Altmetrics are non-traditional metrics that can capture downloads, social media shares, and other modern measures of research impact and reach. Despite most of the altmetrics literature focusing on evaluating the relationship between research outputs and academic impact/influence, the perceived and actual value of altmetrics among academicians…

To develop competency in science practices, such as data analysis and interpretation, chemistry learners must develop an understanding of what makes an analysis and interpretation "good" (i.e., the criteria for success). One way that individuals extract the criteria for success in a novel situation is through making social comparisons,…

Collaboration is a complex, multidimensional process; however, details of how multimodal features intersect and mediate group interactions have not been fully unpacked. Characterizing and analyzing the temporal patterns based on multimodal features is a challenging yet important work to advance our understanding of computer-supported collaborative…

The transition to college is challenging for most students, especially those who aspire to major in the science, technology, engineering, or mathematics disciplines, in which introductory courses can be large and instruction less than optimal. This paper describes a novel, disciplinary first-year seminar (FYS) course, Exploring Biology, designed…

Using an educational data mining approach, first-year academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students, which included two compulsory courses in introductory human anatomy and physiology, was compared with achievement in a final semester course that transitioned students into the workplace. We hypothesized that students could be grouped…

This article focuses on concerns related to a lack of students' perception of relevance in school science seen as differing from educators' perception of relevance. In order to determine how relevance is portrayed in teaching and learning materials (TLMs), the titles and introductory texts (scenarios) from 77 TLMs, aiming to induce students'…

Latent variable models, such as the popular Knowledge Tracing method, are often used to enable adaptive tutoring systems to personalize education. However, finding optimal model parameters is usually a difficult non-convex optimization problem when considering latent variable models. Prior work has reported that latent variable models obtained…

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) plays a key role in introductory organic chemistry, spanning theory, concepts, and experimentation. Therefore, it is imperative that the instruction methods for NMR are both efficient and effective. By utilizing eye tracking equipment, the researchers were able to monitor how second-semester organic…

This study explored 6th grade students reading of science text on the iPad to better understand how students with varying strengths of comprehending text and current academic abilities interpret text on their iPads. Our study sample compared three students with strong reading scores based on informal reading inventories, standardized tests, and…

Teachers can reflect on and analyze their classroom discourse to inform their instructional practice. When teachers try to do so however, they often face analytic difficulties, which include the data set (e.g., data input, data transformation, and utterances by unknown speakers), coding (e.g., coding complexity, reliability, and efficiency),…

This paper discusses Multi-Feature Hierarchical Sequential Pattern Mining, MFH-SPAM, a novel algorithm that efficiently extracts patterns from students' learning activity sequences. This algorithm extends an existing sequential pattern mining algorithm by dynamically selecting the level of specificity for hierarchically-defined features…

In a recent study, Caballero and colleagues conducted a large-scale evaluation using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) to compare student learning outcomes between two introductory physics curricula: the Matter and Interactions (M&I) mechanics course and a pedagogically-reformed-traditional-content (PRTC) mechanics course. Using a conventional…

The impacts of biotechnology are found in nearly all sectors of society from health care and food products to environmental issues and energy sources. Despite the significance of biotechnology within the sciences, it has not become a prominent trend in science education. In this study, we seek to more fully identify biology teachers' concerns…

The interpretation of data and construction and understanding of graphs are central practices in science; therefore, an important skill needed in the undergraduate physics laboratory is the ability to analyze data obtained from experiments. Often students are not able to reach logical deductions based on data, acquired from the experiments that…

Undergraduate biology education is undergoing dramatic changes, emphasizing student training in the "tools and practices" of science, particularly quantitative and problem-solving skills. We redesigned a freshman ecology lab to emphasize the importance of scientific inquiry and quantitative reasoning in biology. This multi-week investigation uses…