This study aimed to analyze second-semester organic chemistry students' problem-solving strategies, specifically focusing on the resources activated while solving problems on E2, E1, and E1cB elimination reactions. Using the theoretical framework by Elby and Hammer, we defined a resource as a unit of information used in the problem-solving…

The digestive system (DS) is a fundamental topic in biological science teaching. However, the literature indicates that students have difficulties in learning about it. In the present work, we focus on how early childhood Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) develop their understanding of the DS regarding the CMP (Components-Mechanisms-Phenomena) framework…

Energy is a concept frequently encountered both in daily life and in various disciplines. Despite such a wide range of scope, conceptualizing it might be challenging at times. This study aims to investigate high school students' views on the concept of energy through a set of various paper-and-pencil tests. For this purpose, 654 high school…

The current study explores differences in messages that preschool teachers send girls and boys about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Video footage of a preschool classroom (16 hr; N = 6 teachers; 20 children) was transcribed. Teachers' questions were coded for question-type and whether the question was directed to a boy or a…

The experience of love plays an integral role in human development as adolescents transition into adulthood. However, little is known about whether early adults have a shared understanding about indicators of love in daily life in this transitional phase. Using Cultural Consensus Theory informed by developmental theory, this study examined whether…

This study contributes to the growing body of research on the role of crosscutting concepts (CCCs) in three-dimensional teaching and learning by examining the complexity of elementary preservice teachers' (PSTs) knowledge for teaching related to CCCs. The researchers used qualitative methods to analyze PSTs' responses to a questionnaire about CCCs…

Children and adults express greater confidence in the existence of invisible scientific as compared to invisible religious entities. To further examine this differential confidence, 5- to 11-year-old Turkish children and their parents (N = 174, 122 females) from various regions in Türkiye, a country with an ongoing tension between secularism and…

CACAO (Chocolate Across the Curriculum and Outreach) is a vertical curriculum augmentation designed to help students across the ChE undergraduate program. The students use a chocolate-based food engineering lab to make connections between core chemical engineering topics using hands-on and project-based learning. Costs to create this component are…

Past research repeatedly revealed students' struggles to understand chemical equilibria, especially concerning their dynamic nature. Black-box simulations have proven to be helpful here. However, the effect is strongly dependent on the quality of teaching, the design principles of which are not yet fully known. One aspect of debate concerns the…

Developing a deeper understanding of scientific concepts is one of the primary goals of science education. To improve students' conceptual understanding, it is necessary to explore the major characteristics of their learning process. Informed by previous work on conceptual understanding, this study focuses on the concept of evaporation, exploring…

Chemical thinking is widely acknowledged as a core competency that students should develop in the context of school chemistry. This study aims to develop a measurement instrument to assess students' chemical thinking. We employed the Essential Questions-Perspectives (EQ-P) framework and Structure of Observed Learning Outcome (SOLO) classification…

Using a verbal protocol, this study investigated how 38 second-grade students identify, describe, and interpret five types of commonly used visual graphics in science texts (i.e., cut-away diagrams, maps, captioned photographs, flow diagrams, and hybrids). Additionally, we explored the challenges students encountered when interpreting these…

Socio-scientific issues provide a great platform to both engage students in scientific topics and assess their understanding of scientific concepts. Nancy R. Singer, Amy Lannin, Maha Kareem, William Romine, and Katie Kline report on the STEM Literacy Project, a three-year National Science Foundation grant that aimed to improve STEM teachers'…

Electron configuration provides insight into the chemical behaviors of elements and is an important concept for students to master in introductory chemistry. To better strengthen undergraduate students' mastery of electron configurations of atoms and ions, we designed a novel, interactive chemistry game called ChemisTree that uses active-learning…

This study aims to develop an SSI-based electronic learning material [e-LM] that will respond to the current educational landscape. Socio-scientific issues are utilized in the e-LM recognizing it can be useful in resolving societal issues and assisting learners in developing scientific habits of mind. A Mixed-method research design was employed in…