This study examines the validity of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) in Ugandan secondary schools using Item Response Curves (IRCs) and provides a comparative evaluation of its effectiveness across different educational contexts. The survey focused on Senior Four students preparing for the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations, with a representative sample of 941 students (aged 15–17) selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. The initial analysis employed Classical Test Theory (CTT) metrics before the detailed analysis of IRCs for the FCI items. The CTT evaluates item-level and whole test statistics like item difficulty level, discrimination index, and reliability. The CTT indices revealed that the FCI was highly challenging, with an average score of 5.76 out of 30 and a low-reliability coefficient (α = 0.15). Additionally, 73.3% of the items showed poor discrimination, and some distractors were ineffective. The detailed analysis of IRCs showed that several FCI items are inefficient in the context of the Ugandan education system. The IRCs also demonstrated a widespread choice of distractors for many items, with overall scores falling below the threshold indicative of a generally agreed-upon understanding of Newtonian physics. Comparative analysis from other global contexts studies suggests that language barriers, curriculum differences, and instructional methods influence student performance. These findings underscore the necessity of adapting the FCI tool to better fit local educational contexts and implementing additional instructional strategies to enhance conceptual understanding. A more culturally and contextually adapted diagnostic tool may improve physics education and better assess students’ conceptual comprehension of force and motion within the region.

Research consistently highlights the importance of promoting creativity in curricula worldwide and within school settings. However, teachers often fail to recognize mathematical creativity (mainly described and evaluated through fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration) and are usually ill-prepared to enhance it in their students. Few studies have incorporated educational programs focused on mathematical creativity, showing positive results in enriching participants' knowledge and perception of creativity. Nevertheless, participants' teaching practices were not observed, leading to uncertainty about whether these participants could integrate opportunities for students’ development of mathematical creativity in their lessons. In this qualitative study, we attempt to bridge this gap by observing teachers' practices before and after an intervention focused on mathematical creativity. Seven in-service primary school Greek teachers participated in the study. Their teaching practices were examined through classroom observation, using an observation protocol, before and after their voluntary participation in an educational program aimed at enriching their knowledge of mathematical creativity and their ability to cultivate it in the classroom. Observational data were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results showed that prior to the intervention, participants sparsely employed creativity-fostering approaches in their teaching. However, after the intervention, they significantly increased the time spent on creativity-provoking tasks, utilizing various creativity-promoting approaches and primarily focusing on developing fluency, flexibility, and generating new knowledge. Nevertheless, they did not significantly develop their skills in originality and elaboration, indicating the need for further support in cultivating these aspects of creativity. Future implications for professional teacher training and mathematics textbook writing are discussed.

The infusion of indigenous knowledge in academic subjects is often problematic due to personal perceptions or little experience with indigenous knowledge in a teaching and learning environment. The aim of the research was to indicate the experiences of pre-service teachers when infusing indigenous knowledge via storytelling in Physical Science. This article reports on the personal experience(s) of pre-service teachers in training at a higher education institution where indigenous knowledge was infused into the teaching and learning of Physical Sciences. The implementation of Ethnophysics as a teaching strategy, storytelling as a teaching technique, contextualised - and project-based learning as teaching methods and approaches and reflection on experiences when implementing participatory action learning and action research indicated a transformative way to embrace indigenous knowledge in the teaching and learning of Physical Science. Stories, related to the concept of heat in physical science were collected by the pre-service teachers from trusted adult members in their local communities. The pre-service teachers analysed the stories and reported their interpretation of scientific and indigenous knowledge in the stories. Inductive, thematic analysis was used to interpret pre-service teacher reflection on the experience and the Cultural Historical Activity Theory was used to indicate an overview and the connection between different elements of the research. The participating pre-service teachers indicated that storytelling, as a teaching technique, adds value to how they interpret concepts in Physical Science related to their unique culture. The pre-service teachers gained research skills regarding qualitative research and showed the ability to identify the contribution of both scientific and indigenous knowledge.

For decades, a global trend in mathematics curriculum development has placed greater emphasis on learning goals that seek to capture different kinds of processes that students should master. For Danish primary and secondary mathematics education, these ambitions are expressed in terms of a set of mathematical competencies, in line with the so-called KOM framework. However, it has proved challenging to implement the competencies in mathematics classrooms and actual teaching practice. Matematrix is a series of Danish mathematics textbooks for grades K-9 designed to support mathematics teachers in facing this challenge. Following a short introduction to the KOM framework, I – as one of the designers and authors of the textbooks – present a key element in this endeavour: A three-dimensional model of content and objectives combining mathematical competencies, mathematical core concepts and grade levels. I then describe the use of this model in the specific case of Matematrix at three different levels of textbook design: The structure of the general content of the books, the focal points for each chapter, and the development of different kinds of tasks for the students to work with.

This study explores how mentor teachers in specialized teaching areas, particularly chemistry, interact in an Online Professional Development (OPD) program. The Mentor Teacher Professional Development (MeT-PD) program was designed to improve mentoring practices by creating opportunities for collaborative learning through various online activities, such as Individual Response (IR), Interactive Individual Response (IIR), Small Group Discussions (SGD), and Large Group Discussions (LGD). Using a qualitative case study approach, the research analyzed data collected from Zoom recordings and Nearpod activity logs. The findings indicate that while LGDs were useful for interactions between facilitators and learners, they were not as effective in fostering interaction among learners themselves, mainly due to the cognitive demands and how these discussions were structured. On the other hand, SGDs seemed to foster stronger participant interaction, probably because the smaller group settings led to more valuable exchanges. These findings highlight the need of thoughtful planning of OPD activities, with particular focus on group size management and selection of suitable discussion formats to improve both interaction and learning outcomes.