This paper is the outcome of a collaborative endeavour between mathematics and science educators where the insight from each field mutually informed one another. Specifically, building on the knowledge base from mathematics education research, this study analyses the ways in which percent is interpreted by first year university students in general…

American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meetings are valuable for the development of undergraduate researchers but can be overwhelming for first-time attendees. To orient and engage students with the range of offerings at an ACS meeting, we developed a cloud-based scavenger hunt. Using their mobile devices, teams of undergraduates…

According to dual processing theory there are two types, or modes, of thinking: system 1, which involves intuitive and nonreflective thinking, and system 2, which is more deliberate and requires conscious effort and thought. The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) is a widely used and robust three item instrument that measures the tendency to override…

A stream of debate (including a previous special issue of this journal [25(1) 2014)] has made claims not just for "bringing knowledge back in" as the framing underpinning of the school curriculum, but that subjects associated with disciplinary and disciplined knowledge forms have a particular power and that these characteristics are…

Critical thinking and analytical problem-solving skills in research involves using different search strategies. A proposed concept for an "Imploded Boolean Search" combines three unique identifiable field types to perform a search: keyword(s), numerical value(s), and a chemical structure or reaction. The object of this type of search is…

The purpose of this paper is to show how important "monitoring" is as metacognitive skills in solving physics problems in the field mechanics. Based on test scores, twenty one students were divided into two groups: more successful (MS) and less successful (LS) problem solvers. Students were allowed to think-aloud while they worked on…

The Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences (OEDG) program, operational between the years 2001 and 2013, was a signature effort by the National Science Foundation's Directorate for Geosciences (NSF/GEO) to invest in broadening participation of historically underrepresented populations in geoscience education programs and careers.…

In the United States, colleges and universities have traditionally undertaken the important task of preparing citizens to participate fully and effectively in the civic, political, and economic spheres of the republican system. They have done so by joining a general education curriculum--common to all students--to an area of specialized knowledge,…

This quantitative longitudinal study sought to highlight the difference between the proportion of men and women who planned to pursue a STEM major in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences as freshmen, as well as to determine the proportion of men and women who changed their major choice by…

An algorithm has been developed for the rapid determination of single-gene inheritance patterns from genetic pedigrees.

Introductory general and physical chemistry courses often deal with colligative properties of solutions and do not discuss nonideal solutions in detail. Yet, a growing body of evidence reveals that even at physiological concentrations electrolyte solutions cannot be treated as ideal when a charged or partially charged solute (such as a protein) is…

Prismatic refraction is a classic topic in science education. To investigate how undergraduate students think about prismatic dispersion, and to see how they change their thinking when observing dispersed images, five teaching experiments were done and analysed according to the Model of Educational Reconstruction. For projection through a prism,…

The concept of wave-particle duality in quantum theory is difficult to grasp because it attributes particle-like properties to classical waves and wave-like properties to classical particles. There seems to be an inconsistency involved with the notion that particle-like or wave-like attributes depend on how you look at an entity. The concept comes…

Reported here is a study of an interactive component to General Chemistry I and General Chemistry II where a new pedagogy for taking notes in class was developed. These notes, called key word created class notes, prompted students to locate information using the Internet guided by a key word. Reference Web sites were added to a next generation of…

Active instructional approaches have been demonstrated to result in greater student achievement, prompting institutions to transition to more active learning environments. However, little work has been conducted to specifically measure the retention of knowledge gained. The purpose of the research presented here was to test assumptions regarding…