An in-class activity is described that can be used not only to motivate hypothesis testing, but also to understand and compute the p-value and power in a statistical test. (Contains 3 figures.)

Despite the centrality of evolution to the study of biology, the pedagogical methods employed to teach the subject are often instructor-centered and rarely embedded in every topic throughout the curriculum. In addition, students' prior beliefs about evolution are often dismissed rather than incorporated into the classroom. In this article we…

To help explain the differences in students' performance on internationally administered science assessments, cross-national, video-based observational studies have been advocated, but none have yet been conducted at the elementary level for science. The USA and Germany are two countries with large formal education systems whose students…

In this article we discuss the findings of our research on students' understanding of vector concepts in problems without physical context. First, we develop a complete taxonomy of the most frequent errors made by university students when learning vector concepts. This study is based on the results of several test administrations of open-ended…

Asking questions is one of the key external indicators of curiosity and a cornerstone of scientific inquiry. To understand the types of questions students ask in an introductory college science class for preservice elementary teachers, students used an online question-ranking tool (Google Moderator) as part of the daily routine. This study…

Terms to be familiar with before you start to solve the test: genetic code, translation, synthetic polynucleotide, leucine, serine, filter precipitation, radioactivity measurement, template, mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, aminoacyl-tRNA synthesis, ribosomes, degeneration of the code, wobble, initiation, and elongation of protein synthesis, initiation codon.…

Phylogenetic trees provide visual representations of ancestor-descendant relationships, a core concept of evolutionary theory. We introduced "tree thinking" into our introductory organismal biology course (freshman/sophomore majors) to help teach organismal diversity within an evolutionary framework. Our instructional strategy consisted…

In order to educate elementary students scientifically literate as expected in the science curricula in many countries around the world, science teachers need to be equipped with the diverse aspects of scientific literacy. This study investigates whether pre-service elementary science teachers at universities in Turkey have a satisfactory level of…

We report on a concept inventory for special relativity: the development process, data analysis methods, and results from an introductory relativity class. The Relativity Concept Inventory tests understanding of relativistic concepts. An unusual feature is confidence testing for each question. This can provide additional information; for example,…

The increasing use of interactive learning [IL] strategies in Astro 101 classrooms has led some instructors to consider the usefulness of a textbook in such classes. These strategies provide students a learning modality very different from the traditional lecture supplemented by reading a textbook and homework and raise the question of whether the…

The many-faceted Rasch (MFR) model has been used to evaluate the quality of ratings on constructed response assessments; however, it can also be used to evaluate the quality of judgments from panel-based standard setting procedures. The current study illustrates the use of the MFR model for examining the quality of ratings obtained from a standard…

Studies show that it is hard to change students' attitudes toward science. This study specifically explored if media affect preservice science teachers' attitudes toward astronomy and their astronomy achievement. The sample for the pilot study consisted of 196 preservice science and mathematics teachers for attitude assessment and 230 preservice…

Scientific inscriptions--graphs, diagrams, and data--and argumentation are integral to generating and communicating scientific understanding. Scientific inscriptions and argumentation are also important to learning science. However, previous research has indicated that learners struggle to understand and learn science content represented in…

The topic of Newtonian gravity offers a unique vantage point from which to investigate and encourage conceptual change because it is something with which everyone has daily experience, and because it is taught in two courses that reach a wide variety of students--introductory-level college astronomy ("Astro 101") and physics ("Phys…

In 19 (sub)samples from seven countries (United States, Austria, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil), we analyzed the impact of parental education compared with wealth on the cognitive ability of children (aged 4-22 years, total N = 15,297). The background of their families ranged from poor indigenous remote villagers to academic…