Of the three main subdivisions in chemistry, physical chemistry often presents a challenge when delivered to those not majoring in chemistry or its cognate disciplines. This is, at least in part, due to the seemingly unrelatedness of the subject to students' anticipated career. We describe the redesign of a nested physical chemistry course for…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require teachers to think very carefully about the structure of lessons, which content must be taught to allow students to achieve NGSS expectations, and how content is delivered. With the standards' focus on three-dimensional learning and the use of relevant phenomena, most teachers are urged to make…

General chemistry is a mandatory course for those in pursuit of careers in various allied health and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. However, many students find chemistry difficult. For English language learners (ELLs), the situation is especially demanding, as these students are required to learn the specialized…

This is a conceptual paper aimed at chemistry educators. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the use of the semantic code of Legitimation Code Theory in chemistry teaching. Chemistry is an abstract subject which many students struggle to grasp. Legitimation Code Theory provides a way of separating out abstraction from complexity both of…

In this paper a sequence of nine, easy to manufacture optical black-box experiments with increasing levels of difficulty, and supportive frameworks for physics classes are introduced. They have been evaluated in a lower-secondary school at the end of optics lessons. A black-box is a kind of experimental task where the inner structure is not…

Inclusion of model building in the learning process promotes a deep understanding of scientific content and concepts. Likewise, higher level questioning requires high cognitive demand and critical reasoning and leads to positive educational results. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the conjunction of higher level thinking…

This article explores some of the common mathematical difficulties that 11- to 16-year-old students experience with respect to their learning of physics. The definition of "understanding" expressed in the article is in the sense of transferability of mathematical skills from topic to topic within physics as well as between the separate…

The attainment gap in science may not be as well-documented as the gap in English and maths, but it is just as pervasive. Our research has shown that disadvantaged pupils start to fall behind in science in Key Stage 1; the gap only gets wider throughout primary and secondary school and on to A-level. Helping schools to use evidence and to…

Science is a subject steeped in specialized vocabulary and elementary preservice teachers may find themselves less than comfortable with that vocabulary. Couple this with their long documented fear of the subject and we have teachers who enter their first classrooms unsure of themselves and the content and thus, less able to prepare their own…

A national survey reports that 42% of mainstream teachers have English language learners (ELLs) in their classrooms, but only 12.5% say they have been prepared to work with them (National Center for Education Statistics 2002). This article supplies a framework to address the cognitive demands of ELLs with varying proficiency levels, guided by the…

What is the relationship between ACT scores and success in college? For decades, admissions policies in colleges and universities across the country have required applicants to submit scores from a college entrance exam, most typically the ACT (American College Testing) or SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). This requirement suggests that high school…

Students in the normal technical stream are generally less academically inclined. Teaching physics to them can be a challenge. A possible way to engage such kinaesthetic learners is to encourage them to fabricate physics-based toys. The activity described in this article shows how a group of three students were able to come up with a creative…

This paper summarizes difficulties that chemistry students at all levels commonly exhibit when translating, manipulating, and interpreting mathematical expressions that contain logarithms, and offers approaches that the authors have found useful to help students overcome such difficulties. The online supplement provides problem sets created by the…

Academic records of first year students enrolled in Introductory Chemistry at the University of Guelph, Canada, were used to develop a method to examine the effects of individual courses on freshman academic performance. At the center of the technique is a new test statistic useful in creating individual course profiles. Because grade point…

Three gifted students (ages 7 to 8 years) with reading problems experienced more difficulty than their peers in science. Incorporating the science inquiry approach into their reading program helped them realize that reading was not a separate activity and improved their reading skills. (Author JDD)