Students' challenges in learning mechanics are well documented from test situations, and group discussions are considered a fruitful way to meet these challenges. In this paper, we present a study from an authentic teaching setting where upper secondary students in groups solve the task of calculating the acceleration of an elevator by means of a…

In order to evaluate students' development of scientific competence at the intermediate level, a guided-inquiry course was developed to increase student independence, including opportunities for project ownership and significant collaborative learning expectations. A survey was developed to assess students' experiences learning the scientific…

The ability to collaborate with culturally diverse groups is essential, not only to further scientific knowledge but also to solve complex global problems. However, not all students have opportunities to develop intercultural competencies through study abroad programs, due to various issues such as cost, rigid curriculum, and unrelated field of…

An online chemistry of art course was developed for K-12 teachers enrolled in a Master of Education in Interdisciplinary STEM Education program. This course focused on the chemistry involved in the preparation of artists' materials, art, and the authentication of art and artifacts. The specific course topics addressed safety in creating art; the…

A novel undergraduate analytical chemistry experiment involving the identification and quantification of linalool in essential oils was developed. The experiment uses the internal standard method with headspace solid phase microextraction (SPME) and gas chromatography--mass spectrometry (GC-MS). This method is applicable to any linalool-containing…

The unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to shift to a remote or distance-learning mode. As a result, classes were offered online, and this shift in teaching modality presented great challenges, especially in teaching laboratory courses. While several options are available, we evaluated the use of (i) videos of lab…

The schoolyard as a setting for teaching and learning is rarely the focus of chemistry education. Therefore, a chemistry unit combining activities in the classroom and the schoolyard was designed to support pre-service teachers'(PSTs) learning of redox chemistry. This study was conducted to investigate the PSTs' talk about redox chemistry as they…

This communication describes an activity where upper-level chemistry students explore the determinability of rate constant values without concentration dependences (k[subscript true]) related to a solvent-ligand exchange in a transition metal carbonyl complex. By performing a series of multivariable linear regression (MVLR) analyses of…

Cola beverages are widely consumed and popular among students; they can be used as safe reagents to replace toxic chemical dyes. In this study, a safe and improved experiment is described, which successfully demonstrates Beer's law and adsorption process using activated carbon as the adsorbent and cola as the adsorbate. The results of this study…

Student enrollments in online college courses have grown steadily over the past decade, and college administrators expect this trend to continue or accelerate. Despite the growing popularity of online education, one major critique in the sciences is that students are not trained in the hands-on skills they may need for the workforce, graduate…

Although the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) have three dimensions, the crosscutting concepts are often the forgotten dimension. One reason teachers may not emphasize the crosscutting concepts might be because they are broad, domain-general constructs that can be difficult to conceptualize in a meaningful way. Yet, when taught…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is the latest initiative to promote authentic scientific work in the classroom. Previous reform efforts have not caused the change in teacher practice and student learning that was hoped for, despite their ubiquity and accessibility. The culprit may be the culture of school that is often recalcitrant to…

Educational initiatives in multiple disciplinary areas call for student engagement in the practice of argumentation (CCSSI, 2010a, 2010b; Mullis & Martin, 2017; NGSS Lead States, 2013; OECD, 2018). In science education, immersive argument-based inquiry (ABI) is one category of approaches which integrates argumentation in all classroom activity…

Developing teaching strategies has become the cornerstone of education. The most successful educational strategies are those that adhere to their vital role to students as they focus on raising the students' attitude towards learning. This research shed some light on the impact of scaffolding strategies on middle school students' attitudes towards…

Using mobile applications in science education has proven to be effective as it adds multiple benefits including learning gains, motivation to learn, and collaborative learning. However, some teachers are reluctant to use this technology for reasons derived from different factors. Hence, it is important to identify what factors affect teachers'…