Students learning the skills of science benefit from opportunities to move between the scientific problems and questions they confront and the mathematical tools available to answer the questions and solve the problems. Indeed, students learn science best when they are actively engaged in pursuing answers to authentic and relevant questions. We…

Preschool children learn through their senses. Children learn language, daily life skills, concepts and many other things through their senses. Thus, preschool educational environments and preschool educational activities should stimulate children's senses. In this context, preschool science activities and experiments have positive effects upon…

Broadening participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers requires that underrepresented students, including women and minorities, persist in their studies and complete undergraduate and graduate degrees. Studies have shown that engaging students in undergraduate research and improving students' science…

We describe an alternative to the kinds of observation-based lab exercises that are often used to cover animal and plant evolution with respect to transitioning from aquatic to terrestrial habitats. We wrote this activity to address these objectives, but also to model the process of scientific inquiry and to require students to collect and analyze…

This study examined the effectiveness of Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) as an instructional model in a general chemistry laboratory course. The study was conducted over the course of ten experimental sessions with 125 pre-service science teachers. The participants' level of reflective thinking about the ADI activities, changes in their science…

The inadequacy of experimental activities (or lack of equipment) in science courses in rural parts of Turkey negatively effects students' acquisition of scientific thinking and inquiry skills. The fact that success rates are notably low in international assessments demonstrates the necessity to adopt "different" approaches apart from the…

A class exercise was designed for a college-level geochemistry class to promote inquiry and student participation. In this exercise, real soil data available online was analyzed to evaluate geochemical associations among different soil orders and as a screening tool for anthropogenic metal contamination. Students were asked to read a peer-reviewed…

A central goal of nonmajors chemistry courses is to instill within students the sense that chemistry does not occur in a vacuum but rather permeates everyday life. To encourage students to consider chemistry within the broader context of society and public policy, a week-long module in a survey course for nonmajors was designed to connect…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mobile learning among young learners. Specifically, we investigated whether the use of mobile devices for data collection during field trips outside the classroom could enhance fourth graders' learning about the parts of the flower and their functions, flower pollinators and the process of…

Computer programming is notoriously difficult to learn. To this end, regular practice in the form of application and reflection is an important enabler of student learning. However, educators often find that first-year B.Sc. students do not readily engage in such activities. Providing each student with a programmable robot, however, could be used…

The purpose of the present study was to study if purposeful math, science, and technology curriculum projects and activities would support Pre-K children's performance in these subject matter areas. In this study, 58 Pre-K children from 4 Pre-K classrooms in a public Pre-K programme in North Carolina participated. Through a quasi-experimental,…

Quantitative reasoning is a key intellectual skill, applicable across disciplines and best taught in the context of authentic, relevant problems. Here, I describe and assess a laboratory exercise that has students calculate their "carbon footprint" and evaluate the impacts of various behavior choices on that footprint. Students gather…

In this study, the learning of science outside the classroom is believe to be an added value to science learning as well as it offers students to interact with the environment. This study presents data obtained from two days' workshop on Lichen as Biological Indicator for Air Quality. The aim of the workshop is for the students to gain an…

Our study investigated the effect of utilizing home related science activities on student's performance in some basic science concepts. The concepts considered were heart energy, ecology and mixtures. The sample consisted of two hundred and forty (240) basic junior secondary two (BJSS11) students drawn from a population of five thousand and…

The inclusion of learners from underrepresented background in biology field research experiences has not been widely explored in the literature. Increased access and equity to experiences for groups historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been identified as a priority for many, yet little is…