Graphing is an important practice for scientists and in K-16 science curricula. Graphs can be constructed using an array of software packages as well as by hand, with pen-and-paper. However, we have an incomplete understanding of how students' graphing practice vary by graphing environment; differences could affect how best to teach and assess…

Introductory courses in biology often lack sufficient emphasis on quantitative skills and interdisciplinary problem solving, leaving many students unprepared for more advanced biology coursework and hampering their ability to pursue biology research careers. MathBench Biology Modules were created to enhance the quantitative skills of biology…

Current technology has the capacity for affording a virtual experience that challenges the notion of a teaching laboratory for undergraduate science and engineering students. Though the potential of virtual laboratories (V-Labs) has been extolled and investigated in a number of areas, this research has not been synthesized for the context of…

University courses concerning Computer Vision and Image Processing are generally taught using a traditional methodology that is focused on the teacher rather than on the students. This approach is consequently not effective when teachers seek to attain cognitive objectives involving their students' critical thinking. This manuscript covers the…

Geoscience instructors depend upon photos, diagrams, and other visualizations to depict geologic structures and processes that occur over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. This proof-of-concept study tests click-on-diagram (COD) questions, administered using a classroom response system (CRS), as a research tool for identifying spatial…

The present study compares the highly interactive cloud-classroom (HIC) system with traditional methods of teaching materials science that utilize crystal structure picture or real crystal structure model, in order to examine its learning effectiveness across three dimensions: knowledge, comprehension and application. The aim of this study was to…

This paper describes research on the use of knowledge models (ontologies) for building computer-aided educational software in the field of control engineering. Ontologies are able to represent in the computer a very rich conceptual model of a given domain. This model can be used later for a number of purposes in different software applications. In…

This paper describes the structure of the "Air Pollution Course", an environmental science laboratory course developed at the Science Education Laboratory of the Faculty of Primary Education, University of Athens, as well as the findings resulting from its implementation by pre-service elementary teachers. The course proposed in this…

The PhET Interactive Simulations Project partnered with the Excellence Research Center of Science and Mathematics Education at King Saud University with the joint goal of making simulations useable worldwide. One of the main challenges of this partnership is to make PhET simulations and the website easily translatable into any language. The PhET…

Educational technology has attained significant importance as a mechanism for supporting experiential learning of science concepts. However, the growth of this mechanism is limited by the significant time and technical expertise needed to develop such products, particularly in specialized fields of science. We sought to test whether interactive,…

Radford University was recently configured with a campus-wide wireless local area network. Using these new capabilities, a classroom-based Honors section of Concepts of Biology was conducted solely using electronic technologies (paper was never transferred from professor to student). To accomplish this, students used common software and freeware.…

Helping students develop criteria for judgment and apply examination skills is essential for promoting scientific literacy. With the increasing availability of the Internet, it is even more essential that students learn how to evaluate the science they gather from online resources. This is particularly true because publishing information on the…

At the Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia, we used their new computer facilities to introduce chemistry graduate students to biochemical database mining and quantum chemistry calculations using freeware. These hands-on workshops allowed the students a strong introduction to easily accessible software and how to use this software to begin…

The d'Arbeloff Interactive Mathematics Project or d'AIMP is an initiative that seeks to enhance and ultimately transform the teaching and learning of introductory mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A result of this project is a suite of "mathlets," a carefully developed set of dynamic computer applets for use in the…

Technology was integrated into service-learning activities to create an interactive teaching method for undergraduate students at a large research institution. Chemistry students at the University of Central Florida partnered with high school students at Crooms Academy of Information Technology in interactive service learning projects. The…