Capillary electrophoresis is an important analytical separation method used to study a wide variety of samples, including those of biological origin. Capillary electrophoresis may be covered in the classroom, especially in advanced analytical courses, and while many students are exposed to gel electrophoresis in biology or biochemistry…

This research explores how scaffolding students' reflections on scientific modeling criteria influence the students' views on scientific models, development of explanatory models, and understanding of scientific models. This research recruited treatment groups and comparison groups in middle schools and high schools. The treatment groups adopted a…

The aim of this research was to examine the effect of integration of STEM disciplines into Toulmin's argumentation model on students' academic achievement, reflective thinking, and psychomotor skills. To be able to get this aim, a quasi-experimental method was used. The participants were 40 sixth grade middle school students divided into two…

This study focuses on the teachers' predictions of the students' performances -- in particular the middle-low achievers -- while solving tasks testing inquiry competencies. The tasks come from PISA science. More specifically we study science teachers' predictions for several aspects: levels of difficulty of the tasks, the potential sources of…

To better prepare physiology students for 21st century careers, we incorporated classroom-based undergraduate research experiences and service learning/community-engaged learning (SLCE) into a college-level physiology laboratory course. The interventions were incorporated over 4 yr and assessed using validated surveys of student-reported learning…

Designed as participatory action research, this study aims to develop authentic tasks as assessment and evaluation activities in an undergraduate special education course, and to examine the impact of these tasks on students' experiences, viewpoints and feelings during the implementation processes. The study group was comprised of 205 student…

Open-ended, short-answer questions, referred to as constructed responses (CR), allow students to express knowledge and skills through their own words. While CRs can reduce the likelihood of guessing correct answers, they also enable students to provide errant responses due to a lack of knowledge or a misunderstanding of the question.…

Laboratory courses are often designed using step-by-step protocols which encourage students to conduct experiments without thinking about what they are doing or why they are doing it. Such course design limits the growth of our students as scientists and can make it more difficult for a student to transition to the expectations of a research…

Success in chemistry in the 21st century requires not only a mastery of important chemical concepts, but also the skills to apply this knowledge to important societal issues and the ability to effectively convey scientific information using a range of media. In response to this challenge we have developed an innovative four-credit seminar that…

In this study, it is aimed to adapt the Scientific Reasoning Scale (SRS) into Turkish. The translated form has been provided to the students enrolled at different levels together with a form in which they were requested to present what they have understood and the reason of their responses. It was seen that the explanations of students to one item…

This study proposed a computerized inquiry-stage-dependent argumentation assistance and investigated whether this can help improve elementary students' performance in science processes and the construction of quality arguments. Various argumentation assistances were developed and incorporated into each stage of scientific inquiry in a…

The present paper offers a competency-based approach to evaluate high school laboratory skills during a chemistry course. The "Secretaría de Educación Pública" (Mexico's Ministry of Education) has identified experimental sciences specific competencies that are to be established in high school. This study investigated the following…

The appreciation and understanding of gas generation through processes is vital in biochemical education. In this work, an augmented reality tool is reported to depict the redox reaction between hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite solutions, two ubiquitous oxidizing agents, to create oxygen, a combustible gas. As it operates out of…

It is important for science students to develop higher order thinking (HOT) so that they can reason like scientists in the field. In this study, a HOT instructional model for secondary school science was developed with experts. The model would focus on reflective thinking (RT) and science process skills (SPS) among Grade 7 students. The Fuzzy…

In their role as careful observers of nature, citizen scientists are helping to "answer the most challenging ecological and environmental questions, addressing issues that affect everyday lives" (McKinley et al. 2015). They help answer these questions by providing scientists with a large pool of data that can be analyzed (National…