This study proposes a three-phase professional development (PD) program for middle school science teachers and aims to investigate their engagement with the Socioscientific Issue and Model-Based Learning (SIMBL) framework. It follows a multiple-case study design, and the main data sources of the study are semi-structured interviews, while the secondary data sources include developed SIMBL units, field notes of the PD program, classroom observations of the lessons, and unstructured phone calls/messages. The semi-structured interviews comprise pre- and post-PD program interviews as well as post-implementation interviews. Employing the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth framework for data analysis, teachers are categorized into three distinct groups: proactive, collaborative, and teacher-led. Findings highlight how teacher beliefs and prior experiences shape their ability to integrate SIMBL into classroom practices. The study emphasizes the critical role of sustained PD, reflective practices, and alignment with teacher beliefs in facilitating the effective implementation of innovative teaching frameworks. Ultimately, the SIMBL framework was found to enhance student engagement with socioscientific issues by fostering critical thinking, systems-based reasoning, and media literacy, contributing to science education.

Recent research suggests that integrating model-based learning and socioscientific issue based instruction helps students construct meaningful learning in science classrooms. Thus, this paper presents a unit plan that integrates model-based learning and socioscientific issues. The focus of the unit is the white butterfly which is a local pest. A 4-week middle school unit was developed on the driving question, “How might the population change of the white butterflies interact with the local ecosystems?”. Evaluation of the unit was made through students’ models and explanations. There were three modeling sessions throughout the unit. “Components” and “Explanatory Process” rubrics were developed to evaluate the models and explanations. The results showed that students’ pre-knowledge about the white butterfly and its relationship with the local ecosystem was quite limited and throughout the lessons they were questioned and gained knowledge about the relationship between the white butterfly and ecosystem. Also, students became able to explain the effects and results of the methods used to control the white butterfly but not able to show them by drawing. Therefore, it is highly recommended to evaluate the models together with their explanations, as students’ drawing skills are a limitation for the use of models.

This research was conducted to examine pre-service teachers’ perception of renewable energy sources, tendency to use renewable energy and opinions about the future use of renewable energy sources and to investigate whether they have basic knowledge about renewable energy sources. To this end, the Renewable Energy Perception Scale, a 5-point Likert scale, was administered to a total of 755 pre-service teachers in the Science Teaching and Primary Teaching Departments in the Education Faculty of Düzce University. The scale has three sub-dimensions, namely “Renewable Energy Knowledge”, “Renewable Energy Future Vision”, and “Renewable Energy Tendency”. In the whole scale and its sub-dimensions of “Renewable Energy Knowledge” and “Renewable Energy Tendency”, it was found that the pre-service primary teachers had a statistically significantly better perception of renewable energy sources than the pre-service science teachers. Also, younger participants were found to have a statistically significantly better perception in the “Renewable Energy Tendency” sub-dimension. There is a statistically significant gender-based difference in the “Renewable Energy Future Vision” sub-dimension. On the other hand, no significant gender-based difference was found for the whole scale and the other sub-dimensions. This study shows the importance of examining pre-service teachers’ perception of renewable energy in terms of their better teaching these sources to their future students.