The Homeostasis Concept Inventory (HCI) is a validated instrument for measuring students' knowledge of homeostasis. It is comprised of 20 multiple-choice questions covering key components of the previously validated Homeostasis Conceptual Framework (HCF). In this paper, we present the first multi-institutional study of the impact of physiology…

General chemistry is often the first course taken by students interested in careers in STEM and health fields, and therefore, is considered an essential course for the success and retention of students in these fields. Prior studies have shown study habits and skills to be related to student performance in college-level courses, including STEM…

In the era defined by the fourth paradigm of science research, the burgeoning volume of science data poses a formidable challenge. The established data-related requisites within science literacy now fall short of addressing the evolving needs of researchers and STEM students. Consequently, the emergence of science data literacy becomes imperative.…

This article describes the implementation of alternative grading (AG) strategies in an upper-division kinesiology and functional human anatomy course. Traditional point-based grading systems can negatively impact student mental health, decrease intrinsic motivation, and hinder learning. To address these issues, a proficiency-based grading approach…

With the already widespread nature of multiple-choice assessments and the increasing popularity of answer-until-correct, it is important to have methods available for exploring the validity of these types of assessments as they are developed. This work analyzes a 20-question multiple choice assessment covering introductory undergraduate chemistry…

This research explores the effects of listening to music during exams for engineering college students. Students were given the option to listen to self-selected music while completing exams in three undergraduate engineering courses over four years. It was found that listening to music during an exam had no significant effect on the mean exam…

The American Chemical Society advocates a shift from rule-based to risk-based safety education for chemistry graduates, emphasizing meaningful student engagement in the risk assessment process for laboratory work. To implement this paradigm shift, we introduced RAMP (Recognize Hazards, Assess Risk, Minimize Risk, and Prevent Emergencies)-based…

Students with strong metacognitive skills are positioned to learn and achieve more than peers who are still developing their metacognition. Yet, many students come to college without well-developed metacognitive skills. As part of a longitudinal study on metacognitive development, we asked when, why, and how first-year life science majors use…

Many undergraduate chemistry students hold alternate conceptions related to resonance--an important and fundamental topic of organic chemistry. To help address these alternate conceptions, an organic chemistry instructor could administer the resonance concept inventory (RCI), which is a multiple-choice assessment that was designed to identify…

Students and educators often face time constraints, making it essential to develop interventions that are both easy to implement and have a substantial impact on learning and performance. One promising strategy is retrieval practice, particularly in the context of physics education, where many students struggle with basic knowledge. Prior research…

Question generation is theorized to support comprehension, self-regulation, and achievement, yet the empirical base for whether and how student-generated questions are associated with comprehension monitoring and whether they predict performance remain open questions. To address these, we investigated the questions undergraduate students in an…

Efforts to discourage academic misconduct in online learning environments frequently include the use of remote proctoring services. While these services are relatively commonplace in undergraduate science courses, there are open questions about students' remote assessment environments and their concerns related to remote proctoring services. Using…

The current dropout rate in physics studies in Germany is about 60%, with the majority of dropouts occurring in the first year. Consequently, the physics study entry phase poses a significant challenge for many students. Students' stress perceptions can provide more profound insights into the processes and challenges during that period. In a panel…

We investigate a personal response system (PRS) pedagogy for lecture halls that encourages active engagement yet lowers barriers for implementation by eliminating the need to address student requests to make up questions because students must answer (not necessarily correctly) only more than half (greater than or equal 50%) of PRS questions to…

We conducted two studies to investigate the extent to which brief, spaced, mastery practice on skills relevant to introductory physics affects student performance. The first study investigated the effect of practice of "specific" physics skills, each one relevant to only one or a few items on the course exam. This study employed a…