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ESERA 2025

Strand Descriptions

Conference Session Formats and Review Criteria

Below are detailed descriptions of each session format available for proposal submission, including specific review criteria and submission procedures for each format. Note that submission steps and criteria may vary by format.

Extended abstracts for all conference formats may be considered for inclusion in the conference proceedings and the book of selected papers. Guidelines for revising extended abstracts for these publications will be provided later.

Description: Science learning from a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives. Includes theories, models, and empirical results on conceptual understanding, conceptual change approaches to learning in science, methodology for investigating students’ processes of concept formation and concept use, and strategies to promote conceptual development.

Sub-themes:

  1. Conceptual Change and Cognitive Development in Science Learning
  2. Methodologies for Investigating Science Learning
  3. Strategies and Interventions for Enhancing Science Learning
  4. Models and Theories of Science Learning Processes
  5. Other

Description: Science learning from multi-facet dimensions that go beyond conceptual understanding. Theories, models, methodologies, and empirical results about the cognitive, affective, aesthetics and social dimensions in learning science; design of learning environments; studies of learning processes concerning cognitive, affective, aesthetic and social engagement of scientific contents; forms of representational languages and knowledge organisation, including methods of collaborative construction of knowledge.

Sub-themes:

  1. The Role of Emotions in Science Learning and Teaching
  2. Developing and Validating Instruments for Measuring Affective Constructs
  3. Interventions to Enhance Motivation and Interest in Science
  4. Theoretical Perspectives on Attitudes and Beliefs in Science Education
  5. Other

Description: Theories, models, and empirical results about teaching processes, curriculum design and implementation. Includes design, adoption, exchange, refinement and transformation of teaching interventions, materials, and tools, including laboratory and inquiry-based practices. Also, research-based interventions and their role for curriculum design, instructional paths and learning goals, and classroom implementations, refinement, and evaluation of teaching-learning sequences; learning progressions, etc.; and models of co-design and factors that influence teachers’ roles, ownership, and accountability.

Sub-themes:

  1. Design and Implementation of Inquiry-based and Laboratory Practices
  2. Research-based Interventions in Curriculum Design and Instructional Paths
  3. Evaluation and Refinement of Teaching-Learning Sequences and Learning Progressions
  4. Co-design Models and Teacher Roles in Science Education
  5. Other

Description: Design, evaluation and characterization of innovative resources, technological applications, digital tools, software, and environments for teaching/learning science, e.g., ICT and TEL in science education. Includes online learning environments, simulation, modelling tools, virtual and/or remote laboratories, game-based tools; self-regulation, reflection, and collaboration in digital learning environments; and implementation of machine learning, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence into teaching/learning science.

Sub-themes:

  1. Integration of Augmented, Virtual, and Extended Reality in Science Education
  2. Artificial Intelligence Applications in Science Education
  3. Machine Learning Applications in Science Education
  4. Development and Evaluation of Simulations and Digital Learning Environments
  5. Game-based Learning Tools for Science Education
  6. Other

Description: Nature of science and its history, philosophy, sociology and epistemology for teaching/learning of science. Includes the significance of models and modelling for science education as reflected in the particular importance attached to the use of metaphors, analogy, modelling, argumentation, explanation, visualisation, simulations, animations and gamifications in science.

Sub-themes:

  1. Philosophical Foundations of Science Education
  2. The Role of History & Philosophy of Science in Science Education
  3. Nature of Science and Epistemic Practices
  4. Sociological Perspectives on Science Education
  5. Other

Description: Theories, models, foundational debates, and empirical results related to inter/multi/trans-disciplinarity in science, mathematics, STEM, STEAM and beyond, including the human sciences. Includes ontological, epistemological, methodological, and institutional aspects related to disciplinary identities and how they can interact; and debates and approaches related to curriculum, standards, pedagogy and policy, including cross-cutting and emerging topics.

Sub-themes:

  1. Theories and Models of Interdisciplinary Approaches in STEM/STEAM Education
  2. Ontological and Epistemological Perspectives on Disciplinary Identities
  3. Methodological and Institutional Aspects in Interdisciplinary Science Education
  4. Curriculum Design for Interdisciplinary Science Education
  5. Other

Description: Understanding, supporting, and promoting the use of evidence and argumentation discourse in science education. Includes scientific practices related to knowledge evaluation and communication, supporting the development of critical thinking, discourse analysis, talking and writing science in the classroom, and meaning making in science classrooms.

Sub-themes:

  1. Analysis of Argumentation and Student Discourse in Science Education
  2. Developing Critical Thinking through Science Argumentation
  3. The Role of Talking and Writing in Science Knowledge Construction
  4. Tools and Techniques for Enhancing Scientific Discourse
  5. Meaning-making in Science Classrooms
  6. Other

Description: Teaching and learning about scientific literacy, socio-scientific issues and citizenship education. Topics in the strand include understanding the social aspects of science, critical media/literacy reasoning, decision making and debates on socio-scientific issues (SSI), public engagement and participation in science and understanding the relevance of science. The aforementioned topics can focus either on teachers or students.

Sub-themes:

  1. Teaching and Learning about Scientific Literacy
  2. Engaging Students in Socio-scientific Issues (SSI)
  3. Critical Media Literacy in Science Education
  4. Public Engagement and Participation in Science
  5. Other

Description: Theories, methods, and practices of science education for sustainability, agency, and futures literacy. Includes future-oriented proposals for framing science education research agenda into contemporary debates on agency, sustainable development and sustainability education as well as analysis, discussion and reflection about both contemporary and foundational competence frameworks, reports and agendas at the European and international level.

