Science does not belong to just one civilization, one culture, one country, or one gender; it belongs to all who want to unfold the mysteries of nature. Most scientists agree that science currently is, and indeed always has been, international and multicultural in character. Our teaching at all levels should reflect this multiculturalism as part…

In introductory electric circuits in middle school, students often carry strongly held alternative conceptions. Common to many of these is an idea of electric current as some kind of substance that originates from the battery and moves toward electronic components. Learners often argue that current influences those one by one as they are…

Textbooks play a fundamental role in teaching and learning in school science classrooms. In this paper, we investigate the presentation of the nature of the electromagnetic field in a dozen of the world's most popular introductory university physics textbooks. We analyze, from an epistemologically based teaching approach, the didactic treatment of…

Bacteria form an intense portion of reading and learning for students enrolled in microbiology education. As a part of the foundational course outline of bacteriology, bacterial classification is a significant topic of discussion. The purpose of our study was to analyze whether bacterial classification can be taught with a phylogenetic tree…

Chemical reactions that mimic the function of ATP hydrolysis in biochemistry are of current interest in nonequilibrium systems chemistry. The formation of transient bonds from these reactions can drive molecular machines or generate materials with time-dependent properties. While the behavior of these systems can be complicated, the underlying…

It is often challenging for physics instructors to dedicate time during a course to engage students in developing strategic approaches to learning in addition to problem-solving skills and content knowledge. In this work, we introduce a simple modification to our teaching practice with the purpose of fostering student development of self-regulated…

A comparison of student performance in an introductory biology class that used a lecture-based approach (N = 15 classes; 462 students) with those that had a no-lecture approach (N = 9 classes; 238 students). All classes were taught by the principal researcher. In the no- lecture environment, shifts in student perceptions of science were…

We describe here a low-cost experiment for introductory physics students where they compare the physical properties of aluminum and steel by means of cantilever oscillations. This, in turn, allows the students to improve their physical intuition about these materials. Further, the students can apply their physics and mathematics knowledge and…

Resistor--capacitor (RC) circuit labs help students, but most courses don't include them because of complications and cost. This work presents an easy and inexpensive Arduino-based lab on the charge and energy transfer between two capacitors with different values of the initial electric charge when they are connected through a resistor. Capacitors…

There has been a lack of empirical information regarding anatomy education for occupational therapists (OTs). Insufficient anatomy education can result in underprepared entry-level OTs, who may then produce increased practice errors and reduced patient care. The objective of this study was to investigate how human gross anatomy was taught in…

Perhaps the most commonly cited student idea about forces in the literature is the notion of an impetus force, defined as the "belief that there is a force inside a moving object that keeps it going and causes it to have some speed," that can then "fade away as the object moves along." According to the literature, even after…

To a student in introductory physics, using vectors is at best an exercise in bookkeeping. A two-dimensional kinematics problem effectively doubles the number of equations that a student must know, and invites the student to memorize factoids: "The horizontal motion is constant," "Gravity is only in the y-direction," etc. Force…

When deriving the equation describing the transverse motion of a one-dimensional vibrating elastic string, introductory physics textbooks often assume constant tension and/or small amplitude vibrations. However, these simplifying assumptions are not only unnecessary, but they overlook the elastic nature of the tension and yield an inconsistent…

Introductory biology courses at most colleges and universities have two components: a lecture and a lab. However, for students who are not majoring in biology and taking the introductory course as part of their general education requirements, the distinct role of the lab has not been clearly articulated. We performed an online modified-Delphi…

Apparatus catalogues of the first half of the 20th century contain a number of clever and simple devices for measuring the index of refraction of a liquid. In some cases students can put together one of these pieces of apparatus and then make their own measurements. The Gilley board was one of the devices that caught my eye, and I would like to…