Recent research on principles of best practice for designing effective multimedia instruction has rarely taken into account students' alternative conceptions, which are known to strongly influence learning. The goal of this study was to determine how well students of quantum mechanics could learn "vicariously" by watching a student-tutor dialogue…

This paper reports on a study that examined the cumulative effects on students' learning of science, and perceptions of the role of writing in learning, when the students engaged in multiple writing tasks with planning strategy support. The study was conducted with Year 10 biology students who completed two consecutive units on Cells and Molecular…

In the USA there is a contemporary discourse of crisis about the state of education and a parallel discourse that lays a large portion of the blame onto the poor quality of educational research. The solution offered is "scientific research." This article presents critiques of the core assumptions of the scientific research as secure argument.…

A previous study highlighted the perception among secondary science teachers that they faced considerable challenges to their pedagogical practice when teaching unfamiliar areas of the curriculum; for example, when teaching out of subject specialism. One of the major challenges cited by the teachers was being able to give appropriate and effective…

A study of the effect of science teaching with a multimedia simulation on water quality, the "River of Life," on the science conceptual understanding of students (N = 83) in an undergraduate science education (K-9) course is reported. Teaching reality-based meaningful science is strongly recommended by the National Science Education Standards…

Animations of molecular structure and dynamics are often used to help students understand the abstract ideas of chemistry. This qualitative study investigated how the features of two different styles of molecular-level animation affected students' explanations of how sodium chloride dissolves in water. In small group sessions 18 college-level…

A comparative study was conducted to compare two approaches to engineering design curriculum between different schools (inter-school) and between two curricular approaches, "Project Lead the Way" (PLTW) and "Engineering Projects in Community Service" (EPIC High) (inter-curricular). The researchers collected curriculum…

This activity has been designed to help students understand a variety of concepts related to water use, efficiency, and students' own impacts on their watershed. It is intended for use both in the classroom and at home. The first concept covered in this exercise is, "What is a watershed?" Ideally this concept will be conveyed in the context of the…

Clickers are electronic response devices with which a student can remotely submit responses to questions or problems posed by a teacher. The problems are typically true-false or multiple-choice questions, but can also include numerical problems. Clicker devices are particularly popular in large-enrollment introductory science, technology,…

Aligned with recent changes to syllabuses in Australia is an assessment regime requiring teachers to identify what their students "know" and "can do" in terms of the quality of understanding demonstrated. This paper describes the experiences of 25 secondary science and mathematics teachers in rural schools in New South Wales as…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of instruction (application) including interactive computer animation accompanied by teacher and student-prepared concept maps on primary students' biology achievement during instruction, as well as revealing attitudes towards science as a school subject. A quasi-experimental…

Although researchers in higher education propose alternatives to traditional approaches to assessment, traditional methods are commonly used in college or university science courses. The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility and validity of Prospective Science Teachers' (PSTs) concept maps as authentic assessment tools in a…

The objective of this study was to evaluate grade 9-12 students' motivation while engaged in two different engineering design projects: marble-sorter and bridge designs. The motivation components measured in this study were focused on students' intrinsic (IGO) and extrinsic (EGO) goal orientations, task value (TV), self-efficacy for learning and…

This article describes the mediated American Sing Language (ASL) presentation of technical vocabulary and definitions within the context of a web-based astronomy course for first year students at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY). Deaf students showed achievement gains with fewer…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the current shortcomings in science and mathematics education in Malaysia. The use of cooperative learning as an alternative to traditional method is emphasized. Cooperative learning is grounded in the belief that learning is most effective when students are actively involved in sharing ideas and work…