Existing research identifying common student ideas about forces focuses on students' misunderstandings, misconceptions, and difficulties. In this paper, we characterize student thinking in terms of resources, framing student thinking as continuous with formal physics. Based on our analysis of 2048 written responses to conceptual questions, we…

Rural students often face challenges in receiving high-quality education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Yet without meaningful STEM educational opportunities, rural students might not develop the knowledge and skills needed to compete in a technology-driven workforce. The Learning by Making program (LbyM), an innovative…

The opportunity to engage in scientific research is an important, but often neglected, component of undergraduate training in biology. We describe the curriculum for an innovative, course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) appropriate for a large, introductory cell and molecular biology laboratory class that leverages students' high…

The adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has brought with it a need for classroom assessments that measure students' ability to make sense of, explain, and use science, with many of the performance expectations asking students to apply scientific principles and evidence to produce an explanation. But creating coherent written…

Microfluidics involves the study of the behavior of fluids at microscale, fluid manipulations, and the design of the devices that can effectively perform such manipulations. We are developing two new elective courses to include microfluidics in our curriculum at CSULB. Herein, we present the results of the first course, Microfabrication and…

As part of an ongoing project to examine student learning in upper-division courses in thermal and statistical physics, we have examined student reasoning about entropy and the second law of thermodynamics. We have examined reasoning in terms of heat transfer, entropy maximization, and statistical treatments of multiplicity and probability. In…

The evidential support for scientific claims is quantitatively and qualitatively superior to that for supernatural claims, yet students may not appreciate this difference in light of the fact that both types of claims are learned in similar ways (through testimony rather than firsthand observation) and perform similar functions (explaining…

Vortex flow, from millimeter to kilometer in scale, is important in many scientific and technological areas. Examples are seen in water strider locomotion, from industrial pipe flow (wastewater treatment) to air traffic control (safe distance between aircrafts on a runway ready for takeoff) to atmospheric studies. In this paper, we focus on a…

A clear view of the ocean may be used to measure the radius of the Earth. To an observer looking out at the ocean, the horizon will always form some angle [theta] with the local horizontal plane. As the observer's elevation "h" increases, so does the angle [theta]. From measurements of the elevation "h" and the angle [theta],…

Skilled scientists in all fields of study are critically needed to begin resolving ecological problems resulting from human impact. Time is an essential element in creating a proper conceptual foundation and training should begin early in a student's education. As of 2010, the California State Standards for Science for grades six through eight do…

The overall aim of this article is to analyze the relationships between the roles of assessment in pedagogy, the interactions between curriculum assessment and pedagogy, and the study of pupils' progression in learning. It is argued that well-grounded evidence of pupils' progressions in learning is crucial to the work of teachers, so that a method…

This article describes a research study in which a biologist and his research on Antarctic seabirds became part of an integrated science course for prospective elementary teachers. Students used the scientist's database on seabird chick growth rates for an experimental design investigation while the "regular" classes had a single science…

Teacher research--often called "action research"--is an intentional and systematic inquiry into one's own classroom practice with the goal of improved student learning (Cochran-Smith and Lytle 1993). In this article, the authors present a teacher research project undertaken to improve student understanding of the gas laws in a high…

Examines views and practices of first-year science teachers, graduates of a teacher education program in California, focusing on gender equity and multicultural education. Explores teachers' attempts at the nature of science and implementing equitable instruction in classrooms. Discusses commonalties across teachers' successes and struggles in…

While many states are facing challenges to the teaching of evolution in their science classrooms, the University of California Museum of Paleontology, working with the National Center for Science Education, has developed a useful web-based resource for science teachers of all grade- and experience-levels. Understanding Evolution (UE) was developed…