Despite decades of reform efforts, STEM education continues to face calls for improvement, especially regarding the teaching laboratory. Establishing an empirical understanding of the types of hands-on, psychomotor skills that students need to learn to succeed in downstream careers could help ensure laboratory courses are promoting authentic…

Powerful arguments have been made recently to advocate for the introduction of systems thinking in chemistry education to equip graduates to address sustainability challenges. This contribution describes systems thinking activities and an assessment tool that enables meaningful learning in first-year organic chemistry as students engage with the…

Electrophoresis is integral to analytical and biochemistry experiences in undergraduate education; however, fundamental principles of the method are often taught in upper-level laboratories through hands-on experiences. A laboratory activity is reported that teaches the concepts of electrophoretic mobility and electroosmotic flow. A single…

Digestion is a fundamentally important process for an individual's life. However, the physical process of digestion is hidden inside the body, making it challenging to understand and a particularly difficult topic for students to learn in the classroom. Traditional approaches to teaching body processes include a mixture of textbook teaching and…

Community-based learning (CBL), also known as service learning (SL), provides students with an active and meaningful learning environment and has been studied in STEM courses for several decades. Chemistry for the Community is a novel chemistry curriculum that weaves service-learning projects throughout multiple courses, including gateway courses,…

In 1996, the Chemistry Department at Norwich University converted its two-semester General Chemistry course from a traditional lecture to a Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) classroom. The change to POGIL teaching in Norwich General Chemistry classes was brought about by a steady decline in student performance, as demonstrated by…

In this study, we aim to analyze the effects of discovery-based learning through film viewing on students' knowledge about a specific animal species and its habitat. The following hypothesis is tested: students' knowledge about animals and their environment is greater as a result of discovering information through watching videos. The study…

Chapter 8, "Locating sense of place in the school curriculum", begins with general reflections on curriculum, particularly in relation to the so-called "knowledge society" and critical pedagogy. It then reviews some of the literature both theorising and advocating for a place-responsive curriculum in the context of compulsory…

Students vary in their perceptions of teachers' motivational supports, even within the same classroom, but it is unclear why this is the case. To enable the design of equitable environments and understand the theoretical nature of motivational climate, this study explored demographic differences in university students' perceptions of instruction…

This review examines the evolution of tertiary undergraduate chemistry teaching from 2019 to 2023, including in response to the global pandemic's impact on teaching and learning methods and whether those adaptations have persisted. The authors assessed the current educational landscape against standards set by leading accreditation bodies, the…

Background: Rapid changes brought on by generative artificial intelligence (AI) have emphasized the need to teach students to work with this technology while also developing the "robot proof" human skills future workers will need, such as creativity, communication, and critical thinking. Objective: The study objective was to explore…

This study investigated the predictive effect of in-service and pre-service science teachers' perceptions of the learning environment on their self-efficacy beliefs on science teaching. The same self-report questionnaires were used to collect data from in-service and pre-service science teachers. Of the participants, 142 in-service science…

Recent research underscores the importance of inquiry learning for effective science education. Inquiry learning involves self-regulated learning (SRL), for example when students conduct investigations. Teachers face challenges in orchestrating and tracking student learning in such instruction; making it hard to adequately support students. Using…

To optimize learning experience and improve learning performance, current virtual experimental systems usually assist students with stepwise guidance before operations and feedback after them. However, stepwise and excessive guidance can lead to student overreliance, while late feedback cannot avoid potential errors during experimental learning.…

Climate change instruction (CCI) is not a consistent component of the science curriculum in American primary education. When it is taught, students may experience stress during instruction as a result of learning about the historical and future harm to humanity and the earth as a result of climate change. Students may also have direct experience…