The present study explores how gender, ethnicity, and performance-based perceived competence impact students' learning, performance, and enjoyment from playing a digital STEM learning game. We had 199 9th-11th grade students play a 2D digital STEM learning game across six science classes. Based on the results of demographic surveys, matched…

Representational competence (RC) is a set of skills to reflectively use a variety of representations to draw inferences, make predictions, and support claims. Despite the important role RC plays in student success in chemistry and the considerable number of investigations into student ability to reason with representations, little is known about…

Flipped teaching (FT) is a student-centered instructional method that shifts lectures out of the classroom and uses a variety of activities to apply content during class time. FT has gained attention among educators as a student-centered instructional method. However, many faculty still lack the skills, knowledge, confidence, and expertise to…

This qualitative study examined factors that gifted Finnish upper secondary school physics students (N = 24) identified as helping or hindering their talent development in physics. In-depth interviews captured students' descriptions of critical incidents regarding their physics talent development at home, school, and in leisure time. The results…

One of the most pressing global problems today is the prevention of environmental crises is achieved only through targeted actions of people. In this regard, the search for ways out of the environmental crisis is being carried out, which is reflected in the laws "On environmental protection of the Republic of Kazakhstan",…

The science curriculum in the Turkish education system includes socioscientific issues (SSI) as a context for developing students' reasoning skills, scientific thinking habits, and decision-making skills from an early age. Conducting activities on real problems with teachers and pre-service teachers based on SSI and making decisions considering…

Science curriculum and pedagogy offer ideal avenues for teaching young people the critical thinking skills they need to live in a post-truth world. Drawing on the theory of epistemic cognition, we present a selection of research-based pedagogies that have been shown to be effective in developing school students' understanding of knowledge and how…

This autoethnography explored how my instructional strategies and role as a teacher could be altered to address the problems and needs experienced by students due to the COVID-19 pandemic, amid the changing dynamics of education. Specifically, this research was a personalized account of my experiences as a high school teacher, navigating the…

A multioutcome, guided inquiry-based liquid--liquid extraction (LLE) experiment has been designed for introductory organic chemistry. Multiple outcomes were established by identifying a series of red and blue dyes that are (1) soluble in organic solvent, (2) soluble in aqueous solution, or (3) soluble in either the organic or aqueous layers by…

Chemistry graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play a unique but important role in undergraduate STEM education. As leaders of laboratory and discussion sections, GTAs teach fundamental experimental techniques and reinforce course content in classrooms and have more opportunities to interact with students one-on-one or in small groups. GTAs often…

This dissertation describes a practitioner's design-based development of a prototype chatbot to guide students in learning biological concepts of genetic mutations and protein synthesis. This chatbot's architecture provides learning activities, feedback, and support throughout a series of short, connected lessons. The chatbot is designed to…

Since the launch of Sputnik by the U.S.S.R. on October 4, 1957, the United States has aimed to bolster nationwide STEM education with the intention of creating a strong STEM pipeline. Despite many efforts, there remains a distinct lack of diversity in the STEM career fields, and many people cannot accurately describe what engineers do. These two…

Science classrooms continue to privilege narrow conceptions of science, and students of color are frequently identified by teachers as disengaged or uninterested in science--part of a deficit narrative socially constructed over time. In this design-based research study, I explored the development and implementation of culturally relevant and…

Throughout its history, Pluto has held interest for many as an underdog planet--as "the little guy" fighting for recognition. After years of debate, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially revised its definition of planethood in 2006, downgrading Pluto from full planetary status to "dwarf planet" (Retrieved August…

In 2017, almost everywhere in the world, there was a boom in sales of fidget spinners. A toy that has 'multi-lobes' that can rotate freely from a thrust performed with the fingers. Thereby, we analysed the physics concepts that involved in this toy, such as angular and linear velocity. We did the analysis using the software Tracker, a laboratory…