By bringing everyday phenomena into the classroom, teachers can more readily engage students in authentic scientific inquiry. When working with young children, the best phenomena are those that students can directly experience and investigate. Meaningful phenomena can be identified by watching children at play, listening to the conversations they…

Two key topics of many second-year organic chemistry courses are substitution and elimination reactions. Predicting and explaining substitution and elimination reactions tends to be a challenging task for students, as documented in the research literature. Motivated by the many documented challenges experienced by students when learning these…

Mass spectrometry is one of the few instrumental analysis techniques that can be relatively well-understood with physics/chemistry knowledge typical of an advanced high school or a beginning undergraduate student. This positions mass spectrometry well to be used as a bridge between abstract concepts typically set as learning goals in courses at…

Studies on student learning of scientific concepts have shown that students often experience various difficulties in understanding basic physics concepts such as vector quantities, as a result of formal and informal learning. The purpose of the present study is to document Grade 11 students' difficulties in understanding vectors and their…

This paper describes the results of a survey administered to members of the American Association of Physics Teachers and the National Earth Science Teachers Association to measure the nature and frequency of the integration of Earth and space science (E&SS) concepts into physics courses, as well as the need and interest of physics teachers to…

The Reaction Coordinate Diagram Inventory (RCDI) has been developed to measure student thinking and confidence with reaction coordinate diagrams (RCDs) and their correspondence to reaction mechanisms. The RCDI was designed using a sequential mixed-methods protocol, such that the questions and distractors in the instrument were generated based on…

The purpose of this study is to develop an instructional materials using discovery learning with cognitive conflict approach to improve vocational students understanding of heat concept. This instructional material was developed using the Four D model, namely define, design, develop, and disseminate. Furthermore, data were obtained from the…

The BIOSEL (Biotechnology Series Learning) model is a learning model that provides opportunities for students to assemble learning through a conceptual description of the coherent and precise steps of Biotechnology implementation. The purpose of this research was to analyze validity and practicality of the BIOSEL model to improve the concept…

Science writing, such as lab reports, allows students to form a meaningful understanding of scientific concepts. However, students often view scientific writing as unimportant and utilize surface level approaches when completing writing assignments. The current study implemented three experimental interventions (directly-communicated,…

As soon as children can see, they observe that objects fall freely. From a young age, we spontaneously construct interpretative models to understand this everyday phenomenon. Over the last three decades, numerous experiments have been developed to help students understand physics concepts regarding free fall. Although there are many…

This study aims to investigate the effects of educational games, while teaching the unit of matter and heat, utilized on students and the remarks of the students on the process. The research model called mixed method, in which both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together, had been applied. The research group consisted of…

The purpose for this self-study was to explore the theoretical and practical understandings of scientific inquiry inherent in our elementary teacher preparation program, specifically those of new instructors. Although scientific inquiry and inquiry-based learning are emphasized in our program, several new instructors, doctoral students hired to…

Explanations of phenomena in chemistry are grounded in discussions of particulate-level behavior, but there are limitations to focusing on single particles, or as an extension, viewing a group of particles as displaying uniform behavior. More sophisticated models of physical processes evoke considerations related to the dynamic nature of bulk…

This national study of 1858 teachers participating in professional development(PD) summer programs in the United States encompasses a wide range of science subjects and grades. It was conducted to identify program features associated with increases in two types of teacher knowledge that are goals for most professional development programs: teacher…

STEM education is a pedagogical philosophy which aims to draw the interrelationship between science, technology, engineering and mathematics to solve complex problems in real life situations. In order to use STEM education to foster students' learning, the researchers designed STEM activities for middle school students related to the concept of…