The subject of chemistry is a cornerstone of high school science programs and a conceptual understanding of chemical equilibria and Le Chatelier's Principle continues to be both a fundamental and paradoxically difficult subject for educators and students. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a prototype immersive virtual reality environment.…

I have created a general workflow that describes how students reason through non-trivial organic predict-the-product problems. This was accomplished through an iterative process that combined the experiences of instructors with holistic impressions of think-aloud interviews, incorporating feedback from both undergraduate focus groups and graduate…

Understanding the mechanisms of evolution can help lead to advancements in science, technology, medicine, and agriculture. To enhance student understanding of the Theory of Evolution, science education organizations encourage the teaching of evolution in the K-12 science curriculum. Additionally, holding informed views of nature of science (NOS)…

The study consisted of three articles. Article one aimed to determine if there were any significant difference in science graduate students' (SGSs') conceptions of the "consensus tenets" of the nature of science (NOS) with respect to demographic factors -- the SGSs' academic and research characteristics. The participants were SGSs from…

At universities across the United States the epistemological beliefs of students have been observed to deteriorate after a semester of instruction in an introductory physics course. What this indicates is that after taking a course in physics most students, for example, may become less capable of delineating between evidence-based reasoning and…

A key task in the professional development of counselors is the formation and refinement of their theoretical orientation, a framework based in theories of counseling and psychotherapy which helps one to understand human behavior and guide the therapeutic process. This study sought to explore counselor viewpoints on the current stage of their…

The underrepresentation of women and minorities in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a major concern for researchers, policymakers, and educators. Many causes of this issue have been identified over the years. However, effective methods for increasing minorities' and women's participation in STEM may still be…

Very little research examines the critical intersection between science and special education (SPED), let alone between the nature of science (NOS) and SPED. Thus, this study focused on preservice SPED teachers' conceptions of NOS, their NOS instructional practices, and their perceptions of the influence of course components on their NOS…

Achieving widespread scientific literacy has been a longstanding goal of US science standards, requiring that students and teachers possess contemporary nature of science (NOS) conceptions. However, NOS conceptions are repeatedly found to be wide-ranging or 'naive', resulting in regular efforts by science education researchers to hone, or…

This mixed method study was aimed at examining the influence of dual processing (Type 1 and Type 2 thinking) on the development of high school students' nature of science (NOS) views. Type 1 thinking is intuitive, experiential, and heuristic. Type 2 thinking is rational, analytical, and explicit. Three research questions were asked: (1) Do the…

STEM educational reform encourages a transition from instructor-centered passive learning classrooms to student-centered, active learning environments. Instructors adopting these changes incorporate research-validated teaching practices that improve student learning. Professional development that trains faculty to implement instructional reforms…

Science education in the U.S. has failed for over a century to bring the experience of scientific induction to classrooms, from elementary science to undergraduate courses. The achievement of American students on international comparisons of science proficiency is unacceptable, and the disparities between groups underrepresented in STEM and others…

Much of the nature of science research has been focused on high school students. High school students are primarily the target of such research to aid and to guide them in making informed decisions about possible career choices in the sciences (Bell, Blair, Crawford, & Lederman, 2002). Moreover, during review of the literature, little to no…

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of structured note-taking compared to traditional note-taking on the acquisition of scientific knowledge for students with and without learning disabilities (LD) and students with reading difficulties (RD). An additional purpose was to examine whether the two note-taking methods…

This study investigated whether participation in the Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP), a long-term authentic plant research project, in conjunction with explicit verses implicit instruction can change high school students' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The participants included a total of 134 students comprised…