[This paper is part of the Focused Collection in Investigating and Improving Quantum Education through Research.] One of the greatest weaknesses of physics education research is the paucity of research on graduate education. While there are a growing number of investigations of graduate student degree progress and admissions, there are very few…

Commonly used methods to simulate the oxidation-reduction (redox) titration curves include the three-step method and the rigorous method. The simple three-step method simulates the redox titration curve with the assumption that the reaction is complete, which is widely used in undergraduate quantitative analysis courses. For the rigorous…

Physics is a subject requiring strong logical thinking, and writing a problem-solving path according to logical thinking can enhance students' knowledge and problem-solving ability. The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of problem presentation of different scaffolds (MAPS or dynamic figures) on students' physical problem solving.…

Redox reactions and their balancing are one of the basic chemistry subjects in which students may experience remarkable learning difficulties at the beginning of their university career. This topic represents an evolution of stoichiometry concepts related to the balancing of chemical reactions and can be taught with different approaches as a…

The use of approximations in solving problems in sciences can be vital for students. Order of magnitude estimation also helps with physical understanding of the quantities involved in a calculation. For example, in the first exam in a first-year class in chemistry the student must find the mass in grams of an atom; a couple of students will…

The COVID-19 outbreak represented a remarkable challenge in universities and colleges since it forced the transition from a face-to-face model in classrooms and laboratories to a remote, online model using computers, tablets, and cell phones. In Mexico and other Latin American countries, the return to educational activities was a slow-paced…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all on-campus activities were required to be adapted to a distance-learning format, which was especially challenging for practical courses. Molecular biology is a mandatory course for biology undergraduates at Universidade Federal Fluminense. To overcome the impossibility of practical activities, we proposed…

This study focuses on how the quality of students' arguments and their conceptions of data and evidence change as a result of experiencing two types of laboratory courses, one employing a scripted inquiry approach and the other employing argument-driven inquiry. The analysis explores the connections between students' conceptions of data and…

Supporting students in building well-grounded explanations plays a crucial role in scientific practice. Research in organic chemistry education on students' mechanistic explanations, however, has revealed various challenges. When solving mechanistic tasks, students experience difficulties when (I) deriving implicit properties from structural…

In this article, the authors describe how classroom observations were used to characterize differences in instructional practices among undergraduate science courses. Student and faculty behaviors and dialogues were quantified using the Teaching Dimensions Observation Protocol (TDOP) in introductory science courses across multiple disciplines…

A traditional classroom usually focuses on concepts from a specific discipline. However, solving complex real-world problems requires integration and application of knowledge from various fields. Here, we describe a 4-hr undergraduate-level laboratory exercise that utilizes concepts of extraction and biological property, bridging between chemistry…

Problem solving plays an essential role in all scientific disciplines, and solving problems can reveal essential concepts that underlie those disciplines. Thus, problem solving serves both as a common tool and desired outcome in many science classes. Research on teaching problem solving offers principles for instruction that are guided by learning…

Systems thinking has been an educational priority for more than a decade, yet its related assessment and teaching strategies have been understudied in the chemistry education research community. Through the lens of systems thinking, this study explores how undergraduate students connect and translate their conceptual representations when they are…

Thermodynamics challenges teachers and learners. Its pervasiveness about nature, mathematical abstractness, nonnumerical relations, and complexity in applications can inhibit understanding and usage, especially by undergraduates. Perspectives are given about these obstacles, and some suggestions are made to enhance comprehension of the discipline.

In this study, we continue our efforts to address students' difficulties understanding organic chemistry, particularly in connecting structure to function and using the language of chemistry to explain how and why reactions occur. For the first time, we have characterized students' work and problem-solving strategies on familiar and unfamiliar…