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 three-year study builds on prior work analyzing students' causal mechanistic explanations about acid-base reactions. Here we extend that work to characterize and investigate how students construct causal mechanistic explanations of simple nucleophilic substitution reactions. After an initial pilot study, we adopted a modified version of the…

Dendrite growth affects material systems across applications as diverse as lithium batteries, organic light emitting diodes, turbine blades, and biological sensors. Their unique crystal structure and ability to physically see growth make for a unique undergraduate laboratory experience. This experiment uses dendrite growth to explore the physical…

Introductory physics students often express fears regarding graphical vector addition. To ameliorate student trepidation of possibly making a mistake when moving the second vector to its new position at the head of the first vector before being added, as is most often advised by physics teachers, an alternative method is detailed here. This subtly…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of coupled inquiry-5E approach on the understanding of meiosis concept among pre-service teachers. The research design of this study is one-group design with a pre-test-post-test-delayed post-test. A total of 31 pre-service teachers from one public university involved in this study. An…

The rapid development and impact of nanoscience and nanotechnology (NSNT) on economy has led policy makers and educators to focus on nanotechnology education. The two main views concerning appropriate level to teach nanoscience and nanotechnology (NSNT): The first favors teaching in higher education; the second recommends familiarizing and…

Brewe, Bruun, and Bearden first applied network analysis to understand patterns of incorrect conceptual physics reasoning in multiple-choice instruments introducing the module analysis for multiple-choice responses (MAMCR) algorithm. Wells et al. proposed an extension to the algorithm which allowed the analysis of large datasets called modified…

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…

We report a simple means to build a model atomic force microscope (AFM) using 3D printing of thermoplastic materials that are commercially available. The model has many of the key parts of an actual AFM including a z-axis stage, an AFM head with a cantilever assembly, and a laser source that reflects off of the back of the cantilever. Using a…

Crosscutting concepts, such as "structure" and "function," are present in courses at multiple educational levels across the disciplines. These two terms are used individually in everyday language and have a long, rich history. The authors explore the meaning and presentation of biological function, which often is not clearly…

In the same chapter of his book "Opera Geometrica," Torricelli published two discoveries: 1) initial velocity of a jet from a container increases with the square root of the depth of the hole; 2) he drew the pattern of jets from three openings at the wall of a container filled with water to constant level "H" and determined the…

Can critical analysis be carried out without the support of minimal conceptual structuring in the field in question? The results of a research survey of beginning teachers are briefly discussed. Interviews on radiocarbon dating illustrate what we call a "delayed critique", i.e. after a phase of critical passivity and concomitant…

Learning practices in education are constantly evolving to provide high-quality education. One of the trends used to provide high-quality education is incorporating technological tools to teach and learn STEM concepts. Implementing physical manipulative tools and virtual manipulative tools in STEM classrooms positively influenced conceptual…

Students will very often write incomplete explanations when asked to do so. This may be due to various reasons, including but not limited to a lack of understanding of the content or a lack of motivation. Developing an understanding of how students form and orally express scientific explanations (i.e., participating in scientific discourse) and…