The current experiments explored the parafoveal processing of transposed-letter (TL) neighbors by using an eye-movement-contingent boundary change paradigm. In Experiment 1 readers received a parafoveal preview of a target word (e.g., "calm") that was either (1) identical to the target word ("calm"), (2) a TL-neighbor ("clam"), or (3) a…

The goal of this study was to determine if laptop use in lecture negatively impacts learning outcomes of surrounding students taking notes on paper. Two sections of a large introductory biology course (greater than 400 students/section) were zoned into a laptop-permitted and a laptop-free area. Two sections in which laptop users could sit anywhere…

A very limited questioning of undergraduate Environmental Science students at the start of their studies suggests the age of the Earth is being successfully taught in high schools. The same cannot be said for the teaching of the structure of the Earth.

This article describes a multi-class project that employs statistical computing and writing in a statistics class. Three courses, General Ecology, Meteorology, and Introductory Statistics, cooperated on a project for the EPA's Student Design Competition. The continuing investigation has also spawned several undergraduate research projects in…

Student-centered education involving research experiences or inquiry have been shown to help undergraduate students understand, and become excited about, the process of scientific investigation. These benefits are particularly important for students in the early stages of their degree (Report and Kenny,…

Successful science students have mastered their field of study by being able to apply their learned knowledge and problem solving skills on tests. Problem solving skills must be used to figure out the answer to many classes of questions. What this study is trying to determine is how students solve complex science problems in an academic setting in…

This study reports the effects of an innovative introductory microbiology course for undergraduates that used a socioscientific issues (SSI)-based curriculum. The study illustrates how an SSI-based intervention provides learners with pragmatic opportunities for cultivating their scientific literacy subsuming the nature of science (NOS). Empirical…

Proteomics is an emerging area of systems biology that allows simultaneous study of thousands of proteins expressed in cells, tissues, or whole organisms. We have developed this activity to enable high school or college students to explore proteomic databases using mass spectrometry data files generated from yeast proteins in a college laboratory…

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a common technique used in high school and undergraduate science teaching. Students often do not fully comprehend the underlying principles of the technique and how optimization of the protocol affects the outcome and analysis. In this molecular biology laboratory, students learn the steps of PCR with an…

Oxford College is a small liberal-arts intensive 2-year undergraduate division of Emory University, where inquiry-based courses are a required part of the general education program. We have developed an authentic research experience for undergraduates that mimics--as much as possible--a real undergraduate research experience. Our program provides…

Despite the importance of recruiting highly qualified individuals into the science teaching profession, little is known about the effectiveness of particular recruitment strategies. Over 3 years, 34 college science majors and undecided students were recruited into paid internships in informal science settings to consider secondary science teaching…

In Saudi educational system, many factors have led to a various need for teaching qualifications in higher educational institutions. One main aim of this study was to determine the perception of college teachers on how to assess the effectiveness of the teaching process and what most students consider when evaluating their teachers. Further, it…

The paper presents results of "non-traditional" teaching of the basic course of Physics in the first year of study at the Technical University in Zvolen, specifically teaching via interactive method enriched with problem tasks and experiments. This paper presents also research results of the use of the given method in conditions of…

This quasi-experimental, mixed methods study examined the transfer of a well-established pedagogical strategy, Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL), to an online workshop environment (cPLTL) in a general chemistry course at a research university in the Midwest. The null hypothesis guiding the study was that no substantive differences would emerge between…

This exploratory study applied a proposed force and motion learning progression (LP) to high-school and university students and to content involving both one- and two-dimensional force and motion situations. The Force Concept Inventory (FCI) was adapted, based on a previous content analysis and coding of the questions in the FCI in terms of the…