Basic science courses, such as physics, are fundamental to precollege studies. For instance, in different engineering applications, electricity and magnetism require comprehending subjects such as electrical circuits and power electronics. However, abstract concepts such as electric or magnetic fields are often difficult to explain without visual…

The authors teach in a large, urban school district in the Midwest and typically a few students have parents who work in the sciences. One year, the authors were fortunate to have the child of the owner and head brewer of a local microbrewery. That coincidence set the stage for a major collaboration to bring the real world of chemistry and biology…

Argumentation is a central epistemic process contributing to the generation, evaluation, and application of scientific knowledge. A key challenge for science educators and researchers is to understand how the important social and discursive ("social dialogic") dimensions of argumentation can be implemented in learning environments. This…

In this article, we propose a simple and accessible model of a magnetic levitator fitted with a Hall sensor. This model also allows to determine the magnitude of the magnetic field within the levitator working volume. Students can also compare the experimental magnetic field values to reference values in magnetism textbooks. This Arduino-based…

As part of their initial teacher education, most aspiring middle and high school science teachers take one or more semesters of coursework in the methods of teaching science. Surprisingly little is known about the curriculum of secondary science methods courses, however. This exploratory study aimed to better understand the goals and content of…

Lateral flow assays play a key role in mass testing for COVID-19, for example, in schools. The red color of the detection lines is caused by gold nanoparticles that are conjugated to antibodies. Hence, these tests present a very topical learning opportunity in the emerging field of nanoscience. To highlight the role of gold nanoparticles, a…

Efforts to understand changes in teacher curricula following the adoption of reform-based standards, such as the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) remain incomplete and prior scholarship has identified several topics in the standards (e.g., nuclear chemistry and kinetics) that remain infrequently addressed in teachers'…

Science teachers struggle to implement and sustain new curricular ideas from professional development (PD) experiences. These PD opportunities are crucial for enacting real-world changes to teaching practice and address pressing global challenges, such as the teaching and learning of socioscientific topics nested in school communities.…

The integration of engineering into existing school science curricula is arguably an effort to move beyond a mono-disciplinary goal of learning to one that teaches real-world applications and problem-solving in science. This study adopted dual theoretical lenses to scrutinize and compare the distribution of engineering elements in past and present…

Integrating virtual laboratories (VLs) with science education promotes inquiry-based learning by providing an interactive, dynamic environment in which students actively engage with scientific concepts. While previous research highlights the effectiveness of VLs as tools in the IBL process, few studies have embedded the entire inquiry process…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are valuable spaces for collaboration and reflection to promote the transformation of teaching practice and resilience to change. In PLCs that are sustained over time, trust-building is a key element. In Latin America, school systems and educational models are based on mistrust, which in Chile is consistent…

Chinese 2017 General High School Physics Curriculum Standards explicitly include understanding the nature of science (NOS) as core literacy for students. History, philosophy of science, and sociology of science (HPSS) education is an important way to promote students' understanding of the nature of science. In this context, this study analyzed the…

This study investigated students' conceptions of science learning before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak via drawing analysis. A total of 521 Taiwanese students in 7th, 9th, and 11th grades were asked to illustrate how they conceptualized science learning in an actual and ideal context. A coding checklist was developed to analyze the…

This study explored the impact of authentic out-of-school learning on students' beliefs about their science learning efficacy and career aspirations. The learning activity, designed following an authentic learning framework, was led by research scientists. We examined how students' emotions, induced in an authentic scientific activity, mediated…

Organic chemistry is a cognitively demanding subject with persistently low student achievement. This review aimed to identify instructional strategies and educational technologies used to improve learning outcomes in organic chemistry across educational levels and learning environments. A systematic review of 40 experimental studies (2014-2023)…