Energy is a disciplinary core idea and a cross-cutting concept in the K-12 Framework for Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). As numerous authors point out, the energy model in these standards emphasizes the connections between energy and systems. Using energy ideas to interpret or make sense of phenomena means…

A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) experiment appropriate for an upper-level undergraduate laboratory such as chemical instrumentation is described. Students collect FTIR spectra of four protio-solvents and their deuterated analogues. In addition to qualitatively observing C-H and O-H peaks shift to lower energy upon deuteration, students apply a…

Kinetic energy is usually the entry point for the study of energy in physics and is often perceived as unproblematic. We present evidence, however, that some learners who seem to have accepted the concept, from elementary school students to college physics majors and in-service teachers, nevertheless do not consistently attribute kinetic energy to…

The Next Generation Science Standards lay out a model of energy that locates energy within objects and fields, and tracks energy as it transfers between these objects and transforms between forms of energy while always being conserved. This model of energy pervades much of modern science and represents a foundational, cross-cutting concept for…

Models and modeling are central to both scientific literacy and practices as demonstrated by the Next Generation Science Standards. Through a design-based research framework, we developed a model-based assessment (MBA) and associated rubric as tools for teachers to understand and support students in their conceptualization of the flow of energy…

The challenge of accurately assessing critical thinking in physics education, particularly on topics like work and energy, remains a key issue for educators. The current study aims to address this challenge by exploring students' critical thinking abilities using two-tier test data analyzed through the Rasch model. Data were collected from…

We often say food and fuels "contain" energy. It is more accurate to say that energy is stored in the "fuel-oxygen system" generated during photosynthesis. It is definitely "not" stored in fuels or food (except for the very small amount of energy that can be obtained during anaerobic respiration). Aerobic respiration…

This work is the fourth of a series of papers applying multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) to widely used physics conceptual assessments. This study applies MIRT analysis using both exploratory and confirmatory methods to the Brief Electricity and Magnetism Assessment (BEMA) to explore the assessment's structure and to determine a…

Background: Formative assessments are needed to enable monitoring how student knowledge develops throughout a unit. Constructed response items which require learners to formulate their own free-text responses are well suited for testing their active knowledge. However, assessing such constructed responses in an automated fashion is a complex task…

This research investigates students' learning about the electron transport chain (ETC) process in photosynthesis by watching a video followed by playing a serious board game--"Electron Chute"--that models ETC. The learning objectives targeted enriching a mental model that students could use to explain the causal relationship of the ETC…

Sixth-grade science students at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School in Newark, DE, had misconceptions about how heat energy moves in the hydrosphere through conduction, convection, and radiation. As a result, students struggled to develop and connect ideas that correctly and completely explained heat transfer in the hydrosphere at the end of the lesson…

The role of virtual simulations in the evolution of primary school students' mental models about electrostatics is investigated by analysing the answers of two groups of 9-10 years old pupils inside instructional sequences that combine two hands-on activities using balloons and jackets with the same activities using PhET simulations: one group…

Although chemistry-focused socio-scientific issues support the 'relevance' model of chemistry education, the related literature has lacked any systematic review handling them together. For this reason, this research aimed to thematically synthesize the research papers on chemistry-focused socio scientific issues (SSI) from 2008 to 2020 and…

Cognitive diagnostic models can uncover students' mastery of multiple fine-grained skill attributes or problem-solving processes. A number of studies have applied cognitive diagnostic models to detect students' knowledge mastery in mathematics and language testing. However, few studies focus on cognitive diagnostic assessment in K-12 science…

Models that are used to predict and explain phenomena related to molecular vibration and rotation are ubiquitous in physical chemistry, and are of importance in many related fields. Yet, little work has been done to characterize student use and application of these models. We describe the results of a multi-year, multi-institutional qualitative…