Case studies are helpful teaching tools that can bring scientific concepts to life. Here, we present a case study related to protein-ligand interactions, amino acids, protein structure, and protein modification. While protein-ligand interaction is a foundational concept within Biochemistry, there are few available case studies that focus on this…

The worldwide scientific community has been promoting science communication from colleges and universities to schools, and different tools for communicating scientific discoveries have been created. Among this variety of tools, our choice fell on a storybook. The book, entitled "The Curious Case of Ants That Live in Galls," is directed…

One of the challenges that science teachers face is the lack of strategy/method to train students in data collection and developing analytical skills, which are pre-requisites to resolve socio-scientific problems and an important element in scientific literacy. In this activity, the SWOT analysis proposed by the Stanford Research Institute in the…

Magicians and scientists have a curious relationship, with both conflicting views and common ground. Magicians use natural means to construct supernatural illusions. They exploit surprise and misdirected focus in their tricks. Scientists like to deconstruct and explain marvels. They methodically measure, evaluate and repeat observations. However,…

The blue bottle experiment is a popular chemical demonstration because of its simplicity and visual appeal. Most papers on the topic focus on a new formulation or a new presentation, but only a few discuss pedagogical application for a full lab session. This article describes the use of this experiment in the first session of undergraduate…

In the 2 day lesson presented in this article, students explain how ionic substances interact in solutions by developing and revising their own explanatory models. The lesson engaged students in three-dimensional learning through creating and revising their own models to explain the interaction of ionic substances and polar molecules in a closed…

NASA's "Kepler Mission" has been wildly successful in discovering exoplanets. This paper summarizes the mission goals, briefly explains the transit method of finding exoplanets and design of the mission, provides some key findings, and describes useful education materials available at the "Kepler" website.

The ability to design and interpret controlled experiments is an important scientific process skill and a common objective of science standards. Numerous intervention studies have investigated how the control-of-variables-strategy (CVS) can be introduced to students. However, a meta-analysis of 72 intervention studies found that the opportunity to…

Despite the importance of scientific inquiry in science education, researchers and educators disagree considerably regarding what features define this instructional approach. While a large body of literature addresses theoretical considerations, numerous empirical studies investigate scientific inquiry on quite different levels of detail and also…

Estimation is an important skill that we rely on every day for simple tasks, such as providing food for a dinner party or arriving at an appointment on time. Despite its importance, most people have never been formally taught how to estimate. Estimation can also be a vital tool for scientific inquiry. We have created an activity designed to teach…

This research is a study about the possibility to promote experimental design skills to elementary school pupils. Experimental design and the experiment process are foundational elements in current approaches to Science Teaching, as they provide learners with profound understanding about knowledge construction and science inquiry. The research was…

This study aimed to explore lower secondary teachers' negotiation of the meaning of laboratory work in a professional development program. A total of 15 in-service teachers participated in the program. In the program, tensions between key ideas concerning traditional way of addressing laboratory work -- with emphasis on subject content and skills…

Many students enter high school with some science knowledge and experience doing investigations but often know little about the nature of science (NOS) or how the knowledge is developed (i.e., science practices). As science teachers, we need to get students excited about science as quickly as possible with activities that introduce the practices…

Scientific modeling has been advocated as one of the core practices in recent science education policy initiatives. In modeling-based instruction (MBI), students use, construct, and revise models to gain scientific knowledge and inquiry skills. Oftentimes, the benefits of MBI have been documented using assessments targeting students' conceptual…

The "Next Generation Science Standards'" ("NGSS") eight scientific and engineering practices invite teachers to develop key investigative skills while addressing important disciplinary science ideas (NGSS Lead States 2013). The "NGSS" can also provide direct links to "Common Core English Language Arts…