Ecology involves learning the multiple processes that occur in an ecosystem in a non-linear manner. For students to understand the complexity of an ecosystem and the processes, an interdisciplinary teaching and learning strategy is essential. Crossing the four disciplines that constitute STEM education, characterizes STEM education as an…

This article describes a lesson in which fourth-grade students create a habitat for terrapins while reducing erosion. A client and their needs were presented to the students: The city purchased a piece of shoreline on the bay previously owned by a private company. The company had started to develop the land, exposing soil up to the water's edge.…

Ensuring undergraduate students become proficient in relating protein structure to biological function has important implications. With current two-dimensional (2D) methods of teaching, students frequently develop misconceptions, including that proteins contain a lot of empty space, that bond angles for different amino acids can rotate equally,…

To enhance teaching and learning about Earth's climate and global climate change (GCC) in secondary science classrooms, the authors are engaged in a four-year, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop, implement, and evaluate a new four-week curriculum module grounded in the use of a data-driven, computer-based climate modeling…

The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how engaging with a computer-supported collaborative knowledge-building environment helps students to develop a more sophisticated approach to scientific inquiry. A total of 52 undergraduate students took a course entitled "Introduction to Natural Sciences" that was based on…

Real situations are overlaid with virtual information using augmented reality technology. In a learning environment, this technology could give everyday relevance to abstract concepts. In this paper, we will show how physical structures in typical experiments can be simply augmented by virtual objects in physics classes. This is achieved by…

This study sought to examine the impacts of the application of the McCarthy Model (4MAT) teaching approach in enhancing seventh-grade female students' conceptions of electricity in physics. The study sample comprised a total of 41 female students, who were selected from two schools located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's city of Aljouf. The…

This study investigated the effects of Discovery Learning Scientific Community Laboratories (DL-SCL) and traditional non-DLSCL laboratories on students' conceptual understanding in a Physics-1 lab. At many universities, physics programs use a traditional lab style, despite research on the benefits for reform-oriented physics labs. This DL-SCL…

This study aims to investigate the effect of guided inquiry-based learning approach on conceptual change and durability of sixth-grade middle school students regarding density concept. In this study, qualitative research methods were used. The study group consisted of 26 students studying in the sixth grade of a state middle school in the western…

There is increasing recognition that significant amounts of science learning take place over the course of one's lifetime and much of this learning takes place outside of the formal educational settings. This learning is often facilitated by educators in these informal science settings. While much is known about educators in formal classroom…

High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are a significant part of the implementation of the 2013 Curriculum to develop student competencies in the 21st century. Not only in the context of learning are HOTS considered important. They contribute to the National Examination held in Indonesia, so careful preparation for this exam is needed. Chemistry has…

The purpose of the study was to diagnose students' misconceptions of a number of basic astronomy concepts, namely, the Universe, the Sun, Comets and Constellations. The study was designed as a mixed method research and the sample was composed of a total of 110 seventh grade students. Data were collected through concept cartoons and interviews. In…

This paper tells about the mental model of prospective scholars on the topic of temperature and heat. The purpose of this research is to improve students' mental model by using problem based learning (PBL) model. The number of samples in the study amounted to 72 students with two different classes. The results of the study showed that, (1) the…

We report on seven secondary science teachers' initial efforts to understand and enact NGSS-aligned teaching. After interviewing and observing them over the course of the school year, we found that teachers revised their lessons to include instructional strategies that aimed to meet the demands of the NGSS. Yet at times, the purpose for which…

Mind maps that contain visual and verbal elements can be thought of as an effective graphical tool that can be used to reveal the existing knowledge, opinions and perceptions of individuals about a concept through mental association. In this study, the aim was to determine the mental models of middle school students related to science by using…