In this article I describe an approach to task design and implementation that addresses the broad capabilities common to 21st Century Skills and the STEM education agenda. Principles of task design and implementation were co-constructed by ten teachers and a single researcher during a longitudinal study that took place over 3 years. A vignette…

Cultivating students' scientific knowledge and developing their capability in scientific inquiry depends on a teacher's ability to use existing resources to design rich learning opportunities. Designing such experiences is not easy, and is particularly challenging for new teachers who have little experience making decisions about the best way to…

This study examines the initial integration of engineering design in an introductory preservice elementary biology content course using a life science design task focused on composting. The task, informed by a three-dimensional learning approach, required preservice teachers to research and model the process and use of composting to help the…

This study explored relationships between students' attitudes toward science and their preferred versus actual experience of cooperative, constructivist-oriented, or direct instruction. The sample consisted of 1334 Chinese middle school students in physics and chemistry classrooms. Results showed that students report experiencing more direct…

The reemergence of virtual reality (VR) in the past few years has led to affordable, high-quality commodity hardware that can offer new ways to teach, communicate, and engage with complex concepts. In a higher-education context, these immersive technologies make it possible to teach complex molecular topics in a way that may aid or even supersede…

The Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reaction, which is one of the most important methods for C-C bond formation in modern organic synthesis, exhibits broad functional group compatibility. A Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling protocol is reported that is suitable for demonstrating this compatibility in undergraduate laboratories. In this reaction, two…

As part of major education reform efforts underway in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), teachers have been introducing cooperative teaching methods in their science classes. Given the limited research carried out in this context, we aimed to: first, provide evidence to support a modified and translated (Arabic/English) version of a well-known…

At any point during the school year, a teacher may find out the gap between what students know and need to learn is not large at all. In fact, formative assessment data may show a handful of students already have mastered the content for a specific unit of study. While some learners will achieve grade-level standards at the pace outline by a…

This paper describes the use of a smartphone's sensors to investigate the motion of a torsion pendulum to demonstrate energy conservation. The smartphone was placed on and attached to a metal disk hanging by a wire. The oscillation of the disk was measured using the smartphone's sensors to simultaneously record angular position, angular speed and…

Quantum dots (QDs) are considered useful for demonstrating quantum phenomena in undergraduate laboratories due to their monodisperse size and excellent optical properties. Although doping has an increasingly important role in QD fabrication in the semiconductor field, it has rarely been discussed in the context of the undergraduate laboratory. In…

Achieving quality in higher education is a complex task involving the interrelationship of many factors. The influence of the teacher is well established and has led to some general principles of good teaching. However, less is known about the extent that specific disciplines influence quality teaching. The purposes of the paper are to investigate…

This study analyses the effectiveness of ethnobotanic activities on learning performance of pre-service teachers about plants' classification. The research design was a quasi-experimental model. The results of the study revealed that the experimental group in which ethnobotanical activities were carried out was more successful for answers given to…

We investigate upper-division student difficulties with direct integration in multiple contexts involving the calculation of a potential from a continuous distribution (e.g., mass, charge, or current). Integration is a tool that has been historically studied at several different points in the curriculum including introductory and upper-division…

Myocardial contraction is triggered whenever a wave of electrical impulses passes through the heart. The pattern of electrical excitation spreads coordinately over the structure of the heart. This results in a measurable change in potential across the surface of the body of a subject. The recording of the resultant signal from specific body points…

Gravitational lensing is an interesting phenomenon in astronomy and is most typically given rise to by galaxies. The majority of the matter in a galaxy is thought to be dark matter, and the galactic gravitational lensing effect is mainly caused by dark matter halos. In gravitational lensing-related demonstrations in physics education, the feet of…