Quantum mechanics is a field often considered very mathematical, abstract, and unintuitive. One way some instructors are hoping to help familiarize their students with these complex topics is to have the students see quantum effects in experiments in undergraduate instructional labs. Here, we present results from an interview study about what it…

Instructional explanations are sometimes viewed as part of a nonconstructivist, solely teacher-centered learning environment, leading to the perception that they are ineffective or inappropriate for teaching science. Consequently, teacher education programmes seldom focus on preparing teachers to explain scientific concepts effectively.…

The field of anatomy is often seen by nonanatomists as concerned primarily with the tasks of locating, naming, and describing structures; these tasks, in turn, are often assumed to require only lower-order cognitive skills (LOCSs), i.e., the Knowledge or Comprehension levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Many nonanatomists may thus believe that studying…

Redox reactions and their balancing are one of the basic chemistry subjects in which students may experience remarkable learning difficulties at the beginning of their university career. This topic represents an evolution of stoichiometry concepts related to the balancing of chemical reactions and can be taught with different approaches as a…

Teachers' goals and orientations underlie their instructional decision making and can make the difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk" when trying to change lab instruction. Schoenfeld's "Resources, Orientations, and Goals" (ROG) framework was employed to shed light on the challenges involved in a…

Research has extensively documented the benefits of inquiry-based science teaching, but less attention has been paid to how novice teachers' personal teaching goals influence their implementation of this approach. This study aimed to explore novice physical sciences teachers' goals to understand how they relate to IBI implementation. This research…

The article proves that formation of foreign-language communicative competence is one of the core objectives of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The author proves that foreign-language communicative competence is a complex construct which includes linguistic, substantive, and pragmatic competences. Preparatory departments are to create an…

Using living organisms in biology education is a common practice that provides students with direct contact with living beings in the classroom. Several benefits and barriers of using organisms in classrooms have been proposed in the literature. Hence, biology teachers should carefully consider the pros and cons of using living organisms, and…

Previous research has shown the validity of the Measure of Linked Concepts (MLC) assessment in college introductory chemistry. Herein, we present a novel model of pairing the MLC with a metacognitive exercise aligned with learning objectives in the introductory chemistry courses as an effective tool for instructors to be integrated into…

Virtual laboratory simulations can contribute to the educational objectives related to practical classes, especially in situations of online or hybrid teaching. We present a proposal for laboratory activity involving the quantification of proteins with the biuret reaction and measurement by visible light spectrometry. The student will be able to…

Initial teacher education is the main opportunity to prepare pre-service preschool teachers to foster young children's science competences. Although initial teacher education is important for preschool teachers' later instruction in practice, little is known about early science education in initial teacher education. To gather first insights into…

School-based citizen-science can be a powerful means to engage youth in environmental education, yet developing robust science curricula around citizen-science activities is tremendously challenging. Prior research provides limited examples and very little guidance for curriculum designers. To support the designers of school-based citizen-science…

This technology report presents the main features of a free digital educational tool which aims to introduce middle school level students to the comprehension of the particulate nature of matter in the three states (i.e., solid, liquid, and gas) and during phase transitions. This digital tool is available and is freely accessible online. Its…

Protocol-guided teaching is a student-centered instructional model in which the teacher creates the learning protocol prior to the lesson in order to direct students toward active and autonomous learning. A well-structured learning protocol is essential for the effective application of this instructional paradigm. This article evaluates the…

General chemistry II is often a challenging course for first-year STEM students, and many students rely on partial credit to achieve success in the course. However, assigning liberal partial credit to students' work can also disincentivize developing proficiency with the material. Here, we present an alternative specifications-based grading scheme…