Increasing the rigor of courses taken in high school is a crucial part of education policy. However, existing knowledge about high school coursework is outdated. Using data from a recent nationally representative data set, this brief reports results that expand our knowledge base on the relationship between rigorous coursework and postsecondary…

Quantum information science and engineering (QISE) is a rapidly developing field that leverages the skills of experts from many disciplines to utilize the potential of quantum systems in a variety of applications. It requires talent from a wide variety of traditional fields, including physics, engineering, chemistry, and computer science, to name…

Helping students to understand complex processes is one of the core challenges in teaching biology courses. Concept mapping is a flexible pedagogical method that enables students to learn the complexities of a given subject while at the same time being versatile enough that instructors can easily pivot between instructional modalities and/or…

This study utilized the SEC (Survey of Enacted Curriculum) method to examine the alignment between Chinese high school chemistry curriculum standards (HSCCS) and the assessment of 'Chemical Reaction Principles' in the National College Entrance Examinations (NCEEs). The HSCCS and NCEEs were coded into two-dimensional matrices separately using SPSS,…

DBL is a novel pedagogical approach intended to improve students' conditional knowledge and problem-solving skills by exposing them to a sequence of branching learning decisions. The DBL software provided students with ample opportunities to engage in the expert decision-making processes involved in complex problem-solving and to receive…

Students from non-statistics degree programs often perceive statistics as a burden, underestimating its usefulness and encountering difficulties that cause them anxiety and stress, which may lead many of them to fail statistics courses. Students' attitudes can hinder their learning and development of useful skills associated with statistical…

Various reasons for underperformance in physical sciences have been found, such as a lack of teachers' content knowledge and a lack of resources. This study looks into the extent of alignment between the various levels of the curriculum on circuit electricity (intended, implemented and attained levels). The research took place in Mpumalanga…

This study aimed to examine the development of pre-service science teachers' views of the targeted nature of science (NOS) aspects, which are considered more difficult to develop than other aspects. This study was grounded by conceptual change and experiential learning theory. A multiple comparative case study approach was used to explore…

In the wake of increasing evidence that students' positive attitudes towards science particularly in chemistry and physics change strikingly as they move up in school, this study explores student perception of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that make them feel cognitive load in learning physics, chemistry and biology resulting in difficulty to…

Compulsory second foreign language phenomenon has emerged in Turkey in the near term. German was made compulsory as the second foreign language in Anatolian high schools in the academic year 2012-2013. As with the first foreign language teaching, there are also problems with the second foreign language teaching. The revealing of the problems in…

Organic Chemistry is recognized as a course that presents many difficulties and conceptual challenges for students. To combat the high failure rates and poor student attitudes associated with this challenging course, we implemented a "flipped" model for the first-semester, large-enrollment, Organic Chemistry course. In this flipped…

Recent reform efforts in undergraduate biology have recommended transforming course exams to test at more cognitively challenging levels, which may mean including more cognitively challenging and more constructed-response questions on assessments. However, changing the characteristics of exams could result in bias against historically underserved…

Field note-taking skills are fundamental in the geosciences but are rarely explicitly taught. In a mixed-method study of an introductory geothermal field lesson, we characterize the content and perceptions of students' note-taking skills to derive the strategies that students use in the field. We collected several data sets: observations of the…

We apply a "tutorial design process", which has proven to be successful for a number of physics topics, to design curricular materials or "tutorials" aimed at improving student understanding of important concepts in a university-level introductory materials science and engineering course. The process involves the identification…