The use of animations, simulations, and remote lab experiments has taken a new turn during the pandemic. When teaching introductory-level physics courses, the simulations and animations play an important role. Carefully designed simulations assist students visualize real-life situations and help understand complex physics concepts behind them.…

The aim of this study was to investigate if videos created by teaching staff had a positive impact on student learning of integrative physiological concepts. Eighteen undergraduate students enrolled on a sport and exercise science degree attended an introduction to immunology short course. All students were taught together and then split into two…

An application for visualizing the aggregation of structureless atoms is presented. The application allows us to demonstrate on a qualitative basis, as well as by quantitatively monitoring the aggregate surface/volume ratio, that the enhanced reactivity of nanoparticles can be connected with their large specific surface. It is suggested that,…

Background: Animations of scientific concepts may improve comprehension by explaining and visualizing the steps of complex processes, but unless they engage student interest in meaningful ways, their effectiveness as teaching tools is limited. We achieve this through a novel approach to animation design that includes the target audience…

Students must actively engage in problem solving to effectively learn in introductory physics courses. However, students often get stuck and are not able to make progress when solving problems outside of their current ability, particularly when one-on-one tutoring and instructor office hours are a limited resource. One effective technique consists…

The majority of university students in the United Arab Emirates are English language learners. As a country that has only recently established its educational system based on an American model, it has adopted English as its language for teaching and learning. Challenges related to the use of a second language have been noted and simple…

Here we describe an acid rain neutralization laboratory experiment and its corresponding instructional video. This experiment has been developed and implemented for use in the teaching laboratory of a large introductory chemistry course at Brown University. It provides a contextually relevant example to introduce beginner-level students with…

The use of external representations (ERs) to introduce concepts in undergraduate biology has become increasingly common. Two of the most prevalent are static images and dynamic animations. While previous studies comparing static images and dynamic animations have resulted in somewhat conflicting findings in regards to learning outcomes, the…

Teaching and learning programming constitutes a challenge. Although several teaching approaches and programming tools have been proposed, it seems that they have limited impact on classroom practice. This article investigates students' perceptions on five educational programming environments that are widely used and the features that any…

Recent reports calling for change in undergraduate biology education have resulted in the redesign of many introductory biology courses. Reports on one common change to course structure, the active-learning environment, have placed an emphasis on student preparation, noting that the positive outcomes of active learning in the classroom depend…

This article reports on the types of views and misconceptions uncovered after assessing 155 freshman general chemistry students on the concept of particle position during the reversible physical change of melting, using the Melting Cycle Instrument, which illustrates particulate-level representations of a melting-freezing cycle. Animations…

This article summarizes an investigation into how Flash-based cartoon video tutorials featuring molecular visualizations affect students' mental models of acetic acid and hydrochloric acid solutions and how the acids respond when tested for electrical conductance. Variation theory served as the theoretical framework for examining how students…

This article explores the efficacy of formative assessment feedback models in higher education. Over 1 year and two courses, three feedback techniques were trialled: staff-to-student feedback in class, peer-to-peer feedback in class and peer-to-peer feedback online, via "the Café," an e-learning application hosted by…

Animation is one of the useful contemporary educational technologies in teaching complex subjects. There is a growing interest in proper use of learner-technology interaction to promote learning quality for different groups of learner needs. The purpose of this study is to investigate if an interaction approach supports weak learners, who have…

Narrated animated solution videos were implemented in a clinical study that compared a mastery setting that employed repeated cycles of testing with instructional support to a group that had a single opportunity to experience the materials. The mastery setting students attempted sequential questions sets on a topic, with animated solutions between…