In science education, there has been a sustained focus on supporting the emergence of science practices in K-12 and field-based settings. Recent work has elevated the integral role of emotion in sparking and sustaining such disciplinary practices, deepening the field's understanding of what is entailed in "doing" science. Yet even as we…

Undergraduate laboratory courses are essential to teaching core principles in STEM. This course, Quantitative Biological Methods, provides a unique approach to teaching molecular biology research techniques to students, in a laboratory that is delivered in a sequence that parallels standard biomedical research laboratory protocols. Students attend…

Mechanistic reasoning is a powerful form of reasoning central to scientific explanations. Despite mechanistic reasoning being an important dimension of scientific practice and a central dimension of science curricula, students face difficulties in developing such type of reasoning. Many authors have been proposing tools for supporting its…

The recent introduction of an online undergraduate equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training workshop incorporating short authentic videos from a diverse range of voices is described. The training was designed to provide students with insights into how they can access support, act as allies, and respect diverse peers, preparing students…

This research was undertaken to improve the science process skills (SPS) and science literacy (SL) of primary school pre-service teachers with different family backgrounds in terms of parental education. It was planned with a quasi-experimental design with pretests and posttests in the framework of quantitative research methodology. Eighty-four…

Science process skills (SPSs) are one of the most important skills possessed by students in conducting scientific activities. Therefore, it is crucial for science teachers to understand and practice these skills. Considering the role of teachers in developing students' SPSs, the focus of this study is on developing pre-service science teachers'…

Students sometimes learn about a model of the "scientific method" that is linear and clear cut. While this approach may have pedagogical advantages, it does not reflect how science is often done in practice. The Experimental Modeling Framework (EMF) describes the complex and iterative process of experimentation in the domain of physics,…

Background Improving scientific reasoning and argumentation are central aims of science education. Because of their complex nature, self-regulation is important for successful scientific reasoning. This study provides a first attempt to investigate how scientific reasoning and self-regulation processes conjointly impact argumentation quality.…

We developed and field-tested an active learning exercise designed to provide biology students with the opportunity to consider key aspects of the nature of science as a method of inquiry, particularly the roles of observation and inference in the development of scientific explanations and how scientists deal with uncertainty. In the activity…

Abstract Microbiome study requires both molecular techniques and bioinformatics skills, which are challenging for biologists to participate in this growing field. To introduce microbiome concepts and skills to students, a 6-week wet-lab and bioinformatics course for undergraduates was implemented through the project-based learning (PBL) approach.…

Understanding scientific phenomena requires learners to construct mental models of causal systems. Simulation-based discovery learning offers learners the opportunity to construct mental models and test them against the behavior of a simulation. The purpose of this study was to investigate sequential patterns of learner actions and utterances…

In this study, we developed machine learning algorithms to automatically score students' written arguments and then applied the cognitive diagnostic modeling (CDM) approach to examine students' cognitive patterns of scientific argumentation. We abstracted three types of skills (i.e., attributes) critical for successful argumentation practice:…

Background: STEM education and research are increasingly emphasized by governments worldwide to foster national development and productivity, economic competitiveness and societal wellbeing. There is no exception in Hong Kong, with its desire to promote STEM education and to strengthen Innovation and Technology development in the future. Purpose:…

Uncertainty is endemic to scientific research practices; therefore, it is also an important element in learning about science. Studies have shown that experiences and management of uncertainty regarding the epistemic practices of science can support learning. Whereas the common strategies of supporting students in handling uncertainty rely on the…

A laboratory experiment was developed for the continuous flow preparation of an aminal derived from the condensation of furfural with morpholine. The experiment introduces the students to concepts of green chemistry, heterogeneous catalysis, and continuous flow. A cheap and easy setup allows the heterogeneous catalyst reactor to be built in class.…