Although Ohm's law contains various possibilities in teaching and learning scientific inquiry, it is rare for students to experience an authentic inquiry. Thus, we designed an open-ended in-depth inquiry about Ohm's law and made students conduct it. To do this, we developed a laboratory activity for students following a standard method of Ohm's…

We developed and field-tested an active learning exercise designed to provide biology students with the opportunity to consider key aspects of the nature of science as a method of inquiry, particularly the roles of observation and inference in the development of scientific explanations and how scientists deal with uncertainty. In the activity…

A robust knowledge of physics entails deeply understanding electricity concepts such as conductivity and resistance. Understanding how circuits work is also critical for ensuring the safe use of electrical technology such as car batteries and downed powerlines. Curricular materials covering these content ideas are readily available for teachers.…

Thomas Graham discovered the law that bears his name while studying gas diffusion into air and other gases. He also found that the same relationship held with gas effusion, the movement of gases through a pinhole into a vacuum. Modern understanding of diffusion and effusion is based on kinetic-molecular theory, and it is generally accepted that…

Equilibrium is an essential concept in undergraduate physics curriculum as it integrates Newton's laws and torque. The importance also comes from its wide applications in mechanics and biomechanics. Simulations of Back and Arms are developed mainly for the undergraduates who major in physical therapy and health sciences. They are implemented as…

The Next Generation Science Standards support understanding of the nature of science as it is practiced and experienced in the real world through interconnected concepts to be imbedded within scientific practices and crosscutting concepts. This study explored how fourth and fifth grade elementary students' views of nature of science change when…

International research has recognized numerous alternative conceptions and obstacles to learning about Earth dynamics. The objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of a teaching intervention that incorporates models and scientific inquiry to promote understanding about Earth dynamics in a group of seventh grade students at a school in…

The current study, involving 219 teachers and 15,292 students, examined the relationship between teacher participation in a sustained professional development intervention designed to improve the quantity and quality of guided inquiry-based instruction in middle school science classrooms and subsequent student academic growth. Utilizing a…

Science faculty are being asked to create active learning experiences that engage students in core concepts and science practices. This article describes an approach to developing active learning lessons from authentic science research projects using the 5E lesson format. Included is a description of the 5Es and a template for creating a 5E…

Young's double-slit experiment is one of the most historically significant works in physics, and one that is easily done in an introductory physics class. It is also an excellent example of an investigation that allows us to infer the nature of phenomena beyond direct observation. Unfortunately, perhaps because of this, it is often also an…

Almost all commercial quadrupole ICP-MS instruments use collision/reaction cells to either attenuate spectral interferences or shift the analyte of interest to an interference-free "m/z" (e.g., by O addition). A laboratory practical was developed to introduce the students to the basic operating principles of ICP-MS using a hands-on…

Service-learning (SL) is an active learning approach that connects the knowledge a student acquires in the classroom to an application that benefits the community. Increasingly popular in the chemistry curriculum, service-learning is reported to provide student benefits including improved cognitive goals; increased academic, interpersonal, and…

An activity is described wherein students observe dynamic floating and sinking behavior of plastic pieces in various liquids. The liquids and solids are all contained within a plastic bottle; the entire assembly is called a "density bottle". After completing a series of experiments that guides students to think about the relative…

A single semester molecular biology laboratory has been developed in which students design and execute a project examining transcriptional regulation in "Saccharomyces cerevisiae." Three weeks of planning are allocated to developing a hypothesis through literature searches and use of bioinformatics. Common experimental plans address a…

The present study examined to what extent inquiry-based investigation as an instructional approach associated with students' overall science achievement and achievement in cognitive domains, including knowing science facts, applying scientific principles, and reasoning with scientific concepts to solve problems. Using TIMSS 2007 science…