Metacognition is an important skill for undergraduate chemistry students, but there has been scant research investigating chemistry instructors' perspectives of metacognition and the development of their students' metacognition. Since undergraduate instructors have a wide influence over what happens in their courses, it is crucial to investigate…

This article seeks to provide researchers and practitioners in laboratory education, particularly those involved in the curriculum design and implementation of teaching laboratories at university level, with a conceptual framework and a working model for an integrated assessment of learning domains, by attending to a more holistic approach to…

A digital instructional game with embedded multimedia was believed not limited to allowing the learner to visualize chemistry concepts while playing but enable them to collect relevant information that connects the understanding of the other. The subject was described as a core science area with multiple macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic…

Little research exists on college students' learning goals in chemistry, let alone specifically pertaining to laboratory coursework. Because students' learning goals are linked to achievement and dependent on context, research on students' goals in the laboratory context may lead to better understanding about the efficacy of lab curricula. This…

The purpose of this research was to study primary science students' conceptual development as it related to their understanding of materials and their properties: in particular, to determine how and why some students changed their concepts while others did not. The participants were thirty-two Grade 5 (10-11 year old) students. An instructional…

The purpose of this qualitative investigation was to better understand teaching assistants' (TAs') perceptions of training in a guided inquiry undergraduate general chemistry laboratory context. The training was developed using existing TA training literature and informed by situated learning theory. TAs engaged in training prior to teaching (~25…

In classrooms, science is usually taught within the cognitive domain while the psychomotor learning domain is achieved through performing science experiments in the laboratory. Although students attend civic and moral education and pastoral care classes where values and life skills are often taught directly, learning experiences in most school…

A comparison was made between students' overall performance, as measured by overall grade, in different teaching and learning protocols: (1) traditional textbook and lecture along with standard examinations; (2) lectures with online augmentation and PowerPoint lecture notes along with standard examinations; (3) similar to "(2)" but with…

Working memory capacity is now well established as a rate determining factor in much learning and assessment, especially in the sciences. Most of the research has focussed on performance in tests and examinations in subject areas. This paper outlines some exploratory work in which other outcomes are related to working memory capacity. Confidence…

At Colorado College, the energy retrofit of a building is used as a service-learning research project to teach physics and chemistry in a variety of courses. In introductory courses for nonscience majors, the project helps students appreciate the scientific method and quantitative reasoning. Within the physical-chemistry course, students see that…

REPORTED IS THE DETERMINATION OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF TWO METHODS OF INSTRUCTION IN TEACHING CLASSIFICATIONAL CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGE TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN. THROUGH TEACHER-DIRECTED DEMONSTRATION-DISCUSSION, STUDENTS IN GRADES 2-6 WERE INSTRUCTED IN THE CONCEPTS OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHANGE WITH THE…

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of a teaching approach on the students' ability to demonstrate and retain specific behaviors of science inquiry skill in the attainment of critical thinking ability in problem-solving situations. The sample consisted of 318 first-year liberal arts, chemistry students who were assigned to three groups,…

Hypothesized that instructional methods employing concrete models and exemplars of a concept will lead to better student understanding at both the concrete and formal operational levels of cognitive development. However, concrete operational students did not profit from the instructional methods and results were not clear for early formal…

Little formal training in skills is given with undergraduate courses in chemistry. A possible remedy is the introduction of specially devised exercises for skill development in logical argument, problem solving, appreciation of scientific limitations, fluent and grammatical writing and speaking, and decision making. (MSE)

Explores secondary school, undergraduate, and graduate level learners' mental models of bonding with ionic substances through an interview protocol involving the use of physical substances and a focus card containing depictions of ionic bonding and structure. Suggests that teachers and university faculty need to provide stronger links between the…