Extant research on the efficacy of drawing for assessing learning in chemistry suggests it may provide richer information on the quality of students' mental models. Here, we examine the relative utility of formative assessments that involve drawing modalities as well as verbal and symbolic modalities. We analyzed the drawings, written…

Incorporating engineering instruction into the elementary curriculum is not without challenges. Traditionally, researchers investigated using engineering design to promote students learning science concepts. More recently, researchers have conducted qualitative investigations to measure students' learning of engineering concepts after engaging in…

Students in one discipline often receive their scientific training from faculty in other disciplines. As a result of tacit disciplinary differences, especially as implemented in courses at the introductory college level, such students can have difficulty in understanding the nature of the knowledge they are learning in a discipline that they do…

This article presents the development, description, application, and discussion of an analytical framework to examine students' drawings of scientific concepts and processes. Student-generated representation, particularly drawing, is increasingly emphasised as an important learning strategy to help students reason, explain, and demonstrate their…

This work combines laboratory quantitative analysis of colored solutions and common devices for digital imaging (digital or web cameras or mobile phones, i.e., smartphones). ColorX software, specially designed for this study, was used for data collection and analysis in order to calculate concentrations of colored solutions from measured RGB…

It has become increasingly common for high-school students to see media reports on the importance of quantum mechanics in the development of next-generation industries such as drug development and secure communication, but few of them have been exposed to fundamental quantum mechanical concepts in a meaningful classroom activity. In order to…

Describing the motion in a vertical roller coaster loop requires a good understanding of Newton's laws, vectors and energy transformation. This paper describes how first-year students try to make sense of force and acceleration in this example of non-uniform circular motion, which was part of a written exam. In addition to an analysis of the exam…

This paper describes two studies comparing students' explanations of an oxidation-reduction reaction after viewing the chemical demonstration and one of two different particulate-level computer animations. In the first study, the two animations differed primarily in the complexity of the visual images. Students viewing the more simplified…

In an ideal instructional context, one would expect the components (teacher, content and instructional strategy) to operate in harmony, in tandem and in a complementary manner. When these components are not in harmony, they are said to be in a state of 'instructional contextual contestation'. The components compete rather than complement each…

The aim of this study is to determine the pre-service teachers' perceptions of atom and atomic structure through a word association test. It is important to concretize the concepts having a significant influence on the learning of subjects. Through this concretization, students' understanding of the concepts and accordingly of the subjects is…

The present study reports an empirical investigation into concept formation of young children. Based on interviews conducted before and after participating in a playfully enacted chemistry lesson at a culture center, it is analyzed how 6-year-old children conceptualize water, molecule, and chemistry. Theoretically, the study is informed by…

The International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) launched a global project in 2017 to infuse systems thinking into chemistry education, motivated in part by the desire to help equip chemists and citizens to better address the complex, global challenges our society currently faces. One important early outcome of the IUPAC Systems…

There are widespread calls for school education to put more emphasis on developing students' appreciation of the power and limitations of science. Without effective teaching, there is a risk that sensationalist media claims will unduly influence students' perceptions of the power of science to already explain and predict aspects of our daily…

The development of students' interest in school science activities, their understanding of central chemical concepts, and the interplay between both constructs across Grades 5-11 were analyzed in a cross-sectional paper-and-pencil study (N = 2,510, mean age 11-17 years). Previous empirical findings indicate that students' knowledge increases over…

This paper presents exemplification of the ways in which teachers can garner the interest piqued by the recent detection of gravitational waves. The intention was to develop a teaching module based around this exciting new branch of astronomy and to use this as an opportunity to bring cutting-edge science into the classroom, whilst allowing…