The movement of air into and out of the lungs is facilitated by changes in pressure within the thoracic cavity relative to atmospheric pressure, as well as the resistance encountered by airways. In this process, the movement of air into and out of the lungs is driven by pressure gradients established by changes in lung volume and intra-alveolar…

When students learn, they activate, use, revise, and acquire knowledge. As such, knowledge is a fundamental asset. We advocate for an asset-based approach which capitalizes on students' knowledge through prompts and activities that invite learners to leverage what they already know. Considering knowledge as an asset means that educators must…

In addition to the continuing need for citizens who can address the challenges of "human" communities, growing concerns have arisen regarding "all" life on the planet. Indeed, one of our most urgent conditions is the decline of the environment upon which all life depends. Yet, despite our concerns, there remain vastly differing…

This study sought to develop and evaluate an online module based on inquiry learning with digital laboratories, which was intended to address students' misconceptions in a science domain. In a quasi-experimental design, 171 first-year students in a higher education introductory physics course on circular motion were as their existing groups…

After 30 years of practicing, researching, and teaching project-based learning (PBL), Steven Wolk offers insight into what he has learned. He discusses what PBL is and responds to common misunderstandings about how it works. He describes how PBL units are structured, the role of direct instruction in PBL, how students learn content and skills…

This study investigates the effectiveness of using a REACT strategy instruction enriched with guided inquiry-based experiments to improve 7th-grade students' understanding of mixtures compared to conventional teacher-centered instruction. A convergent parallel mixed-method design was used, and 39 middle school students were divided into…

The use of guided inquiry-based learning (GIBL) in a manner designed to challenge individual students' unscientific conceptions of science, has been researched widely. However, few (if any) studies have investigated the implementation of GIBL in a manner designed to challenge the fundamental patterns of students' context-dependent unscientific…

While computer animations have the potential to assist learners in understanding difficult concepts and eliminating misconceptions, studies supporting this claim are scarce. This study investigated how the 7E instructional model integrated with computer animations affected students' conceptual understanding and misconceptions about food making and…

Instructors are increasingly using interactive student response systems (SRS) to foster active learning and deepen student understanding in statistics education. Yet most studies focus on either the benefits of SRS or on how "students" can receive and use feedback, rather than on how "instructors" can use formative assessment…

In order to succeed in biochemistry, students must transfer and build upon their understanding of general chemistry and introductory biology concepts. One such critical area of knowledge is bioenergetics. Student misconceptions around energy and free energy must be addressed prior to learning more advanced topics, such as energy flow in metabolic…

Biochemistry curricula present a particular challenge to undergraduate students with abstract concepts which can lead to misconceptions that impede learning. In particular, these students have difficulty understanding enzyme structure and function concepts. Targeted learning activities and three-dimensional (3D) physical models are proposed to…

Although testing is used mainly for assessing student learning, a new teaching strategy called concept-point recovery (CPR) makes testing a learning opportunity for engineering students to review errors and misconceptions. CPR allows students to regain points by reviewing wrong answers and explaining the solution process to the instructor to…

Although teachers are eager to facilitate community of inquiry (CoI) in their classrooms, they also fear being unable to convey the necessary knowledge to their students in an inquiry due to the inherent involvement of conflicting views, confusion, and a lack of strict definitions about the concepts. The author argues that the banking model of…

The concept of air-having pressure needs to be understood by students so that they can understand natural phenomena related to the air concept. The characteristic of the abstract concept of air having pressure leads students to misconceptions. The purpose of this study is to analyze changes in students' conceptions of the air-having pressure…

Many biology students struggle to learn about the process of meiosis and have particular difficulty understanding the molecular basis of crossing over and the importance of homologous pairing for proper segregation. To help students overcome these challenges, we designed an activity that uses a newly developed Chromosome Connections Kit® from 3-D…