This study addresses the use of epistemic criteria related to the scientific practice of inquiry in the context of environmental chemistry. In particular, it analyses the type of criteria that are used by pre-service teachers when assessing the adequacy of several scientific procedures for identifying microplastics in beach sand, as well as…

In this communication, a remote experimental activity in chemical kinetics is described, taking into account the quantification based on the optical sensor of a smartphone. The objective pursued herein is to equip students with the appropriate tools and strategies required to empirically determine the parameters of the rate law including reaction…

This article presents a series of activities that not only help learners discover the waggle dance--a behavior performed by scout bees to communicate the location of a flower patch--and its purpose but also introduce circuitry, engineering, and energy transfer using hands-on, inquiry-based strategies. These activities were conducted in a…

Many studies have been conducted in recent years on the explanations given by preschool-age children about different natural phenomena. Nonetheless, very few studies have actually focused on the important domain of matter and its transformations. Specifically, the field of chemical reactions remains unexplored. This qualitative study aims to…

The study seeks to explore the extent to which students think pedagogical activities exemplifying various degrees of contextualization accurately reflect the work of scientists. Arguing for scaffolding across multiple degrees of contextualization, Clough (2006) reasoned that different contextualization plays different, but complimentary, roles in…

Making sense of data is fundamental to science. Yet, the form in which data are represented can make their interpretation challenging for students. We introduce an activity that transformed a data table into an embodied artifact. The activity helped 8th grade students interpret the data to find that cold water warmed "fast-then-slow," in…

A high variety of experimental model organisms have been used in developmental biology practical lectures. The work with developing embryos is crucial to make students aware of the multiple biological phenomena underlying normal animal embryogenesis and morphogenesis and represent a unique experimental platform to analyze the impact of molecular…

We report on a distance learning experimental project for chemistry-major students on the synthesis of ethyl dodecanoate (C[subscript 11]CO[subscript 2]Et), a model for biodiesel, considering green chemistry principles. Thus, we employed a "recyclable acid catalyst" (an ionic liquid) and used chemometrics and microwave heating (MW) to…

Stable isotopes in natural materials provide a powerful way to study energy flow in many systems and are widely used in fields such as archaeology, ecology, forensics, geochemistry, geology, oceanography, palaeoecology and palaeoclimatology. Based on the manner in which stable isotopes fractionate in natural systems, they allow scientists to…

This study explores disciplinary literacy instruction integrated within an elementary engineering unit in an urban classroom. A multidisciplinary team of university literacy and engineering educators and classroom teachers served as the research team for this case study. A social semiotic language theory (systemic functional linguistics) and a…

Linking Education and Farming (LEAF) Education uses food, farming and nature to reach out to children in new and imaginative ways across the science curriculum. Their work at a grass roots level, with teachers, children and farmers, shows just how powerful farming and nature can be in helping develop a lifelong love for science and fuelling…

An elementary-level physics approach is used to calculate a number of interesting and useful quantities related to nuclear explosions. The set of eight exercises deals with nuclear fission fragments, the variation of fissile nucleus density in a fissioning nuclear device core with time, and the fireball.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the Education Information Network (EBA) and experimental supported activities on students' science attitude and 7th grade students' views about these activities in the teaching of the electrical circuits unit. The research was carried out with 73 students studying at a state secondary…

A two-week exercise on the Flint, MI water crisis was developed for high school and undergraduate students in introductory chemistry courses. During the first week of the exercise, students learn the chemistry of lead contamination while reviewing concepts learned previously in the course. During the second week, the students participate in…

The Earth's oceans are home to a diverse array of life, from large marine mammals to microscopic organisms. Among the most important are the marine phytoplankton, which comprise the basis of marine food webs, and also produce a large percentage of the Earth's oxygen through photosynthesis. Although the vast majority of phytoplankton are essential…