Popular accounts of exciting discoveries often draw students to physics and astronomy, but at the introductory level it is challenging to connect with these in a meaningful way. The use of real astronomical data in the classroom can help bridge this gap and build valuable quantitative and scientific reasoning skills. This paper presents a strategy…

Due to its distinct phenotype and relatively simple inheritance pattern, the phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) loci is frequently utilized in teaching laboratories to demonstrate genetic concepts such as Mendelian inheritance and population genetics. We have developed a next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics approach to analyze the PTC gene locus…

This research draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand the epistemic dimension of the higher education classroom discourse of a professor who is well evaluated by his students. In expository science classroom discourse, concepts are loaded with different meanings, a process that is called "condensation of meanings" in LCT,…

This article presents and discusses the results of a study that investigates university students' comprehension of the concept of molar concentration, following teaching and evaluation of the subject. The specific problems underlying learning of this concept have not yet been focused on in sufficient detail or depth. A "Reasoning with…

Students often struggle to make interdisciplinary connections and cite a lack of opportunity to make such connections. To address this issue, we are developing activities aligned with the framework of three-dimensional learning that provide students with opportunities to make connections between chemistry concepts and biological phenomena. Here,…

As an outcome of multidiscipline integration, the polymeric surfactant is of growing importance in modern industry and scientific research. However, the instructional introduction on polymeric surfactants is still insufficient in universities nowadays. In order to effectively guide undergraduates to study polymeric surfactant, a new polymeric…

Science and technology play an important role in modern medicine and experience shows that, although school students and their relatives are likely to have experienced some of the complex procedures available today, they are generally not aware of the science behind them. Demonstrations that link school science to medical procedures can therefore…

Individuals with a secondary education should have a knowledge level sufficient to make sense of what they read or hear about genetics, and they should be able to think scientifically in evaluation and decision-making processes. The purpose of this study is to identify the basic understanding of secondary education students about genetic concepts…

According to the Next Generation Science Standards, science instructional materials can be efficient as long as they integrate three dimensions: science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas. However, research investigating the integration of these three dimensions in the content of school science textbooks…

Science teachers use a large number of visual representations and models in science classes to guide students to understand complex phenomena and to learn to conduct scientific inquiry. Fluent formation and use of visual representation involves metavisualization, which is a process related to metacognition and visualization. However, what kinds of…

High-performance liquid chromatography is one of the primary techniques covered in the undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum. This technology report describes the use of a portable capillary-scale instrument that can provide similar performance to a benchtop instrument but generates less solvent waste and enables operation in nonlaboratory…

This study explored Grade 3 teachers' use of an inquiry-based approach to mediate the development of basic science concepts among learners within the socio-cultural theory. This study adopted interpretive case study research of the qualitative type, using a sample of four (4) female teachers who use the home language of learners as the language of…

Students have several misconceptions about thermodynamics. However, an understanding of basic concepts in this branch of physics remains fundamental to explain thermal phenomena. The purpose of this activity was to extend students' conceptual understanding of heat, temperature, energy, and thermal insulators and conductors. Two groups of students…

In this paper, we explored the scientific literacy of a general sample of the Slovak adult population and examined factors that might help or inhibit scientific reasoning, namely the content of the problems. In doing so, we also verified the assumption that when faced with real-life scientific problems, people do not necessarily apply…

Techniques and instrumentation that involve fluorescence are used in many careers related to biology and biochemistry. However, due to the expense of instrumentation, the theory and practice of fluorescence spectroscopy is commonly concentrated in instrumental analysis in most curricula, a class rarely required for biology and biochemistry majors.…