Medical students have difficulty understanding the mechanisms underlying hyperkalemia-mediated local control of blood flow. Such control mechanisms are crucial in the brain, kidney, and skeletal muscle vasculature. We aimed to identify medical students' misconceptions via assessment of students' in-class knowledge and, subsequently, improve future…

Electromagnetic radiation can be classified into two major types depending on its ability to detach electrons from atoms: ionising and non-ionising. The aforementioned categorization is significant due to the effects of ionising radiation on human tissue (e.g. carcinogenesis). However, many students around the globe cannot distinguish these two…

The concept of a sinusoidal wave traveling along a string is included in all secondary education physics books and as a result is being taught in undergraduate lectures around the globe. The didactic approach that follows is advantageous since it provides in a simplified way (through basic mathematical tools) a description of a disturbance that…

Practices such as astrology or crystal healing can be defined as pseudoscience. Against pseudoscience, one of the major responsibilities of science education must be to develop science-literate individuals who are able to understand what science is, how science is undertaken, how scientific knowledge is constructed, and how it is justified, then…

This article examines the use of the phrase "best practices" in academic literature that discusses online learning. Results of our study indicate that, despite the ubiquity of this phrase in academic literature concerning online pedagogy, the majority of articles lack empirical support for promoting certain approaches as "best…

This paper examines how Buddhists in America have been able to integrate evolution into their worldview to a much greater extent than other religious groups in the United States. Not only is evolution and science in general in line with the main teachings of Buddhism, but Buddhist teachers in the US have consistently encouraged Buddhists to…

This article focuses on how middle and high school students understand and use counterexamples, as well as how teachers can bring counterexamples into their classrooms. The authors believe purposeful incorporation of counterexamples into classrooms can greatly benefit students. The third of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM)…

Previous research shows that the direction of rating scales can influence participants' response behavior. Studies also suggest that the device used to complete online surveys might affect the susceptibility to these effects due to the different question layouts (e.g., horizontal grids vs. vertical individual questions). This article contributes…

Sound is one of the most commonly used physical phenomena that most of us use without considering its nature. Moreover, students often face difficulties in understanding acoustic phenomena, the most frequent one of which is the substance-based view of sound instead of a process of pressure and density differences. The current study introduces…

In his 2016 articles (Hyland, 2016a, 2016b), Ken Hyland makes a case for what he terms the 'myth of linguistic injustice', calling into question the assumption that 'non-native' users of English are at a linguistic disadvantage compared with their 'native' counterparts when writing for publication. In response, Flowerdew (2019) argues that Hyland…

Background & aims: How can non-autistic adults facilitate social learning with children on the spectrum? A new theoretical understanding of autism is currently emerging that has made this question more relevant than ever. At the intersection of two growing research areas in the field of autism, the borderland that separates the experience of…

Texts presenting novel numerical data can shift learners' attitudes and conceptions about controversial science topics. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this conceptual change. The purpose of this study was to investigate two potential mechanisms that underlie learning from novel data: numerical estimation skills and…

Values education has become a necessary tool in response to the rise in moral deterioration in an average South African society today. The school is viewed as one of the key players in nurturing children into adulthood. The teaching of values that can give the growing generation, necessary moral development is one of the responsibilities of the…

Preconceived expectations for one's behavior drive how people interact with their communities. Messaging via pop culture is a common source for citizens to learn about one community engagement tool: compulsory volunteering. Compulsory volunteering, like court-ordered community service and school-based volunteering, provides an opportunity to learn…

Traditionally, assessing and grading students in science has been an exercise centered around points and percentages (Feldman, Kropf, and Alibrandi 1989; Prøitz 2013). However, with the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the need to revisit grading practices stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of…