Project-Based Learning has been the leading strategy used by most of the top educational systems in the world. Authentic learning that addresses the 21st century skills is what PBL offers. However, little research has been done to explore its potential in improving the quality of education in the country and what framework to be used to be able to…

Science students find heat, temperature, enthalpy and energy in chemical reactions to be some of the most difficult subjects. It is crucial to define their conceptual understanding level in these subjects so that educators can build upon this knowledge and introduce new thermodynamics concepts. This paper reports conceptual understanding levels of…

There is a debate on students' low science achievement in the United States, particularly among low income, African American students, and Latino students. An important part of the education community's response to low achievement generally and in science specifically has been the implementation of high stakes accountability policies. Because of…

We developed and validated the Conceptual Assessment of Natural Selection (CANS), a multiple-choice test designed to assess how well college students understand the central principles of natural selection. The expert panel that reviewed the CANS concluded its questions were relevant to natural selection and generally did a good job sampling the…

The purpose of this cross-cultural study was to describe and compare US and Turkish children's observational knowledge of the day and night cycle and to identify similarities predicted by framework theory. Fifty-six (27 US and 29 Turkish) young children (ages 48-60 months) participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were individually…

Lab activities are an important element of an undergraduate physics course. In these lab activities, students construct and interpret graphs in order to connect the procedures of the lab with an understanding of the related physics concepts. This study investigated undergraduate students' construction and interpretation of graphs with best-fit…

This study investigates the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on students' academic achievements in studying "Electrochemistry" within a course on Analytical Chemistry. The research was of a pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design and it was conducted with second year students in the Chemistry Teaching Program at…

Internationally, conceptual and procedural understanding, understanding the Nature of Science, and scientific literacy are considered worthy goals of school science education in modern times. The empirical study presented here reports on promising teacher practices that in the students' views afford learning opportunities and support their science…

Researchers have shown a growing interest in science teachers' professional knowledge in recent decades. The article focuses on how chemistry teachers impart chemical bonding, one of the most important topics covered in upper secondary school chemistry courses. Chemical bonding is primarily taught using models, which are key for understanding…

Fundamentally concerned with motivation, self-determination theory (SDT) represents a framework of several mini-theories to explore how social context interacts with people's motivational types categorized by degree of regulation internalization. This paper aims to modify an existing theory-based instrument (Academic Motivation Scale, or AMS) and…

This article describes the design of a misconception diagnostic test about fire-related phenomena. It proposes a new test format in which a certainty-measuring tier has been integrated into each of the true/false response choices. This format is argued to be easier for teachers to use than the increasingly popular three-tier format. First, we…

This article describes the design of a misconception diagnostic test about fire-related phenomena. It proposes a new test format in which a certainty-measuring tier has been integrated into each of the true/false response choices. This format is argued to be easier for teachers to use than the increasingly popular three-tier format. First, we…

A well-established literature base identifies a portion of students enrolled in post-secondary General Chemistry as at-risk of failing the course based on incoming metrics. Learning about the experiences and factors that lead to this higher failure rate is essential toward improving retention in this course. This study examines the relationship…

The general chemistry laboratory is an appropriate place for learning chemistry well. It is also effective for stimulating higher-order thinking skills, including reflective thinking, a skill that is crucial for science teaching as well as learning. This study aims to examine the effects of feedback-supported reflective journal-keeping activities…

In this study we explored whether the use of teachers' demonstrations significantly improves students' understanding of redox reactions compared with control group counterparts who were not exposed to the demonstrations. The sample consisted of 131 Israeli 8th graders in middle schools (junior high school). Students' attitudes and achievements as…