Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Citizen Science as a Pedagogical Tool in Chemistry Education: Students’ Attitudes and Teachers’ Perceptions

This study explored student attitudes toward chemistry and the effects of participating in a citizen science project on those attitudes. Citizen science is highlighted as a potential tool for building chemistry literacy and environmental engagement in young students.

2022 Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education 7 citations
Article Tier 2

The laboratory didactics in the training-learning processes of sea sciences applied to cultural heritage and environment: the case of "An Ocean of Science" project

Researchers evaluated an educational project called 'An Ocean of Science' that used marine science laboratory activities to develop practical skills and knowledge in secondary school students, focusing on cultural heritage in marine environments and ocean protection. Assessment of student engagement and learning outcomes across multiple laboratory sessions demonstrated that active, hands-on learning approaches effectively improved scientific competence and increased student awareness of marine environmental issues.

2023 ACTA IMEKO 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Student participation in a coastal water quality citizen science project and its contribution to the conceptual and procedural learning of chemistry

Researchers developed a citizen science project involving students in monitoring coastal water quality parameters and detecting microplastics, finding that participation improved both conceptual understanding of chemistry and procedural laboratory skills. The study demonstrates the value of citizen science as a formal chemistry learning tool at the secondary level.

2021 Chemistry Education Research and Practice 32 citations
Article Tier 2

An Argumentation Practice Based on STEAM for the Chemistry Education of Gifted

This paper describes an argumentation-based STEAM approach to chemistry education for gifted students, using real-world environmental problems as a context. It is part of a collection examining how sustainability themes can be woven into advanced science education.

2021
Article Tier 2

Understanding Science Teachers’ Integration of Active Methodologies in Club Settings: An Exploratory Study

This study analyzed whether school science clubs in Portugal facilitate the integration of active learning methodologies into science classrooms, examining whether club-coordinating teachers also adopt these approaches in regular instruction. Results showed that science club participation was associated with greater use of inquiry-based and active methods in formal science teaching.

2024 Education Sciences 6 citations
Article Tier 2

School science activities with contributions from STEM practices: A study to address complex problems in elementary school classes, in the case of microplastics and their harmful effects

Researchers developed a theoretical and explanatory framework identifying which aspects of STEM education can strengthen the design of school science activities addressing complex problems such as microplastic pollution in elementary school settings. The study proposes a model for integrating STEM practices into classroom activities to build students' capacity to engage with real-world environmental challenges.

2025 Repositorio Universidad Distrital
Article Tier 2

Application of the Steam Approach in Efforts to Improve 4c Skills in Elementary School Students

This education research paper examined the effectiveness of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) teaching approach for developing 21st-century skills in elementary students. This is a pedagogy paper with no direct connection to microplastics or environmental science.

2023 Formosa Journal of Sustainable Research
Article Tier 2

Science interdisciplinary learning approach: a study interdisciplinary thinking skills and literacy environment

Researchers analyzed the impact of an interdisciplinary science learning approach on prospective teachers' ability to think across disciplines and develop environmental literacy related to sustainability. Using a quasi-experimental design, they compared students who received the interdisciplinary approach with a control group. The study found that integrating multiple scientific disciplines improved both interdisciplinary thinking skills and environmental awareness among future educators.

2024 Journal of Education and Learning (EduLearn) 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Promoting Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Development of NOSI Through Specific Immersion and Reflection

Researchers examined how pre-service primary teachers' conceptions of the nature of scientific inquiry (NOSI) evolved after a semester-long teaching module combining explicit-reflective instruction with inquiry tasks in everyday-life contexts, finding that participants entered with naive NOSI views but showed considerable improvement across most NOSI dimensions by the end of the intervention.

2022 Eurasia Journal of Mathematics Science and Technology Education 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Professional Development in Environmental Health for Middle School Science Teachers: A Pathway to STEM-Health Integration

This study evaluated a professional development program for middle school science teachers on environmental health topics, finding it improved teacher confidence and willingness to integrate environmental health into STEM education.

2024
Article Tier 2

Enhancing teacher competence through collaborative worksheet development: an empirical investigation

Researchers examined the efficacy of collaborative teaching using a project-based learning worksheet on plastic waste and climate change, involving five science teachers, two lecturers, and 45 seventh-grade students across three field trials. They found that collaborative worksheet development increased science teachers' professionalism, particularly in the collegial phase, while also improving student engagement with environmental topics.

2024 International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE)
Systematic Review Tier 1

Citizen Science Project's Contribution to Science Learning Outcome: Systematic Literature Review

This systematic review identified 19 types of citizen science projects that contribute to science learning at school and university levels, finding that six key learning outcomes are most commonly achieved, including content knowledge and scientific inquiry skills. This study is not related to microplastics but was included due to its systematic review methodology.

