In this article, the author presents three different tasks that can be used to assess students' understanding of the concept of length. Three important measurement concepts for students to understand are transitive reasoning, use of identical units, and iteration. In any teaching and learning process it is important to acknowledge students'…

We have developed and implemented a serial experiment in molecular cloning laboratory course for undergraduate students majored in biotechnology. "Pseudomonas putida xylE" gene, encoding catechol 2, 3-dioxygenase, was manipulated to learn molecular biology techniques. The integration of cloning, expression, and enzyme assay gave students…

A growing body of evidence indicates that contact with nature is as important to children as good nutrition and adequate sleep, and therefore, educators need to address children's access to nature. This is particularly important in urban areas, where children have few opportunities to interact with nature. Gardening and nature-based curriculum…

The present study explores the relationship between students' views of the nature of science (NOS) and their views of the nature of scientific measurement. A questionnaire with two-tier diagnostic multiple-choice items on both the NOS and measurement was administered to 179 first-year physics students with diverse school experiences. Students'…

Scotchmoor and a team of natural scientists, social scientists, philosophers, and educators developed a Web site called Understanding Science ("www.understandingscience.org") to explain to teachers, students, and the general public "how science "really" works." The site, launched in January 2009 and funded by the National Science Foundation,…

Quality control (QC) measures are less prevalent in teaching laboratories than commercial settings possibly owing to a lack of commercial incentives or teaching resources. This article focuses on the use of QC assessment in the analytical techniques of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) at…

Clarifying ancient environments millions of years ago is necessary to better understand how ecosystems change over time, providing insight as to the potential impacts of current global warming. This module engages middle school students in the scientific process, asking them to use tooth measurement to test the null hypothesis that horse and tapir…

This article describes the experience of a group of first-grade teachers as they tackled the science process of classification, a targeted learning objective for the first grade. While the two-year process was not easy and required teachers to teach in a new, more investigation-oriented way, the benefits were great. The project helped teachers and…

We report a school project which equips students with both theoretical and practical knowledge in material physics. We construct dumpling skins from a mixture of flour and water. A series of experiments is then conducted to quantify the toughness, hardness, and tensile strength of the skins, and how they are affected by adding other materials into…

"Enthalpy Costs" is a simple card game created to assist students in developing proper Lewis structure drawing skills. Score keeping is accomplished by tracking the enthalpy changes associated with bond-making and bond-breaking processes during formation of molecules represented by proper Lewis structures. Playing the game requires the student to…

The Developmental Student Outcomes (DEVSO) Survey is one of four annual surveys that make up the British Columbia (BC) Student Outcomes project. This report presents a summary of the findings from the 2012 Developmental Student Outcomes Survey. The results included in the report were analysed by demographic characteristics and other factors. The…

Prior to this research little was known about the ways in which people draw upon their science backgrounds. An earlier CSHE [Centre for the Study of Higher Education] study for the ACDS [Australian Council of Deans of Science] examined employment outcomes and confirmed that many science graduates pursue careers outside scientific research. There…

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of middle school students' perceptions of the ideal science student to their problem solving activity and conceptual understanding in the applied science area of robotics. Twenty-six 11 and 12 year-olds (22 boys) attending a summer camp for academically advanced students participated in the…

Previous studies indicate that the use of pair programming has beneficial effects on student learning. In this article, we present a controlled study that directly measured students' acquisition of individual programming skills using laboratory practice (in which students programmed individually under exam conditions). Additionally, we analyzed…

The aim of this study is to compare and contrast the science process skills (SPS) included in the 10th-12th grade physics textbooks content utilized in Yemeni schools. The study revealed weaknesses and strengths in the textbooks' content. For instance, a number of science process skills (SPS), such as measuring, predicting and hypothesizing, have…