Background: Inquiry-based science education (IBSE) is suitable to teach scientific contents as well as to foster scientific skills. Similar conclusions are drawn by studies with respect to scientific literacy, motivational aspects, vocabulary knowledge, conceptual understandings, critical thinking, and attitudes toward science. Nevertheless, IBSE is rarely adopted in schools. Often barriers for teachers account for this lack, with the result that even good teachers struggle to teach science as inquiry. More importantly, studies indicate that several barriers and constraints could be ascribed to problems teacher students have at the university stage. Purpose: The purpose of this explorative investigation is to examine the problems teacher students have when teaching science through inquiry. In order to draw a holistic picture of these problems, we identified problems from three different points of view leading to the research question: What problems regarding IBSE do teacher students have from an objective, a subjective, and a self-reflective perspective? Design & method: Using video analysis and observation tools as well as qualitative content analysis and open questionnaires we identified problems from each perspective. Results: The objectively stated problems comprise the lack of essential features of IBSE especially concerning ‘Supporting pupils’ own investigations’ and ‘Guiding analysis and conclusions.’ The subjectively perceived problems comprise concerns about ‘Teachers’ abilities’ and ‘Pupils’ abilities,’ ‘Differentiated instruction’ and institutional frame ‘Conditions’ while the self-reflectively noticed problems mainly comprise concerns about ‘Allowing inquiry,’ ‘Instructional Aspects,’ and ‘Pupils’ behavior.’ Conclusions: Each of the three different perspectives provides plenty of problems, partially overlapping, partially complementing one another, and partially revealing completely new problems. Consequently, teacher educators have to consider these three perspectives.

The promotion of Climate Literacy is a central concern of our time. To achieve this ability, one can draw on different content areas. One possible area is Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as Vertical Greening Systems (VGS), and their effectiveness in mitigating climate change. However, VGS is not yet an established topic in environmental education, even if the pro-environmental effectiveness of VGS has been proven from a scientific point of view and this topic is close to everyday life. To facilitate the transfer of knowledge from research to school, this paper presents an example of a possible procedure. This procedure starts with a narrative review of the scientific literature on VGS. Then, the main results of this review are related to the Sustainable Development Goals, Climate Literacy, and general educational goals to capture its educational relevance. Finally, a flow chart for a teaching sequence is developed, with the phase sequence derived from the performed narrative review. Thus, a parallelism between the structure of a scientific review and an action-oriented environmental education becomes visible. To what extent this parallelization may be generalized, and whether teaching based on it is effective, will have to be tested.

The Conceptual Model Map (CMM) presented here is intended to show the connections between different theories and constructs in the field of health and nutrition behavior (including literacy models, the knowledge–attitude(s)–practice(s) survey structure (KAP), behavior change theories, and Maslow’s pyramid of needs). The CMM can be used as a map to locate existing and future studies, to show their range of effect as well as their limitations. In this context, the CMM also reveals reasons for the attitude/intention–behavior gap.

Writing protocols is a central activity in the natural sciences, but is also a part of science education. In the context of inquiry-based learning, keeping records is considered beneficial for the comprehension of scientific reasoning and the associated problem-solving process. Previous studies have focused particularly on the evaluation of learner-generated protocols and their potential for learning. The process of protocol writing, especially in the context of inquiry-based group work, as it is usually implemented in practice, has hardly been researched so far. In this video-based study, we use the documentary method, a reconstructive analysis method, in order to investigate how student groups implement joint protocol generation in an experimental inquiry-based setting and which action-guiding orientations emerge in the process. In all groups, action-guiding orientations to “task completion” and using the “protocol as means to provide structure and security” were found. Moreover, we have found differing orientations which can be titled “protocol as a flagship” and “protocol used in a pragmatic manner”. Overall, the protocol seems more to serve as a guide and an assurance in the experimentation process rather than as a tool for improving scientific thinking and problem solving.