2023 EDUSAINS 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Desenvolvimento da literacia química de alunos do ensino básico

A Portuguese citizen-science project engaged over 500 middle-school students in testing coastal water quality and learning about microplastic pollution through hands-on chemistry investigations. The program significantly improved students' attitudes toward chemistry and their conceptual understanding of water parameters and polymers compared to a control group, demonstrating that microplastic science can be an effective hook for building broader scientific literacy in young people.

2024 Educación Química 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Pedagogical Purposes of Scientifical and Technological Literacy within Sustainable and Green Chemistry in the High School

This paper distinguishes between environmental, sustainable, and green chemistry and discusses how these frameworks can be integrated into high school science education. Teaching students about plastic pollution and its chemical impacts is part of developing scientifically literate citizens.

2023 Preprints.org 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Community-Engaged Research Projects in School Settings: Science Teachers’ Practices and Reflections

Not relevant to microplastics — this education research study analyzes how nine teachers implemented community-engaged research projects addressing environmental justice issues in their classrooms, focusing on pedagogy, student empowerment, and institutional challenges.

2024 Social Sciences 2 citations
Article Tier 2

A self‐reported instrument to measure and foster students' science connection to life with the CARE‐KNOW‐DO model and open schooling for sustainability

Researchers developed and validated a self-reported instrument to measure students' connection to science using the CARE-KNOW-DO model combined with an open schooling approach for sustainability. The study involved students working on real-world environmental problems including microplastic pollution alongside families and scientists. Evidence indicates that this approach can strengthen young people's engagement with science and sustainability topics.

2024 Journal of Research in Science Teaching 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Integrating Sustainability Issues into Science Education through Career-Based Scenarios in the MultiCO Project

This paper describes the MultiCO project's approach to integrating sustainability topics into science education through career-based learning scenarios. It argues that connecting scientific concepts to real-world careers helps students engage meaningfully with environmental challenges.

2021 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Engaging Latinx students in scientific inquiry and metacognition through an interdisciplinary summer program

Researchers examined the impact of an interdisciplinary informal STEM summer program on Latinx high school students, finding that authentic inquiry experiences enhanced science and engineering practice skills, positively shaped attitudes toward STEM including environmental science topics such as microplastic research, and facilitated metacognitive transfer to formal learning settings.

2024 Research Square (Research Square)
Article Tier 2

Enhancing chemistry understanding and attitudes through an outreach education program on circular plastic economy: a case study with Thai twelfth-grade students

Researchers examined the impact of an outreach education program integrating the circular plastic economy (OEC-Circle) on 32 Thai 12th-grade students, finding that inquiry-based learning modules covering plastic chemistry, circular economy, and sustainable polymers improved both chemistry understanding and positive learning attitudes.

2025 Chemistry Teacher International
Article Tier 2

Service-learning

This paper is not directly about microplastics; it describes a service-learning pedagogy used at a Croatian chemistry faculty to teach environmental protection, with community-based projects as the primary focus.

2024 Kemija u industriji 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Transformative STEAM Educators Developing Students’ Capabilities For Resolving Global Sustainability Crises

This paper argues that transformative STEAM education — integrating science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics — can develop students' capacity to address global sustainability crises including plastic pollution. The research advocates for educational approaches that go beyond conventional curricula to build environmental problem-solving skills.

2023 Proceedings of International Conference on Social Science Political Science and Humanities (ICoSPOLHUM)
Article Tier 2

Development and validation of an assessment for measuring chemical literacy in chemical equilibrium

A chemical literacy assessment was developed and validated for high school students studying chemical equilibrium, designed to measure how well students connect chemistry concepts to real-world phenomena including environmental chemistry and pollution. The assessment tool provided a validated instrument for evaluating chemistry education outcomes relevant to environmental awareness.

2024 Jurnal Pendidikan Kimia
Article Tier 2

Citizen_Labs – conception and evaluation of a course on plastic waste and microplastic in adult education

Researchers conceived and evaluated a citizen science laboratory course on plastic waste and microplastics for adult education, examining how experiential learning formats can raise environmental awareness and scientific literacy about plastic pollution among non-specialist participants.

2022 CHEMKON 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Documenting Children’s Spatial Reasoning through Art: A Case Study on Play-Based STEAM Education

Researchers examined how children's art can document emergent spatial reasoning in a play-based STEAM education context, analyzing art created as part of a participatory design-based research project integrating play, environmental education, and embodiment. The study found that art provides a window into children's sensemaking of spatial relationships, supporting the case for spatial reasoning as a cross-domain component of STEAM curricula.

2023 Sustainability 3 citations