Mechanisms are central in scientific explanations. However, developing mechanistic explanations is difficult for students especially in domains in which mechanisms involve abstract components and functions, such as genetics. One of the core components of genetic mechanisms are proteins and their functions. Students struggle to reason about the…

Science students are increasingly challenged to use technical language related to the topics that they are studying, and therefore, science teachers benefit from knowing which tools are effective to support students in learning to use new terms. This study examined the impact of using one such tool--sentences frames--to teach science vocabulary,…

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities (SCD) are the 1% of the total student population who have a disability or multiple disabilities that significantly impact intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors and who require individualized instruction and substantial supports. Historically, these students have received little…

We present a multiple-choice test, the Montana State University Formal Reasoning Test (FORT), to assess college students' scientific reasoning ability. The test defines scientific reasoning to be equivalent to formal operational reasoning. It contains 20 questions divided evenly among five types of problems: control of variables, hypothesis…

This study investigated exam achievement and affective characteristics of students in general chemistry in a fully-randomized experimental design, contrasting Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) participation with a control group balanced for time-on-task and study activity. This study population included two independent first-semester courses with…

The purpose of this article is to address a major gap in the instructional sensitivity literature on how to develop instructionally sensitive assessments. We propose an approach to developing and evaluating instructionally sensitive assessments in science and test this approach with one elementary life-science module. The assessment we developed…

This study focuses on a professional development program for science teachers near or on American Indian reservations in Montana. This program was framed by culturally relevant pedagogy premises and was characterized by instructional strategies and content foci resulting from the intersection between three cultures: tribal, science teaching, and…

The PISA assessment instruments for students' scientific literacy in 2000, 2003, and 2006 have each consisted of units made up of a real world context involving Science and Technology, about which students are asked a number of cognitive and affective questions. This article discusses a number of issues from this use of S&T contexts in PISA…

In this study, we analyzed the quality of students' written scientific explanations found in notebooks and explored the link between the quality of the explanations and students' learning. We propose an approach to systematically analyzing and scoring the quality of students' explanations based on three components: claim, evidence to support it,…

Describes a Q-sort type instrument useful in obtaining descriptive information about teaching methods and curriculum materials used in the science laboratory, including information for, among others, developing operational definition of constructs (inquiry), diagnosing problems in curriculum development or implementation, and monitoring the effect…

Determined is the logical reasoning necessary to construct line graphs including a straight line with a positive or negative slope and an exponentially increasing curve. The responses of subjects (grades 6-12) were classified into one of nine categories fitting with Piagetian operational structures. (Author/YP)

Investigates two evaluative hypotheses related to test item sequence and the performance of the students who take the tests. (SA)

This was an experiment to test the extended discretion laboratory approach versus a guided-inquiry approach for teaching biology in a university setting. Among three criterion variables (examination, reports, and quizzes), only the laboratory report scores showed differences between groups and group-by-instructor interaction. (Author/YP)

Croatian 1st-year and 3rd-year high-school students (N = 170) completed a conceptual physics test. Students were evaluated with regard to two physics topics: Newtonian dynamics and simple DC circuits. Students answered test items and also indicated their confidence in each answer. Rasch analysis facilitated the calculation of three linear…

Examined are the effects of testing on the achievement of students using self-instructional materials to learn science process skills. Results indicated that frequent quizzes did not differentially affect process skill acquisition. (Author/CW)