and used by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 128 science students were tested to assess their understanding of ideas pertaining to control of variables as a fundamental integrated process skill. The findings revealed that students across grade levels exhibited alternative conceptions of key ideas related to control of variables as a fundamental ability such as testing hypotheses, selecting the appropriate experimental setup, handling more than two variables, and providing valid explanations to the expected outcomes of an experimental setup. These findings suggested that much work is needed to improve student ability to handle and control experimental variables particularly in the context of UAE Curriculum and recent educational reforms that stress the need for better preparation of students to meet the challenges of today’s changing societies. The findings have also highlighted that such a need for better preparation of students for the future scientific inquiries requires new curricula and teaching approaches that respond to and focus on not only learning essential scientific content but also on acquiring advanced transferable abilities related to scientific inquiry and logical reasoning skills that can be used to solve societal problems.</p>

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Mathematics teachers’ perceptions and awareness of different kinds of assessments (e.g., diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments) may affect their classroom practices. In this context, the current study explored mathematics teachers’ perceptions and self-reported practices teaching mathematics for Trends of International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in Abu Dhabi schools in the United Arab Emirates. A teacher perception questionnaire was designed, then was administered to 522 mathematics teachers in Abu Dhabi schools in the academic year 2020–2021. A One-Sample t-test, Independent Sample t-test, and ANOVA tests were performed for the four-component variables of teacher perceptions, namely, teachers’ perceptions of TIMSS, their instructional practices in relation to TIMSS, the readiness of students for TIMSS, and the school and classroom environment for TIMSS. The results showed no statistically significant difference between male and female teachers in mathematics teaching practices with a focus on TIMSS or their perceptions of student readiness for TIMSS; however, there were differences in their perceptions of the school and classroom environment that were statistically significantly. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between public and private schools in the practice of mathematics teachers for TIMSS, while the difference was statistically significant on views regarding student readiness for the TIMSS as well as on the school and classroom environment. The findings of the present study have both pedagogical and policy implications, which are discussed at the end of this paper.

The study determined the degree of agreement between the evaluations of trainee biology teachers using students' perceptions of teacher skills and characteristics obtained from the Science Student Perception Questionnaire (SSPQ) and the evaluations. of these same teachers by their university supervisor and their school supervisors. The results indicated that such agreement did exist between these sets of data. This finding helped to establish the validity of the SSPQ as a means of assessing trainee teachers' performance and characteristics in the classroom. Also, students irrespective of their age, the teacher being assessed or the topics being taught, tended to exhibit similar perceptions of the instructional behaviour and personality characteristics of their trainee teachers. A few significant differences between the two age groups did occur, but these were always found to be in favour of the older students, who tended to rate their teachers more favourably.

This study aimed to explore school factors that influence students’ achievements in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The study sample for TIMSS 2015 consisted of 4838 students in eighth grade; 2172 girls, 2666 boys, and 156 schools from Abu Dhabi attended and participated in TIMSS 2015. Principal component analysis (PCA) was run on 77 items of school questionnaires administered to school principals to provide information about the school contexts for teaching and learning. The five factors from the school questionnaire were general school resources, school discipline and safety, parental support, principal experience and education, and library and instruction resources. Multiple regression models were implemented to examine the impact of school factors on student achievement in TIMSS 2015. The models are statistically significant, indicating that they fit the data well. This also demonstrates a significant linear relationship between students’ achievement in TIMSS 2015 and the variables related to school factors.