Numerate people tend to make more informed judgments and decisions because they are more risk literate (i.e., better able to evaluate and understand risk). Do numeracy skills also help people understand regular science reporting from mainstream news sources? To address this question, we investigated responses to regular science reports (e.g.,…

A well-informed populace is vitally important for the proper functioning of democracy. Media news articles constitute an essential means by which the public comes into contact with scientific issues. However, not all of the scientific information presented in news articles is trustworthy or accurate. Naturally, the situation becomes more…

One of the main objectives of scientific literacy is the development of rational skills and critical thinking in citizens. This is a central goal for teachers. However, beliefs that lack rational foundation and supporting evidence, named "epistemically unwarranted beliefs" (EUB), spread rapidly among the population. If teachers had some…

Due to the prevalence of pseudoscience, scientific illiteracy, and fake news, scientists are increasingly concerned about pseudoscientific beliefs among individuals without advanced scientific training. We recruited 85 undergraduate participants who read 10 pseudoscientific texts in each of the following conditions: APA-style references,…

In science education, learners' conceptions of scientists and their work are often assessed by the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST). Due to validity concerns, methodical literature demands the development of alternative instruments to measure learners' conceptions validly and efficiently. This study presents an instrument with 29 rating scale items to…

Research has shown that undergraduate courses in psychology often fail to make students accept the discipline as a science. It may be that explicit instruction is not sufficient to modify students' conceptualization of psychology as something other than science. The goal of this study was to examine introductory psychology students'…

In evolution education, misconceptions about evolutionary concepts impact students' learning. Much research exists on assessing knowledge about evolution using different instruments. The current article introduces the KAEVO 2.0 instrument, which includes various evolutionary aspects representing microevolution and macroevolution. The introduced…

Plant awareness disparity (PAD, formerly plant blindness) is the tendency not to notice plants in one's environment. PAD is made of four components: attention (not noticing plants), attitude (not liking plants), knowledge (not understanding why plants are important), and relative interest (being less interested in plants than in animals). This can…

This paper discusses the results of two experiments assessing undergraduate students' beliefs about the random nature of molecular environments. Experiment 1 involved the implementation of a pilot adaptive assessment (n = 773) and focus group discussions with undergraduate students enrolled in first- through third-year biology courses; experiment…

Evolution is the unifying theory in biological sciences, yet in the United States, a majority of the population holds beliefs that are in conflict with those concepts and therefore are not completely open to considering evolutionary theory. The Gallup poll on evolution, creationism and intelligent design is one of the longest running polls…

In many textbooks of chemical-engineering thermodynamics, a gas mixture obeying the fundamental law pV[subscript m] = RT is most often called ideal-gas mixture (in some rare cases, the term perfect-gas mixture can be found). These textbooks also define the fundamental concept of ideal solution which in theory, can be applied indifferently to…

As astronomers further develop an understanding of the fate of the Universe, it is essential to study students' ideas on the fate of the Universe so that instructors can communicate the field's current status more effectively. In this study, we examine undergraduate students' preinstruction ideas of the fate of the Universe in ten semester-long…

The past generation has seen major advances in science and technology, and in the preparation of high school students for college. This study investigates changes in the science knowledge of college students, and in their attitudes and belief systems regarding science and technology. Over 12,600 non-science majors at the University of Arizona were…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] As part of a larger project studying undergraduate students' understanding of cosmology, we explored students' ideas about the curvature of the Universe. We investigated preinstruction ideas held by introductory astronomy (ASTRO 101) students at three participating…

Background: Recently, there is a growing interest in independent learning approaches globally. This is, at least in part, due to an increased demand for so-called "21st century skills" and the potential of independent learning to improve student skills to better prepare them for the future. Purpose: This paper reports a study that…