Web-based multimedia annotation is a valuable tool for engaging learners with diverse materials. This study aimed to assess the effects of multimedia annotation on student performance, self-regulation, and cognitive load in an online learning environment. We developed and implemented a multimedia annotation system in an online biology class using…

When students were exposed to cognitive conflict and 5E teaching models, this study looked at the impact of cognitive ability on their conceptual change in the particulate nature of matter in physics. With a sample of 195 first-year upper secondary school students, the study used a quasi-experimental design with non-equivalent groups. The data…

Science museums conduct presentations for their audiences to attract and educate visitors, yet research on presentations has primarily concentrated on whether individual presentations were effective. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study looks at how the presenter's mental and physical engagements within a presentation affects audience…

The landscape of undergraduate biology education has been shaped by decades of reform efforts calling for instruction to integrate core concepts and scientific skills as a means of helping students become proficient in the discipline. Assessments can be used to make inferences about how these reform efforts have translated into changes in…

Physics is known for its emphasis on innate brilliance as a prerequisite for disciplinary membership and success. Women, Black, Latine, and Indigenous individuals remain vastly underrepresented and marginalized in physics spaces, a reality that is due in part to oppressive stereotypes that position them as less inherently intelligent than their…

Chemistry is considered a difficult subject by most students. Its difficulty lies in Chemistry's complex and abstract nature. This highly abstract nature requires constant interplay and coordination between the macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic representations. Experts can successfully navigate the various representations without overloading…

Learning objectives outline the knowledge and skills to be taught in a subject, thus signaling what is worth learning and what type of thinking is valued. The aim of this syllabus analysis is to determine the cognitive demand of learning objectives in the recently reformed Queensland physics, chemistry and biology syllabus and to analyse whether…

Argumentation and modelling are core scientific practices, and studies suggest that incorporating the specific practices in the teaching of science can engage learners. This is a qualitative study of a classroom of 10-12-year-old students working collaboratively in argumentation and modelling. The aim of the study was to explore how primary school…

Abstract concepts dominate university science teaching, and much of this content is taught without sufficient connection to students' prior knowledge or everyday experiences. As this can be problematic for students, the aim of this research was to determine the utility and effectiveness of a professional development module on using analogies to…

Promoting student understanding of biological concepts is a key part of biology education, and the ability to "understand" a concept forms one of the six categories of the oft-used Bloom's Taxonomy. Despite this, there remains no consensus as to what it means to understand a concept. While several formal definitions have been offered, we…

Active learning pedagogical approaches and methodologies have been shown to increase undergraduate student success. Specifically, the flipped classroom approach pushes course content outside of the classroom, allowing for the focus of each class period to be centered on student-student interactions and reducing student cognitive load in comparison…

The unit factor method, a generic strategy for solving any proportion-related problem, is known to be effective at reducing cognitive load through unit-cancellation providing step-by-step guidance. However, concerns have been raised that it can be applied mindlessly. This primarily quantitative prepost study investigates the efficacy of…

In quantum mechanics, probability amplitudes are complex numbers and the relative phases between the terms in superposition states have measurable effects. This article describes an investigation into sophomore- and junior-level students' reasoning patterns in relating relative phases and real-world quantum phenomena. The investigation involved…

This study examined the influence of higher education teacher training on student physics teachers' progression in content knowledge (CK). To become experts, student teachers must acquire both declarative and procedural -- conditional CK. This progression is generally characterized by the prerequisite role of declarative knowledge, meaning that…

Animations are widely used in today's science classrooms. Therefore it is very important to explore under which conditions animations are most effective. In earlier studies it has been generally shown that the effectiveness of instruction largely depends on management of cognitive load. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of…