Background: Scientific thinking is an essential learning goal of science education and it can be fostered by inquiry learning. One important prerequisite for scientific thinking is procedural understanding. Procedural understanding is the knowledge about specific steps in scientific inquiry (e.g. formulating hypotheses, measuring dependent and…

Background: New technology and increased collaboration have revolutionized how scientists work with data. This creates a need to identify new aspects of working with scientific data that are important for K-12 students to learn. Purpose: To address this need, we conducted a study with practicing scientists and K-12 science teachers. The purpose of…

Previously, we described a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) for first-year students that featured a unique approach to brain mapping in a model organism (rat). In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we adapted this course for an online learning environment, emphasizing image analysis (identifying immunoreactive signal in an…

This study examines learners' issues in learning the preparation and qualitative analysis of salts topic from Malaysian chemistry teachers' perspectives. The researchers adopted a qualitative design and conducted semi-structured interviews with sixteen informants who have experience of teaching chemistry for more than five years. They were…

Is public engagement with science deliberative and evidence-based? The public is often perceived as underprepared to use data and susceptible to partisan and emotional manipulation. Consequently, educational efforts focus on the ability to identify reliable information. We posit that effective engagement with science goes beyond this and hinges on…

Relevant literature has an unexplored question on how prediction-observation-explanation (POE) worksheets affect science process skills of students with mild intellectual disabilities (SMID). Therefore, this research aimed to examine the effect of POE worksheets developed for the "matter and its nature" subject on SMID's science process…

A growing body of literature focusing on undergraduate biology education calls for students to engage in the ways of thinking, feeling, and doing that reflect those in which biologists engage. Such reform efforts suggest that learning is best fostered when students engage in practices, concepts, and scientific reasoning as they endeavor to explain…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Instructional labs: Improving traditions and new directions.] Research on nontraditional laboratory (lab) activities in physics shows that students often expect to verify predetermined results, as takes place in traditional lab activities. This understanding of what is taking place, or…

In Türkiye, Science and Art Centers (SACs) are the institutions where gifted students receive the most education. The aim of this research is to gather opinions and experiences related to various aspects of SAC, including identification, educational programs, problems, advantages and disadvantages, teachers, family approach, and benefits of being…

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of argumentation-based teaching carried out with secondary school 7th grade students on students' scientific process skills. The sample of the study consists of 7th grade students in two different branches studying at a public school in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey in the 2018-2019…

As college biology educators we want students learning how to conduct their own scientific investigations. This means designing laboratory curricula in which students exercise control and responsibility over the knowledge building actions of an investigation--that is, in which they exercise "epistemic agency." Our current understanding…

This paper introduces hands-on curricular modules integrated with research in atmospheric ice nucleation, which is an important phenomenon potentially influencing global climate change. The primary goal of this work is to promote meaningful laboratory exercises to enhance the competence of students in the fields of science, technology,…

Chemometric techniques such as partial least-squares (PLS) regression have been applied with huge success to a wide array of chemical problems including multicomponent analysis of analytes in complex mixtures. Despite this, there are few examples of laboratory pedagogical exercises that involve students in the acquisition of chemical data from…

Triboluminescence is a fascinating phenomenon that can engage students' interest in chemistry. However, safe, cost-effective, and accessible laboratory experiments featuring highly triboluminescent substances are limited. To bridge this gap, we present a simple, rapid, semimicro test tube preparation of the visually engaging manganese complex…

This paper presents empirical evidence from research carried out in New Zealand by a research-practice partnership (RPP) that included school teachers, teacher professional learning providers, and researchers in science education, technology education, and information systems. The RPP worked together from 2018-2023 to investigate the affordances…