Mistaken beliefs pose a barrier to science learning. For this reason, it is important to understand the circumstances in which they emerge and change. In the current paper, we apply complexity theory to shed light on the nature of mistaken beliefs. The strength of this approach lies in conceptualizing beliefs as dynamic stabilities, a well-defined…

This article is a reflection focused on Licona and Kelly's (Cult Stud Sci Educ. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09946-7, 2019) paper dealing with translanguaging in science classrooms within a SSI context. I use a number of points that the authors of the original paper make to prompt my thinking about teaching in multilingual contexts, the most…

This article presents the results of a qualitative study aimed at determining the effectiveness of the camera obscura as a didactic tool to understand image formation (i.e., how it is possible to see objects and how their image is formed on the retina, and what the image formed on the retina is like compared to the object observed) in a context of…

Providing word banks for human anatomy and physiology lab practicals is uncommon because instructors want to avoid cueing effects, but there is little published data on their effects on student performance. In the 2016-2017 academic year, word banks were not provided for students taking lab practicals in Anatomy and Physiology I and II while in…

It is well known that the twinkling of stars in the night sky is due to turbulence within the earth's atmosphere causing localised fluctuations in refractive index. The paper describes a method for demonstrating the effect to learners during the daytime. This is accomplished by detecting audio frequency fluctuations in the level of direct sunlight…

Molecular symmetry plays an important role in many areas of chemistry, and students are generally taught to identify intramolecular symmetries at the undergraduate level. Intermolecular symmetry, the symmetry among groups of molecules, is of great importance in topics such as X-ray crystallography, but it receives substantially less attention.…

Single-crystal X-ray structures, melting points, and students' specific rotation results on carvone semicarbazone derivatives are presented with experimental details. Critical parameters are identified to ensure the success of the experiment. Procedures developed here were tested in a laboratory course, consisting of approximately 70 students over…

Guided inquiry is the practice of allowing students to come to their own conclusions about a set of data instead of verifying a known result using a given experimental procedure. Open inquiry takes this idea one step further by allowing students to develop their own experiment and then analyze the data to arrive at a conclusion. To expose upper…

Light is a topic that is often taught in year 3 (ages 7-8) in English schools, where children learn that light is needed for us to see, that it can be reflected from shiny surfaces and that shadows form when light is blocked by an object. They may also have some experience of how the size of shadows changes when the distance between a light source…

Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions are well-known among the most versatile catalytic C-C bond formation reactions. Two different routes of C-C bond Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions for the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory courses have been designed and explained. A two-step reaction involving a catalyst preparation as the first step and…

This review explores Thomas Lessl's "Demarcation as a classroom response to creationism: A critical examination of the National Academy of Science's "Science, Evolution, and Creationism" (2008)." Lessl's work examines philosophical debates about the relationship between science and religion from the perspective of communication…

With the global pandemic this spring, we experienced a switch to remote education halfway through our semester at The College of New Jersey. For an advanced special topics in chemical biology class, lecture and group work required changes, increasing the number of assignments as well as the level of independent thinking and application-based…

Online conferences are a means of replacing the absence of physical meetings canceled due to COVID-19. In this communication we outline ten tips for those looking to host online meetings, based on our recent experience of running the conference "Methods in Chemistry Education Research (MICER)" online to 320 participants over 3 days in…

Rising cases of COVID-19 caused St. John's University to transition to an online educational model in the spring 2020 semester. As a result, an in-person Cooperative Learning advanced general chemistry laboratory course was transitioned into an online/remote Cooperative Learning experience. Cooperative Learning in the general chemistry laboratory…

A new two-step experiment has been designed and developed for the curriculum of the Organic Chemistry Laboratory 2 (CHEM2240L) sophomore course at Xavier University of Louisiana, in New Orleans. Initially, cyclohexanol was converted to cyclohexanone using bleach as the oxidizing agent followed by the formation of the cyclohexanone oxime. However,…