Although there has been extensive research on students' understanding of the particulate nature of matter (PNM), there is still a lack of research on contexts that can be used to teach this challenging topic. In a previous design-based research study, the authors developed a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) on the PNM in the context of crystal…

Concept-heavy courses such as Biochemistry in life and physical science curricula are challenging for many college-aged students. It is easy for students to disengage in a lecture and not learn the subject matter while in class. To improve student learning and participation, we employed a flipped format for the first half of the course and…

Organic chemistry is a class well known to be difficult and necessary for many careers in the sciences, and as a result, has garnered interest in researching ways to improve student learning and comprehension. One potential way involves using eye tracking techniques to understand how students visually examine questions. Organic chemistry involves…

Organic qualitative analysis is one of the challenging chemical concepts in students learning of chemistry. The West African Examinations Council chemistry chief examiners for years, have lamented on students' poor performance in organic qualitative analysis at the senior high school level. This study, therefore, investigated chemistry students'…

Research-based multiple-choice questions implemented in class with peer instruction have been shown to be an effective tool for improving students' engagement and learning outcomes. Moreover, multiple-choice questions that are carefully sequenced to build on each other can be particularly helpful for students to develop a systematic understanding…

Understanding genetics is one of the most significant learning difficulties faced by students. To improve teaching genetics and the students' representational competence within the classroom have been proposed using multiple representations. This study presents an analysis of representational levels used by high school students learning Mendelian…

This qualitative descriptive analysis aims to interpret the complexity of the science items that are integrated with environmental sustainability content. This research was conducted on science test items in the 2013 Curriculum student science textbooks released by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. This study…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" calls for new assessments that measure students' integrated three-dimensional science learning. The National Research Council has suggested that these assessments utilize a combination of item formats including constructed-response and multiple-choice. In this study, students were randomly assigned…

Despite their drawback, multiple-choice questions are an enduring feature in instruction because they can be answered more rapidly than open response questions and they are easily scored. However, it can be difficult to generate good incorrect choices (called "distractors"). We designed an algorithm to generate distractors from a…

In courses with a heterogeneous student population, instructors are often challenged to balance successful course completion with rigor. This difficult task can be confounded in foundational, gateway courses, such as introductory biology, which serves a mix of freshman majors at various levels of preparedness. Research suggests that changes in…

The objectives of this study were to investigate the cognitive Bloom's taxonomy levels achieved in an introductory reinforced concrete design course, determine if the Bloom's levels assigned to the same exam questions by different professors varied, characterize student performance in relation to Bloom's levels, and quantify the Bloom's level…

Reading Comprehension is the ability to define word by word and create a profound idea from the talks were given or read. It plays a significant role in the total functioning of a community. It is also one of the pillars of reading. This paper aims to assess the Reading Comprehension level of the Senior High School in their Core Science Subjects…

This dissertation explored whether unnecessary linguistic complexity (LC) in mathematics and biology assessment items changes the direction and significance of differential item functioning (DIF) between subgroups emergent bilinguals (EBs) and English proficient students (EPs). Due to inconsistencies in measuring LC in items, Study One adapted a…

The Lawson classroom test of scientific reasoning is a quite popular and widely used tool that measures the level and development of the student's scientific reasoning skills. In this contribution, the results of this test for the N=446 students of the Faculty of Science Palacký University Olomouc from the years 2018-2020 at the beginning of their…

Both accurate monitoring and adequate control are crucial for effective self-regulation when learning from problem-solving tasks. Prior research has shown that self-regulated learning is especially harmful for low prior knowledge students, given their difficulties with accurate monitoring and control decisions. Although many studies have indicated…