Calls to transform introductory college physics courses to include scientific practices require assessments that can measure the extent to which these transformations are effective. Such assessments should be able to measure students' abilities to intertwine important concepts with practices in which scientists engage. In addition to evaluating…

Competency levels around scientific literacy for high school students in the United States are insufficient for students' future ability to be competent consumers and voters. The purpose of this action research study was to explore how students were being exposed to scientific literacy concepts in high school science courses in the United States.…

Humans have long sought to understand the forces that shape the diversity of living creatures on our planet. This work is primarily concerned with examining one such force--the historical action of natural selection--from practical, philosophical, and pedagogical perspectives. The first half is concerned with a suite of genetic mechanisms in…

The climate, being a complex system, is difficult for people to understand. If better education is to be designed to improve the public's understanding of the subject, educators must be aware of the prior knowledge that students bring with them to the classroom since it is through that prism that people make sense of the world. As such, the aim of…

This practitioner action research study explored features of NGSS-based pedagogies to improve secondary education student engagement, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. It examined ways that constructivist pedagogies might encourage students to understand science by putting their skills and knowledge into practice as young…

Recent calls in education have emphasized the critical need for curricula in the sciences to support student development of the general and disciplinary-specific practices that are relevant to modern scientific research and careers, as well as foundational scientific knowledge that reflects recent advances. In this regard, the life sciences,…

The objective of this dissertation was to design and study a transformative model of climate change education that foregrounded sociopolitical processes and was socially relevant to Black and Latinx urban high school students. The intervention was implemented at the Mann-UCLA Community School in South Los Angeles while distance learning was…

There has been a call from the national community of biologists and biology educators to increase biological literacy of undergraduate students, including understanding and application of core concepts. The structure and function relationship is a core concept identified by the wider biology community and by physiology faculty. Understanding of…

Quantum mechanical (QM) and molecular docking methods are used to probe systems of biological and synthetic interest. Probing interactions of nucleobases within proteins, and properly modeling said interactions toward novel nucleobase development, is extremely difficult, and of great utility in RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. The issues in…

This action research study used data from multiple assessments in Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism to determine the viability of Modeling Instruction as a pedagogy for students in AP Physics C: Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism. Modeling Instruction is a guided-inquiry approach to teaching science in which students progress through…

Recent research supports the benefit of students' construction of relevance through writing about the connection of content to their life. However, most such research defines relevance narrowly as utility value--perceived instrumentality of the content to the student's career goals. Furthermore, the scope of phenomenological and conceptual…

Developing K-12 science teachers' understandings of nature of science (NOS) and scientific inquiry (SI) continues to be a major goal of science education reform. There is consensus among science teacher educators that developing students' NOS and SI understandings is vital to the development of a scientifically literate citizenry. However, two…

Implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards requires developing elementary teacher content and pedagogical content knowledge of science and engineering concepts. Teacher preparation for this undertaking appears inadequate with little known about how in-service Mid-Atlantic urban elementary science teachers approach this task. The…

The primary focus of this education leadership portfolio is to reconstruct lessons on chemical reaction concepts for teachers to use and reach all learners of chemistry in Cecil County Public Schools. As a high school chemistry teacher, I have observed that student enrollment in chemistry is relatively low, and students show little enthusiasm…

Organic chemistry is an essential subject for many undergraduate students completing degrees in science, engineering, and pre-professional programs. However, students often struggle with the concepts and skills required to successfully solve organic chemistry exercises. Since alkyl halides are traditionally the first functional group that is…