The evolution education experiences of students of color represent an emerging area of research, because past inquiries indicate these students have differential outcomes, such as lower evolution acceptance and severe underrepresentation in evolutionary biology. Religion is often an important support for students of color who are navigating a…

Like all SSI, the COVID-19 pandemic requires decisions that are contentious, involve scientific thinking, and vary across social groups. This investigation determined how perceptions about COVID-19 science and sociocultural membership associate with 557 university biology students': (1) COVID-19 behaviors after stay-at-home orders and (2) support…

Finland offers a specific example of a country with a broad enrolment in higher education, where the educational starting age is relatively high and where studies may last considerably longer than in most other European countries. This study attempted to identify at-risk students in Finnish universities with the greatest probability of…

A critical component of scientific reasoning is the consideration of alternative explanations. Recognizing that decades of cognitive psychology research have demonstrated that relative cognitive accessibility, or "what comes to mind," strongly affects how people reason in a given context, we articulate a simple "cognitive…

The objective of this investigation is to make a study of the relationship between achievement goals and science motivation. Research data were collected from 295 university students. Achievement goals and science motivation scales were utilized as measure tools. The link between achievement goals orientation and science motivation was…

Curriculum design, teaching methods, assessments and range of academic support need to be inclusive in Open Access Enabling courses. The findings of this study confirm a correlation between student access to online learning materials and a positive impact on grades in science courses. More specifically, students who frequently use the online…

High school students from lower-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds are less likely to enroll in advanced mathematics and science courses compared to students from higher-SES backgrounds. The current longitudinal study draws on identity-based and expectancy-value theories of motivation to explain the SES and mathematics and science…

Few studies have focused specifically on the role that language plays in learning chemistry. We report here an investigation into the ability of language comprehension measures to predict performance in university introductory chemistry courses. This work is informed by theories of language comprehension, which posit that high-skilled…

This mixed-methods investigation compared the relative impacts of instructional approach and context of nature of science instruction on preservice elementary teachers' understandings. The sample consisted of 75 preservice teachers enrolled in four sections of an elementary science methods course. Independent variables included instructional…

With recent attention to improving scientific workforce development and student achievement, there has been a rise in effort to understand and encourage student engagement in physical science. This study examines the association of family influence and initial interest in science through multiple and logistic regression models. Research questions…

This mixed-method research attempted to clarify the role of visuospatial abilities in learning about mineralogy. Various sources of data--including quantitative pre- and postmeasures of spatial visualization and spatial orientation tests and achievement scores on six measures and qualitative unstructured observations, interviews, and field trip…

Objective: To examine the relations of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics's (STEM) self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and contextual supports and barriers to STEM educational goals in college students with disabilities from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. Design: Quantitative descriptive research design using…

As the number of college students studying science continues to grow, it is important to identify variables that predict their success. The literature indicates that motivation and learning strategy use facilitate science success. Research findings show these variables can change throughout a semester and differ by performance level, gender and…

Using longitudinal administrative data from a large elite research university, this paper analyzes the role of peers and grades in determining major persistence in the life and physical sciences. In the physical sciences, analyses using within-course, across-time variation show that ex-ante measures of peer quality in a student's introductory…

Science courses with hands-on investigative labs are a typical part of the general education requirements at virtually all colleges and universities. In these courses, labs that satisfy a curricular requirement for "lab experience" are important because they provide the essence of the scientific experience--that is, they give students…