This study introduces a Comprehensive Scientific Creativity Assessment (C-SCA) instrument and empirically tests its reliability and validity. While existing instruments to measure scientific creativity generally focus on a single dimension, such as divergent thinking, the C-SCA incorporates scientific knowledge, motivation in scientific creativity…

In departmentalized elementary schools, teachers specialize in one or more core subjects and instruct different groups of students throughout the day. Proponents argue that this model leads to higher quality instruction because teachers can specialize in their strongest subjects and that it better prepares students for middle and high school,…

Plate tectonics is the unifying theory of modern Earth science, but many university students have misconceptions about it that introductory geoscience classes often fail to correct. We developed a 5-to-12-hour-long hands-on active-learning curriculum for an introductory geoscience class for education majors. The curriculum includes: (1) A…

The Energy and Momentum Conceptual Survey (EMCS) is an instrument designed to assess students' understanding of key physics concepts in introductory mechanics. In this study, we applied a combination of classical test theory (CTT), item response theory (IRT), and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to a dataset of over 10 000 students collected…

One type of active learning technique that instructors can incorporate is the use of various drawing activities. This study investigates the impact of drawing during biology lecture classes on student learning. Undergraduate students in two lecture sections of an introductory cellular and molecular biology course completed worksheets that either…

Assessment developers are increasingly using the developing technology of machine learning in transforming how to assess students in their science learning. I argue that these algorithmic models further embed the structures of inequality that are pervasive in the development of science assessments in how they legitimize certain language practices…

Giving feedback to peers can be a valuable learning experience for a feedback provider. However, different types of products require different types of feedback, which, in turn, may lead to different learning outcomes. The current study investigates the effect on the learning of feedback providers of reviewing different types of products.…

The Regulations of the Commissioner of Education provide that an intermediate-level science test is to be administered in Grade 8 to serve as a basis for determining students' need for academic intervention services in science. The New York State Grade 8 Intermediate-Level Science Test consists of two required components: a Written Test and a…

The Fundamental Concepts for Organic Reaction Mechanisms Inventory (FC-ORMI) is a concept inventory with most items in a two-tier design in which an answer tier is followed by a reasoning tier. Statistical results provided strong evidence for the validity and reliability of the data obtained using the FC-ORMI. In this study, differential item…

This research was conducted to examine the effects of the socioscientific issue approach (SSI) with thinking wheel map (TM) on entrepreneurial science thinking (EST) and the constructs of Observation, New Ideas, Innovation, Creativity, and Value. A teaching and learning (TL) module was developed to guide teachers in implementing the infusion of…

A main goal of academic courses is to help students acquire knowledge and skills that they can transfer to multiple contexts. In this article, we (i) examine students' responses to test question templates (TQTs), a framework intended to facilitate transfer, and (ii) determine whether similar transfer-promoting strategies are commonly embedded in…

Retrieval practice has generally been shown to be an effective study strategy. The benefits of retrieval practice, however, have largely been compared to restudying, a passive and ineffective study strategy. Here, I investigated the memory and metamemory effects of practicing retrieval versus generating mnemonics, an active and effective study…

The three articles in this dissertation explore how curriculum, instruction, and assessments should align with the vision for science learning outlined in the Framework for K-12 Science Education. Together, the papers demonstrate how curriculum, instruction, and assessment, when mutually supportive of each other, can foster a learning environment…

Multiple choice questions are traditionally expensive to produce. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) have led to fine-tuned LLMs that generate questions competitive with human-authored questions. However, the relative capabilities of ChatGPT-family models have not yet been established for this task. We present a carefully-controlled…

This open access book utilizes data from two large-scale international assessments--TIMSS 2019 and ICCS 2016--to investigate the extent to which education for sustainable development outcomes is conveyed and accomplished within various educational systems. Specifically, it aims to expand the understanding of how students' environmental knowledge…