Pursuing both disciplinary authenticity and personal relevance in the teaching and learning of science in school generates tensions that should be acknowledged and resolved. This paper problematizes and explores the conceptualizations of these tensions by considering personal relevance, disciplinary authenticity, and common school science as three…

We investigated physics students' epistemological views on measurements and validity of experimental results. The roles of experiments in physics have been underemphasized in previous research on students' personal epistemology, and there is a need for a broader view of personal epistemology that incorporates experiments. An epistemological…

This article demonstrates how an adaptive instructional design for a physics module can be realized in a standard learning management system. We implemented a didactic design with physics-specific online exercises that were accompanied by either detailed or non-detailed instructions, depending on the results of the previous task (or a prior…

We analyze results from paired pre- and post-instruction administration of the Mechanics Baseline Test to 2238 students in introductory mechanics classes. We investigate pairs of specific wrong answers given with unusual frequency by students on the pretest. We also identify transitions between pre- and post-test answers on the same question which…

In this paper the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes are discussed in connection with the possibility to use them for the construction of a space elevator. From the fundamental information about the structure of a carbon nanotube and the chemical bond between carbon atoms, Young's modulus and the ultimate tensile strength are…

Research in science education has recognized the importance of teaching atomic structure within a history and philosophy of science perspective. The objective of this study is to evaluate general physics textbooks published in Korea based on the eight criteria developed in previous research. The result of this study shows that Korean general…

Background: Mentoring supports professional success in a myriad of fields; in the physical sciences, mentoring increases the retention of diverse groups of students. While physics education has made progress in classifying the availability and structural components related to mentoring programs, little is known about the qualitative nature of…

This investigation is focused on possible links between the development of critical attitude and conceptual understanding. We conducted a fine grained analysis of five student teachers' critical and conceptual development during a one hour and a half interaction with an expert. This investigation completes a series of three previous studies…

Science students should undertake engineering design projects and carry out scientific investigations, as recommended by the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013). However, studies show that students misconstrue the goals of science and engineering and are uncertain about their respective practices (Gilbert and Wade…

The goal of this paper is to examine the relationship of student motivation and achievement in low-stakes assessment contexts. Using Pearson product-moment correlations and hierarchical linear regression modelling to analyse data on 794 tertiary students who undertook a low-stakes engineering mechanics assessment (along with the questionnaire of…

Student engagement in science, as defined by Iva Gurgel, Mauricio Pietrocola, and Graciella Watanabe, is of great importance because a student's perceived compatibility with science learning is highly influenced by personal identities, or how students see themselves in relations to the world. This can greatly impact their learning experiences. In…

The most common way to grade students in courses at university and university college level is to use final written exams. The aim of final exams is generally to provide a reliable and a valid measurement of the extent to which a student has achieved the learning outcomes for the course. A source of uncertainty in grading students based on an exam…

A simple setup is designed to investigate a "time-of-flight" measurement of the speed of sound in water. This experiment only requires low cost components and is also very simple to understand by students. It could be easily used as a demonstration experiment.

In order to increase students' awareness for and comfort with mathematical modeling of biological processes, and increase their understanding of diffusion, the following lab was developed for use in 100-level, majors/non-majors biology and neuroscience courses. The activity begins with generation of a data set that uses coin-flips to replicate…

The present study explores reasoning and argumentation in Greek mathematics and physics texts in specific topics related to the notion of periodicity. In our study, argumentation is taken as the sequence of the modes of reasoning (MsoR) that an author develops in a text when organizing and presenting new knowledge. Inductive content analysis was…