Both sketching and self-explanation are widely believed to be effective for problem-solving in science learning. However, it is unclear which aspects of these strategies promote learning and how they might interact. Compared to a read-only baseline, we examined the impact of instructing 11-year-old students to solve science problems to sketch,…

Combining mathematical and physical understanding in reasoning is difficult, and a growing body of research shows that students experience problems with the combination of physics and mathematics in reasoning beyond the introductory level. We investigated students' reasoning about boundary conditions (BCs) for the diffusion equation by conducting…

Human body donors play a crucial role in anatomical education, research, and clinical skills training, and those interested in anatomical donation may bequeath their bodies to body donation programs (BDPs). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perspective of body donors on the donation process in order to make recommendations for…

A primary goal of science and engineering (S&E) education is to produce good problem solvers, but how to best teach and measure the quality of problem solving remains unclear. The process is complex, multifaceted, and not fully characterized. Here, we present a detailed characterization of the S&E problem-solving process as a set of…

Our objective in this study was to investigate how the eye-movement behavior and concurrent verbal protocols of students with high-/low-prior-knowledge were reflected in the use of multiple representations for scientific argumentation. We also examined the degree of consistency between eye-fixation data and verbalization to ascertain how and when…

Guided inquiry learning is an effective method for learning about scientific concepts. The present study investigated the effects of combining video modeling (VM) examples and metacognitive prompts on university students' (N = 127) scientific reasoning and self-regulation during inquiry learning. We compared the effects of watching VM examples…

This qualitative within-individual case design study involved six adolescents (age 10-14 years) engaging in a think-aloud observational protocol to read two texts on climate change from contrasting viewpoints. The participants completed a prior knowledge assessment and survey of technology used to assess potential mediating factors. Survey and…

Given the importance of fostering students' interest as a goal of physics education in meeting international science standards, empirical support for the theoretical description of the interest construct is essential. Empirical studies require the use of psychometrically sound measurement instruments. This study developed an instrument to measure…

Understanding molecular processes and coordinating the various activities across levels of organization in biological systems is a complicated task, yet many curricular guidelines indicate that undergraduate students should master it. Employing mechanistic reasoning can facilitate describing and investigating biological phenomena. Biofilms are an…