The importance of utilizing spectroscopic techniques for unraveling structural and compositional changes in nonreacting and reacting systems is unquestionable. Nowadays, efforts are directed towards the introduction of relevant spectroscopic techniques to undergraduate students in order to prepare them for future careers in industry and academia,…

Thermodynamic characterization of micelle formation from an ionic surfactant in aqueous solutions is a classic experiment in physical chemistry. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) and the degree of micelle ionization ([alpha)] can be directly obtained by conductimetry, then thermodynamic parameters ([delta]G[subscript m][superscript o],…

Twenty-first century chemistry education researchers reported challenges in chemistry education pertaining to high school chemistry teaching-learning outcomes. Even though all studies intended to improve chemistry teaching-learning outcomes, unfortunately the impact of chemistry education research found not to be much encouraging. A few of these…

Upper-division physics students solve partial differential equations in various contexts in quantum mechanics courses. Separation of variables is a standard technique to solve these equations. We investigated students' solutions to midterm exam questions and utilized think-aloud interviews. We also applied a framework that organizes students'…

While research has investigated elementary teachers' understanding of science content, such research is often limited to topics typically not addressed in elementary school curricula. Yet, research has illustrated that many elementary teachers struggle to accurately articulate and teach science concepts and professional development (PD) is needed.…

Education for sustainable development is an emerging concept that encompasses a new vision in physics education that empowers the learner to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. Physics education is still struggling to adapt to the personalized approach in learning. Personalized learning thrives in this technology-rich…

PhysPort (www.physport.org) has become the go-to place for physics educators to learn to apply research-­based teaching and assessment in their classrooms. Usage (defined as the total number of visits) has doubled every two years since the site was released in 2011, and 20% of all U.S. physics faculty and 7% of U.S. high school physics teachers…

The Physics Laboratory of the Hellenic Open University has constructed a small scale and low cost air shower detector suitable for operation inside the classroom or school laboratory ([mu]Cosmics detector). In this work we present some of the educational activities foreseen with the [mu]Cosmics air shower detector, as well as the assessment of a…

Theories of how people learn and how science connects to students' lives provide frameworks for exploring the development of teachers' visions of effective science teaching. These frameworks can inform elementary teacher preparation programs about how to communicate theory-based practices of effective science instruction to support pre-service…

In this personal narrative reflection, the author examines her experiences teaching everyday science during the COVID-19 pandemic. She provides examples of curiosity-driven explorations with her own twin sons related to growing plants and baking bread. Through social media she shares her home experiences with others, building a remote community of…

Since the 1980s, studies have increasingly shown that traditional teaching causes a deterioration in students' conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The present study examined the influence of an intervention on high school students' conceptions of physics and of learning physics. The intervention included two components: a unique design…

We examined the sophistication of middle school students' mechanistic explanations of genetics phenomena and how they interact with a technology-based explanation tool as they articulate and organize their ideas about the phenomena. We coordinated curriculum and assessment design frameworks to develop a middle school curriculum unit that engages…

The free radical chlorination of an alkane experiment is often used in the undergraduate laboratory curriculum to introduce students to the free radical mechanism, substituent effects, intermediate stability, and the relative reactivity of radicals. In this experiment, students monochlorinate multiple alkanes and analyze the reaction mixture using…

A two-week summer camp for high school students focused on sustainable polymers was developed and implemented. Students took part in experiments and interactive lessons that demonstrate polymer chemistry fundamentals alongside associated sustainability challenges and opportunities. For example, polymer concepts related to chemical properties…

Jupyter notebooks are widely used for data analysis across a large number of scientific disciplines. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, I developed a series of computational exercises using the Jupyter notebook to replace the laboratory exercises usually undertaken in my course. My students had no prior coding knowledge and therefore these…