This article reviews the origins and use of the terms quasi-experiment and natural experiment. It demonstrates how the terms conflate whether variation in the independent variable of interest falls short of random with whether researchers find, rather than intervene to create, that variation. Using the lens of assignment--the process driving…

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data science (DS) are receiving a lot of attention in various fields. In the educational field, the need for education utilizing AI and DS is also being emerged. In this context, we have created an AI/DS integrating program that generates a compound classification/regression model using characteristics of compounds…

A lesson plan on the phylum Tardigrada is presented in a storytelling workbook that introduces the evolutionary concepts of adaptive radiation, speciation, divergence, and "tree-thinking" through narrative, transitional art, contemplative coloring, and data searches, which can be enhanced with microscopy wet labs. Students gain insight…

The most important dimension of learning is the content, and a Learning Management System (LMS) suffices this to a certain extent. The present day LMS are designed to primarily address issues like ease of use, search, content and performance. Many surveys had been conducted to identify the essential features required for the improvement of LMS,…

In the last decade, our understanding of the chemistry of olive oil has dramatically improved. Here, the essential chemistry of olive oil and its important minor constituents is described and related to the typical sensory categories used to rate and experience oils: color, aroma, bitterness, and pungency. We also describe experiments to explore…

In this paper we address the important task of automated discovery of speech act categories in dialogue-based, multi-party educational games. Speech acts are important in dialogue-based educational systems because they help infer the student speaker's intentions (the task of speech act classification) which in turn is crucial to providing adequate…

Assuming that textbooks give literary expression to cultural and ideological values of a nation or group, we propose the analysis of chemistry textbooks used in Brazilian universities throughout the twentieth century. We analyzed iconographic and textual aspects of 31 textbooks which had significant diffusion in the context of Brazilian…

In a regional young-earth creationist museum, objects are presented as if they speak for themselves, purportedly embodying proof that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, that humans have lived on earth throughout its history, and that dinosaurs and humans lived simultaneously. In public lectures, tours, and displays, museum associates…

Creating inquiry activities is inherently difficult. Asking meaningful questions requires both background knowledge on the part of the students and complexity on the part of the phenomena. Yet numerous strategies can help teachers conduct inquiry activities. In this article, the authors share a taxonomy of teaching strategies used to create…

Static headspace analysis of accelerants from suspected arsons is accomplished by placing an arson sample in a sealed container with a carbon strip suspended above the sample. The sample is heated, cooled to room temperature, and then the organic components are extracted from the carbon strip with carbon disulfide followed by gas chromatography…

In June 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that video games enjoy full free speech protections and that the regulation of violent game sales to minors is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court also referred to psychological research on violent video games as "unpersuasive" and noted that such research contains many methodological flaws.…

This article describes an easy and cheap laboratory exercise for students to discover their own mitochondrial haplogroup. Students use buccal swabs to obtain mucosa cells as noninvasive tissue samples, extract DNA, and with a simple polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis they can obtain DNA fragments of…

State/representative soil is one of many symbols (e.g., tree, flower, bird, etc.) adopted by citizens to be recognized as an important item to their state. We have developed a set of laboratory exercises, assignments, and exam questions utilizing the state/representative soil that gives college students an opportunity to practice interpretation of…

Laboratory and practical courses, where students become familiar with experimental techniques and learn to interpret data and relate them to appropriate theory, play a vital role in chemical education. In the large panoply of currently available techniques, it is difficult to find a rational and easy way to classify the techniques in relation to…

Assigning difficulty level indicators to the knowledge units helps the learners plan their learning activities more efficiently. This paper focuses on how to use the topology of a knowledge map to compute and rank the difficulty levels of knowledge units. Firstly, the authors present the hierarchical structure and properties of the knowledge map.…