Socio-scientific inquiry-based learning (SSIBL) engages learners with local and global issues in which science and technology are interwoven, aiming to empower them to become active agents of change for their local communities. Within the PARRISE project, we worked with pre-service teachers on prioritising an "it matters" approach to…

This study compared the effects of Individualised Instructional Strategy (IIS) and Cooperative Learning Instructional Strategy (CLIS) on male and female senior secondary school students' academic achievement in Organic Chemistry. The study was guided by 2 research questions and 3 null hypotheses. The design was quasi-experimental. The population…

Acquiring conceptual understanding seems to be one of the main challenges students face when studying organic chemistry. Traditionally, organic chemistry presents an extensive variety of chemical transformations, which often lead students to recall an organic transformation rather than apply conceptual knowledge. Strong surface level focus and…

An institutionalized program of peer-led study groups (PLSG) adds instructional power to our large-enrollment introductory organic chemistry courses. Concomitantly, there is a challenge to keep the instructional philosophy and subject matter coherent with the faculty expectations and goals across this diverse group of undergraduate instructors.…

Research in organic chemistry education has revealed that students often rely on rote memorization when learning mechanisms. Not much is known about student productive resources for causal reasoning. To investigate incipient stages of student causal reasoning about single mechanistic steps of organic reactions, we developed a theoretical framework…

Project Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional strategy used to aid in the improvement of student achievement by incorporating a project as the medium to collaborate and augment competency and skills. The purpose of this study was to explore and examine the implementation of PBL via the use of a district-wide PBL instructional curriculum for…

Students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are in high demand. Over 1 million STEM graduates will be needed by 2022 to meet the projected workforce needs (The Progress Report on Coordinating Federal Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education, 2016). If students are needed to fulfill jobs in areas…

This research sought to analyze the reliability of an instrument to measure teacher knowledge of a group of pre-service chemistry teachers participating in the Institutional Program for Scholarships for Beginner Teachers in Brazil (PIBID). Thus, it was analyzed the evaluation of a group of students about the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of…

Chunk-based strategy and mnemonics have been developed to write ground state electron configurations of elements, which is a routine exercise for the higher secondary (pre-university) level general chemistry students. To assimilate a better understanding of the nature of chemical reactions, an adequate knowledge of the periodic table of elements…

All private and public schools in the UAE had to run online classes as they closed their face-to-face classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2021. In this context, the purpose of this study was to investigate the indicators of high school students' performance in online chemistry classes in a private school in Al Ain, UAE. A…

The move from general chemistry to organic chemistry can be a challenge for students as it often involves a transition from quantitatively-oriented to mechanistically-oriented thinking. This study found that the design of the general chemistry course can change the student experience of this transition as assessed by a reflective survey. The…

Benzoyl peroxide is used as a bleaching agent for flour and whey processing, a polymerization initiator in the synthesis of plastics, and the active component of acne medication. Because of its simplicity and wide application, benzoyl peroxide is a target molecule of interest. It can be affordably synthesized in three steps from bromobenzene using…

Nanoscience development affects almost every discipline of science, engineering, and technology. Not surprisingly, "the science of small" is also finding its way into science classrooms. In general, "nano" refers to a billionth of a meter--about 1/50,000 the width of a hair follicle. The term "nanoparticle" usually…

British scientist John Dalton (1766-1844), French scientist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778-1850), and Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856) are familiar to many chemistry students. Such students may understand the importance of Dalton's atomic theory, model how Gay-Lussac's law relates the pressure and the temperature of a gas, and use…

Based on a previous analysis of student reflection responses, we developed and implemented a hybrid reflection activity that allowed students to choose among a "Muddiest Point" prompt or a "Most Surprised" prompt, or to use both. We examined and coded student responses from two different courses and determined that each prompt…