Bisphenol A (BPA) is a plastic monomer and plasticizer and is a chemical that has one of the highest volume production worldwide, with more than six billion pounds each year. Its primary use is the production of polycarbonate plastics, epoxy resins used to line metal cans in a host of plastic consumer products such as toys, water pipes, drinking…

With the proliferation of communication media and technologies available, it is important for teams to understand the influence of these media on the performance of their communications. Additionally, it is important for researchers to understand how teams choose and use media. Literature on communication media impacts and communication…

Understanding how people learn the phonological patterns of their language is a major challenge facing the field of phonology. In this dissertation, I approach the issue of phonological learning by focusing on "saltatory" alternations, which occur when two alternating sounds "leap over" an intermediate, invariant sound (e.g.,…

Many studies have shown benefits associated with engaging students in problem-solving activities prior to administering lessons. These problem-solving activities are assumed to activate relevant knowledge and allow students to develop some initial knowledge structures, which support understanding of the lesson. In this paper we report the results…

Collective action researchers have focused on injunctive norms that specify approved behavior as a panacea for collective action problems. We investigate whether descriptive norms (similar behavior) can also solve these problems. We argue that descriptive norms generate social identification, which then sustains conformity to expectations.…

An experimental apparatus was designed and built to allow students to carry out heat conduction experiments in hollow cylinders made of different materials, as well as to determine the thermal conductivity of these materials. The evolution of the temperature difference between the inner and outer walls of the cylinder as a function of time is…

The present study aimed to investigate whether perceptual completion is available at birth, in the absence of any visual experience. An extremely underspecified kinetic visual display composed of four spatially separated fragments arranged to give rise to an illusory rectangle that occluded a vertical rod (illusory condition) or rotated so as not…

The mineral acid-catalyzed dehydration of 2-methyl-1-cyclohexanol has been a popular laboratory exercise in second-year organic chemistry for several decades. The dehydration experiment is often performed by organic chemistry students to illustrate Zaitsev's rule. However, sensitive analytical techniques reveal that the results do not entirely…

The field of extrasolar planets is still, in comparison with other astrophysical topics, in its infancy. There have been about 300 or so extrasolar planets detected and their detection has been accomplished by various different techniques. Here we present a simple laboratory experiment to show how planets are detected using the transit technique.…

In recent science education, experimentation features ever more strongly as a method of inquiry in science classes rather than as a means to illustrate phenomena. Ideas and materials to teach inquiry abound. Yet, tools for assessing students' achievement in their processes of experimentation are lacking. The present study assumes a basal,…

Children with developmental dyslexia (DD) may differ from typical readers in aspects other than reading. The notion of a general deficit in the ability to acquire and retain procedural ("how to") knowledge as long-term procedural memory has been proposed. Here, we compared the ability of elementary school children, with and without…

The hands-on laboratory experiments are frequently what spark students' interest in science. Students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) typically do not get the same experience while participating in hands-on activities due to accessibility. Over the course of approximately nine months, common chemistry laboratory experiments were adapted and…

Understanding the effects of class size reduction (CSR) has been an enduring issue in education. For the past 3 decades, Project STAR has stimulated research and policy discussions regarding the effects of CSR on a variety of outcomes. Schanzenbach (2007) reviewed STAR studies and concluded that small classes improved student academic outcomes.…

As feedback is an important part of learning and motivation, we investigate how to adapt the feedback of a conversational agent to learner personality (as well as to learner performance, as we expect an interaction effect between personality and performance on feedback). We investigate two aspects of feedback. Firstly, we investigate whether the…

Discrepant events are often used by science educators to incite interest and excitement in learners, yet sometimes their results are farther-reaching. The following article describes how one such event--dissolving packing peanuts in acetone--led to a change in the course of a college-level elementary science teaching methods class and to the…