Research has identified several students' misinterpretations of the principles of the photoelectric effect (PE). Students cannot interpret the formula using the graph's context despite the linear dependence inherited in it. Many studies pointed out that the graphical representation of kinetic energy of the ejected electrons versus frequency of…

Motivated by often passingly brief textbook discussions of industrial capacitors, this study examines how students make sense of textbook descriptions to create an industrial rolled-up capacitor. A total of 37 junior-year students at a top high school in Beijing, China, participated in the study. The participants followed their textbook guidance…

This paper reports the findings of the second and the third year of a four year longitudinal empirical research into the modification of 'step-by-step' instructions to practical activities which require one or more steps to be designed by the students. This method had been successfully applied for a short period for 14-15 years old students.…

Content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and, assessment knowledge (AK) are fundamental types of teachers' knowledge. Second-career, pre-service chemistry teachers leave the industry and return to the Technion to study in the "Views" program to obtain a high school teaching certificate. Their background can potentially…

In recent years teachers' education programs encourage preservice teachers to practice a variety of assessment methods to prepare them to be highly qualified practitioners who are capable in enhancing students' scientific understanding. Formative assessment (FA) -- also known as assessment for learning -- involves the process of seeking and…

Games can be rich environments for learning and can elicit evidence of students' conceptual understanding and inquiry processes. Illuminating students' content-specific gameplay decisions, or methods of completing game tasks related to a certain domain, requires a context that is open-ended enough for students to make choices that demonstrate…

The Ball Bearing High Voltage generator is a fairly simple and transparent apparatus that can serve as a tool to motivate conceptual descriptions and calculations in electrostatics that are normally presented to our students in a rather dry and matter-of-fact fashion. For example, instead of posing a problem in the typical textbook form of…

This study presents an experimental method that illustrates and quantifies the Doppler-effect phenomenon. Two stages of the experimental process were carried out. First, a simplified ripple tank was used to depict the Doppler effect, and the whole experiment was recorded by a digital camera. Second, video analyses of the recorded experiment were…

There are three aspects of science: (1) scientific knowledge: what we know about the natural world, which would include crosscutting concepts; (2) scientific practices: skills and knowledge necessary for building scientific knowledge; and (3) nature of science (NOS): how science works (Bell et al. 2003). Most science instruction emphasizes the…

In Vietnam, nuclear physics is a fundamental part of the national curriculum for physics. However, due to a lack of experimental apparatus (detectors, radioactive sources, etc) at most of the schools, the majority of students do not have opportunities to experience the phenomena behind the concepts. Moreover, safety is another major concern when…

A newly developed laboratory learning program for high school chemistry courses is discussed, in which students discover the chemical mechanism governing exothermic phenomena during the reaction between a heating agent, namely, calcium oxide (CaO)--aluminum (Al) mixture, and water. Based on prior knowledge of simple heating agents such as CaO, the…

The objective of this study is to compare the effectiveness of EMBE-R and verification strategies in eliminating the rate of reaction (RR) misconceptions on different scientific reasoning capabilities (SRC) and improving students' understanding of concepts in chemical equilibrium (CE). This quasi-experimental design involved two homogeneous…

The excretory system should be taught through constructivism so as conceptual understanding could be built well, and students could apply their knowledge in daily life. The research aims to find out the influence of a learning model of Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) based on scientific approach (Cirsa) on conceptual…

Females are underrepresented in all levels of physics, while a simultaneous need exists to increase the physical science workforce pipeline. A review of current literature found exposure to more advanced pSTEM courses might influence students to pursue those career-fields, however enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP) Physics remains…

For many educators and their students, homework is part of standard school practice. Homework as an exercise is not nearly as important as its intended purpose. The common intent for assigning homework is for students to practice recently obtained skills and knowledge as well as expanding individual understanding. Unfortunately, changes in…