This article reports on a study investigating how computational essays can be used to help students in higher education STEM take up disciplinary epistemic agency--cognitive control and responsibility over one's own learning within the scientific disciplines. Computational essays are a genre of scientific writing that combine live, executable…

Energy is a central concept across the sciences and an important goal of science education is to support all students so that they develop a full understanding of the energy concept. However, given the abstract and complex nature of the energy concept, only a few students develop an understanding so that they can use energy ideas to make sense of…

Previous research has demonstrated the potential of examining log-file data from computer-based assessments to understand student interactions with complex inquiry tasks. Rather than solely providing information about what has been achieved or the accuracy of student responses ("product data"), students' log files offer additional…

This study aims to identify students' misconceptions regarding covalent bonds. Seventy-seven graduate students in the middle of Indonesia participated in the study. Data were collected in three stages. First, misconceptions were identified by using the Semi Open Diagnostic Test. Ten students who experienced the worst misconceptions were…

This article presents an empirical study on an initial learning progression of energy, a concept of central importance to the understanding of science. Learning progressions have been suggested as one vehicle to support the systematic and successful teaching of core science concepts. Ideally, a learning progression will provide teachers with a…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and explain the origins of physics and chemistry teacher candidates' beliefs about teaching about ethics through socioscientific issues (SSI). This study utilized a series of in-depth interviews, while the participants (n = 12) were enrolled in a 9-month teacher education program at an urban…

Finnish students' opinions about the frequency of learning activities and communication in the Finnish science classroom, their interest in science and science studies and careers, their sense of self-efficacy, and their beliefs about their own competence as well as their performance in science are analyzed based on PISA 2006 Scientific Literacy…

Reports research concerning the definition of variables by pupils ages 12 to 14 during investigative work. Findings suggest that an increase in the complexity of an investigation lowers the ability to identify relevant variables and substantive concepts intrude on the ability to define the appropriate dependent variable and to control variables.…

As contact with liquids occurs from an early stage in individuals' lives, children construct explanations for liquids and liquid-state phenomena. These may differ from the accepted scientific explanations, interfere with formal teaching, and even persist until entry into higher education. The objective of this investigation is to compare…

Exposure of an experimental group of (n=33) college freshmen to teaching experiments dealing with stoichiometry problems based on the concept of limiting reagent showed greater improvement in posttests than the (n=39) student control group and observed that some students protect their core beliefs by ignoring conflicting data. (Author/MKR)

Investigates the dimensions underlying performance on the diagrams, tables, and maps subset of the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test. Analyzes data from two test versions by using a structural-equation modeling technique on 14,463 and 19,636 examinees respectively. Concludes that gender difference in performance is due, to a great extent, to the…