Students typically experience a sequence of required courses. These courses are generally taught by different instructors with different pedagogical strategies and in some cases different emphases on what students should know and how they should know it. However, there are few published studies on the impact of the switching course type on…

We investigate students' eye movements when they solve sequential and simultaneous synthesis physics problems. In sequential synthesis problems, multiple events occur chronologically, whereas in simultaneous synthesis problems, multiple events take place concurrently. We captured students' eye fixations on each problem diagram and recorded their…

In civil and construction engineering education research, a focus has been on using 3D models to support students' design comprehension. Despite this trend, the predominant mode of design communication in the industry relies on 2D plans and specifications, which typically supersede other modes of communication. Rather than focusing on the…

This manuscript describes the implementation of a Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) sequence in chemistry that uses research to link a lower division, organic chemistry course to an upper-division, analytical chemistry course. In the CURE sequence, students created a library of modified sugar molecules during CURE-1, Organic,…

Blended learning (BL) is regarded as an effective strategy for combining traditional face-to-face classroom activities with various types of online learning tools (e.g., e-books). An effective feature of e-books is the ability to use digital notes. When e-books are used in BL, the strategic adoption of note-taking provides benefits that influence…

Understanding scientific phenomena requires learners to construct mental models of causal systems. Simulation-based discovery learning offers learners the opportunity to construct mental models and test them against the behavior of a simulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate sequential patterns of learner actions and utterances…

We investigated whether the temporal contiguity effect, which holds that information sources, such as visual information and narration need to be temporally coordinated for learning to be effective, can also be found in narrated slideshows. A concurrent presentation-key point format (CPK), in which visual information sequentially appeared as key…

Educators are constantly looking to improve their pedagogical strategies. This can range from teaching strategies for a specific topic to holistic curriculum changes. Recently, the approach that chemistry departments have chosen to deliver their introductory courses has garnished increasing attention from educators. Our department recently…

Virtual reality (VR) technology is an advanced modern resource commonly integrated into various forms of training. VR training simulations are customizable in that quality-grading parameter settings, physical environment, and user capacity can be modified to personal or professional preference. In this study, VR technology training practices are…

Spatial skills, which represent the ability to mentally manipulate objects (Schneider & McGrew, 2012; Atit et al., 2020) have been shown to be correlated with entrance, persistence and success in STEM (Shea et al., 2001; Wai et al., 2009). Specifically, these skills have been shown to be necessary to geologists and geoscientists (Hegarty,…

Examining the sequential patterns of self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors is gaining popularity to understand students' performance differences. However, few studies have looked at the transition probabilities among different SRL behaviors. Moreover, there is a lack of research investigating the temporal structures of students' SRL behaviors…

Online learning systems allow learners to freely access learning contents and record their interactions throughout their engagement with the content. By using data mining techniques on the student log data of those systems, it is possible to examine learning behavior and reveal navigation patterns through learning contents. This study was aimed at…

In the later years of undergraduate study, students read, process, and evaluate primary literature within specific fields of study. Shifting from textbooks to the vast amounts of peer-reviewed current literature can be difficult for students. This article details an innovative approach to helping students successfully make this transition through…

Course selection is a crucial and challenging problem that students have to face while navigating through an undergraduate degree program. The decisions they make shape their future in ways that they cannot conceive in advance. Available departmental sample degree plans are not personalized for each student, and personal discussion time with an…

Whether to engage student preconceptions to facilitate conceptual change is an area of debate among conceptual change theorists. Here, we evaluate the efficacy of a preconceptions-based instructional sequence about groundwater previously described by (Arthurs, 2019). To assess the impact this instructional sequence had on facilitating the…