Previous research has shown that in prehigher education stages, inquiry-based teaching is not sufficient for forming a mature understanding of the nature of science (NOS). However, there is relatively little research conducted on colleges. Inquiry-based teaching should not overlook cognitive frameworks, as students' limited scientific reasoning…

This qualitative study compares the views about nature of science (NOS) between students enrolled in a traditional lecture and laboratory course and students in an inquiry-based class to the view of the scientists who taught the course. We administered the Views of Nature of Science Form C (VNOS-C) to identify students' views after partaking in…

This project introduces green chemistry to the undergraduate laboratory through two pedagogical techniques: undergraduate research and guided-inquiry. Through these two learning activities, an efficient synthetic procedure for the PRINS cyclization of citronellal into isopulegol, focused on minimizing negative environmental impact, was developed.…

Integrating authentic research practices into introductory laboratory courses to prepare tomorrow's scientists has become increasingly prevalent over the past decade. However, an incomplete understanding of the nature of science (NOS) and authentic scientific inquiry (SI) precludes higher-level learning in undergraduate research experiences. In…

This study focuses on designing a laboratory learning program for a high school chemistry course in which students could discover the fundamental principles of Hess's law via stepwise inquiry. By exploring the chemical properties of common desiccants, mainly those that were reactive in water, students were introduced to the exothermic reaction of…

Thomas Graham discovered the law that bears his name while studying gas diffusion into air and other gases. He also found that the same relationship held with gas effusion, the movement of gases through a pinhole into a vacuum. Modern understanding of diffusion and effusion is based on kinetic-molecular theory, and it is generally accepted that…

This paper describes an alternative approach to teaching and learning practices in an undergraduate physics laboratory. The instructor plans and implements the 5E instructional model into the laboratory instruction. The article includes an example of the 5E lesson for the laboratory component of a physics course, which has separate lecture and…

Equilibrium is an essential concept in undergraduate physics curriculum as it integrates Newton's laws and torque. The importance also comes from its wide applications in mechanics and biomechanics. Simulations of Back and Arms are developed mainly for the undergraduates who major in physical therapy and health sciences. They are implemented as…

The purpose of this study was to examine how pre-service science teachers develop their understandings of nature of scientific inquiry during the science laboratory course with preparing 5E based lesson plans, and how they transfer those understandings into their teaching practices. All data were collected and analysed qualitatively by using the…

Background: This article describes the design and the evaluation of a student lab program on the topic of nanoscience and technology (NST), mainly focusing on Nanoscience and its applications. The program was designed for students in grades 8-10 and was part of a larger outreach program of the Collaborative Research Center 'Function by Switching'…

Recently, there have been many calls for an increase in instruction on the nature of science (NOS) in schools (i.e. NRC, 1996; NGSS Lead States, 2013). These calls recognize the importance of this topic at all levels of science education, but there is little guidance in terms of how to address it effectively in curricula. Similarly, there have…

Laboratory work in physics has traditionally focused on the verification of facts, theories and laws. In contrast, this article describes how laboratory tasks can be used to promote students understanding about the nature of science and scientific inquiry. In the project reported here, students learn about measurement uncertainties and a…

In classroom science laboratories, unlike a real science laboratory, the teacher can guide students away from potential dead ends and toward data that are most likely to result in accurate conclusions. Sometimes, though, allowing students to pursue dead ends and to collect "bad" data can provide especially rich learning opportunities.…

The current study compared the effectiveness of two methods in biology teaching that are based on the science-as-inquiry approach: visits to authentic university laboratories (AULs) and analyzing adapted primary literature (APL). The methods' effectiveness was measured in terms of high-school students' increased understanding following a 6-week…

At universities where introductory physics labs are taught by graduate student teaching assistants (TAs), there is a need for specialized professional development for those TAs. This paper presents a specific instantiation of a model for lab TA professional development that uses a combination of cognitive apprenticeship and expectancy-value…