Sub-themes:

  1. Theories, methods, and practices of science education for sustainability
  2. Theories, methods, and practices to Foster Agency and Empowerment
  3. Futures Literacy and Future Thinking in Science Education
  4. Policy and Practice in Science Education for Sustainability
  5. Other

Description: Theories, methods, and practices about environmental, ecological, earth, health, and medicine education. Includes debate about literacies and approaches related to the environment, including indigenous perspectives and connection with more comprehensive aspects of justice as well as planetary well-being, and the design, development, and evaluation of the impact of programmes and experiences.

Sub-themes:

  1. Environmental Literacy and Science Education
  2. Health and Medicine Education
  3. Indigenous Perspectives on Environmental Education
  4. Justice and Equity in Environmental Science Education
  5. Other

Description: Teaching and learning theories and practices in informal, non-formal, and out-of-school settings such as museums, science centres, outdoor settings, community programs (including indigenous communities), communications media, after-school programs and clubs. Includes design, adoption, exchange, and evaluation of informal, non-formal, and out-of-school learning environments, especially those organised by institutions other than schools, as well as informal and non-formal approaches to the teaching/learning of science.

Sub-themes:

  1. Science Learning in Museums and Science Centers
  2. Community-based Science Education Programs
  3. Outdoor and Field-based Science Learning
  4. Evaluation of Informal Science Learning Experiences
  5. Other

Description: Socio-political, sociocultural, multicultural, multilingual, multi-modal, intersectional, racial/ethnic, equity, critical, feminist, and gender studies, as well as special needs in science education. Proposals that include theories, methods, and practices related to ways-of-being and ways-of-knowing in science education and through an array of onto-epistemological perspectives, ideas, theoretical, and methodological approaches build on and perhaps exceed identity in inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary ways. Inviting critical examination of identities as multiple and situated in various systems of power and privilege to afford complex understandings of educational opportunities related to access and achievement.

Sub-themes:

  1. Addressing Gender and Racial Equity in Science Education
  2. Multicultural and Multilingual Approaches in Science Teaching
  3. Inclusive Practices for Students with Special Needs in Science
  4. Intersectionality and Identity in Science Education
  5. Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice in Science Education
  6. Other

Description: Science curricula development including design, adoption, and comparison, as well as reform implementation, dissemination, and evaluation. Includes evaluation systems and practices adopted and implemented in schools and institutions; and construction, interpretation, implementation, implication and reflection of policies and reforms at the local, regional, national, or international levels concerning science education.

Sub-themes:

  1. STEM Curriculum for young learners (<7 years)
  2. STEM Curriculum for primary level
  3. STEM Curriculum for secondary level
  4. International perspectives in STEM policy & curriculum
  5. Evaluations systems and practices
  6. Other

Description: Development, validation and use of standardised tests; instruments for measuring attitudes, interests, beliefs, self-efficacy, science process skills and conceptual understandings; authentic assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, as well as approaches to assessment, monitoring student learning and implications for teaching. Includes international comparison studies such as TIMSS and PISA.

Sub-themes:

  1. Development and Validation of Science Assessment Instruments
  2. Formative Assessment Strategies in Science Education
  3. Summative Assessment Practices in Science Classrooms
  4. Implications of International Assessments (e.g., TIMSS, PISA) on Science Education
  5. Assessing Student Attitudes and Beliefs in Science
  6. Other

Description: Professional knowledge of pre-service science teachers, pre-service teacher preparation, instructional methods in pre-service teacher education, programmes and policy, field experience, relation of theory with practice, and issues related to pre-service teacher education reform.           

Sub-themes:

  1. Pedagogical Approaches in Pre-service Science Teacher Training
  2. Linking Theory and Practice in Pre-service Teacher Education
  3. Field Experiences and Practicums in Science Teacher Education
  4. Reform and Innovation in Pre-service Science Teacher Programs
  5. Other

Description: Continuing professional development of science teachers, including in-service science teacher education programmes and policies, teachers as lifelong learners, strategies and methods for teaching science, innovation and reform in professional development, evaluation of professional development practices, reflective practice, teachers as researchers, and action research.

Sub-themes:

  1. Continuing Professional Development Strategies for Science Teachers
  2. Reflective Practice and Teacher Research in Science Education
  3. Evaluating the Impact of In-service Teacher Training
  4. Lifelong Learning and Career Development for Science Teachers
  5. Other

Description: Science education from early childhood through primary school, with wide ranging foci including science pedagogies, children’s learning, innovative teaching practices, teacher education, social and cultural aspects of science engagement, and family involvement.

Sub-themes:

  1. Children’s science engagement
  2. Pedagogies for science in the early years
  3. Emergent Science
  4. Early childhood science instruction
  5. Primary science instruction
  6. Other

Description: Teaching and learning theories and practices related to content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and instructional material, strategies and practices at the middle and secondary school levels.

Sub-themes:

  1. Middle School Teaching
  2. Middle School Learning
  3. Secondary School Teaching
  4. Secondary School Learning
  5. Other

Description: Science teaching and learning theories, methods, pedagogies and empirical studies at the university level. Includes discussion, interpretation, implication and reflection of praxis, as well as innovative proposals and policies of teaching and learning science at university.

Sub-themes:

  1. Undergraduate Teaching
  2. Undergraduate Learning
  3. Graduate Teaching
  4. Graduate Learning
  5. Other

Description: Foundational aspects and debates of epistemology, ontology and axiology of methods and methodologies of science education research.

Sub-themes:

  1. Qualitative Methods in Science Education Research
  2. Quantitative Methods in Science Education Research
  3. Mixed Methods Approaches in Science Education Research
  4. Ethical Considerations in Science Education Research
  5. Critical perspectives on methods and methodologies
  6. Emerging technologies and Methodological Aspects in Science Education Research
  7. Other