This study investigated the stability and persistence of prospective elementary teachers' conceptual understanding of average speed. A questionnaire containing two questions about average speed was administered to the prospective teachers prior to their admission to an elementary science methods course (pretest) and at the end of the course…

A postexam review activity was implemented in an introductory biology course to help students learn from their mistakes and strengthen reasoning and self-regulatory skills. The goal of this study was to design and test a strategy to measure the effectiveness of the postexam review using student performance and attitudinal measures. We evaluated…

Students arrive in college with significant prior knowledge including misconceptions that hinder their ability to learn new concepts correctly. Misconceptions, or "alternative beliefs," have been widely studied in the physical sciences at higher education institutions; however, there is a paucity of research concerning the community…

Evolutionary theory is a central tenet of biological science, and it is essential for all science teachers, early childhood through secondary, to have a clear understanding of not only the science behind evolution, but also the legal precedents for teaching evolution in the classroom. This study examines the effectiveness of a curriculum on…

For biologists, a proper understanding of evolutionary processes is fundamentally important. However, undergraduate biology students often struggle to understand evolutionary processes, replacing factual knowledge with misconceptions on the subject. Classroom discussions can be effective active learning tools used to address these misconceptions…

Online discussions have become inherent components of both face-to-face and distance education college courses, yet they often fail to provide much benefit to students' learning outcomes. One reason behind this phenomenon is the lack of or inadequate scaffolding or guidance provided to students when participating on asynchronous discussion boards.…

Misconceptions that students bring with them to the introductory science classroom plague every area of science and are especially prevalent in astronomy. One way to identify and possibly dispel some of these misconceptions is through the use of a misconceptions survey. The following is a report on the development, implementation, and some early…