Preface Staff members Topics include: Towards science education research that is relevant for improving practice: The model of educational reconstruction Computer assisted hands-on laboratories activities: Design, development and evaluation of instructional software for science teachers education Discourse Analysis in University Physics Class. Implications for Improvement of Educational Practice Assessing characteristics of teacher and student actions during instructional talks in primary science classrooms by means of video-analysis The process of teachers’ planning and implementation of school visits to science and technology museums Young people’s perspectives on genetics, identity and society using film and discussion Learning with simulations and their effect on problem solving in the domain of physics Designing and evaluating a research-based teaching-learning sequence on the moment of force Meaningful learning of models and modelling in chemistry education by adapting authentic practices Text coherence and self-explanation in learning physics with multimedia A Multimodal analysis of physics explanations Author index

Ph.D. students from 17 countries and supervisors and lecturers from 11 countries met to improve features of their research. The projects presented reflect a multitude of topics of research in science education as well as the variety and elaboration of theoretical frameworks used and a remarkable level of methodological expertise