The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of traditional versus guided inquiry (with problem-solving process and cognitive function training) on high school chemistry knowledge, science process skills, scientific attitudes, and problem-solving competency. Two classes of students were recruited from three classes of Grade 11…

The primary objective of the activity presented here is to allow students to explore the frequency components of various simple signals, with the ultimate goal of teaching them how to remove unwanted noise from a voice signal. Analysis of the frequency components of a signal allows students to design filters that remove unwanted components of a…

The velocity selector is a classic first-year physics problem that demonstrates the influence of perpendicular electric and magnetic fields on a charged particle. Traditionally textbooks introduce this problem in the context of balanced forces, often asking for field strengths that would allow a charged particle, with a specific target velocity,…

A new method for teaching advanced laboratories at the undergraduate level is presented. The intent of this approach is to get students more engaged in the lab experience and apply critical thinking skills to solve problems. The structure of the lab is problem-based and provides students with a research-like experience. Students read the current…

Numerical and symbolic representations are used extensively in physics problems. However, relatively little is understood about how students respond to these two representational formats when they are solving problems. This study examined the effect of the representational format (numeric vs symbolic) on the problem-solving performance,…

Chemical kinetics is a highly quantitative content area that involves the use of multiple mathematical representations to model processes and is a context that is under-investigated in the literature. This qualitative study explored undergraduate student integration of chemistry and mathematics during problem solving in the context of chemical…

Student interactions with game-based learning environments produce a wide range of in-game problem-solving sequences. These sequences can be viewed as trajectories through a game's problem-solving space. In this paper, we present a general framework for analyzing students' problem-solving behavior in game-based learning environments by filtering…

The perspective that computing and computational thinking (CT) are necessary competencies for the 21st century is increasingly pervasive. Computational concepts and methods--problem solving, designing systems, refining the steps in a process, and tinkering toward creative solutions--are relevant in nearly every discipline, profession, and…

Students must actively engage in problem solving to effectively learn in introductory physics courses. However, students often get stuck and are not able to make progress when solving problems outside of their current ability, particularly when one-on-one tutoring and instructor office hours are a limited resource. One effective technique consists…

With the ever-increasing push towards authentic learning within post-secondary institutions, many approaches are being explored. One such method with a particular focus on real-world applications has been the International Genetically Engineered Machines (iGEM) competition program. At the University of Calgary, the iGEM program sees teams of…

This study aims to examine students' reasoning based on the model in each laboratory work style and find the effect on scientific attitude and student activity. This study uses a quantitative approach with the experimental method. The study was conducted in three classes with different lab work styles. Arduino and sensors were used as a…

The use of active learning techniques in engineering classrooms has been limited despite substantial evidence supporting their efficacy in helping students construct problem-solving expertise. A blended classroom, which combines online and in-class learning, was employed in a Chemical Engineering Computation class to address instructional…

This paper describes an initial pilot study of Rimac, a natural-language tutoring system for physics. Rimac uses a student model to guide decisions about "what content to discuss next" during reflective dialogues that are initiated after students solve quantitative physics problems, and "how much support to provide" during…

Students learn when they connect new information to existing understanding or when they modify existing understanding to accept new information. Most current teaching methods focus on trying to get students to solve problems in a manner identical to that of an expert. This study investigates the effectiveness of assessing student understanding…

In this paper, we provide insight into the PBL project called PoLiMINT (Problem-oriented Learning in MINT). The project is located at the Bremen University of Applied Sciences and aims to introduce and foster PBL in the introductory phase of a physics study program. Concerning our general conditions, we will present our incremental implementation…