The Beer-Lambert law is a fundamental relationship in chemistry that helps connect macroscopic experimental observations (i.e., the amount of light exiting a solution sample) to a symbolic model composed of system-level parameters (e.g., concentration values). Despite the wide use of the Beer-Lambert law in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum…

Students and professionals from a variety of domains have demonstrated different approaches to problem solving. These two populations have displayed differences when using and perceiving multiple representations of problem-solving tools. In the domain of transportation engineering, this difference has yet to be evaluated in detail. This study…

Communicating climate information is challenging due to the interdisciplinary nature of the topic along with compounding cognitive and affective learning challenges. Graphs are a common representation used by scientists to communicate evidence of climate change. However, it is important to identify how and why individuals on the continuum of…

Creating and interpreting visual displays of data is an important component of quantitative and scientific literacy. We examined a figure-analysis activity called "Figure of the Day" (FotD) and its impact on undergraduate biology students' figure creation skills. The treatment FotD activity required that students interpret a figure with…

Using multimedia inside the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom has been anticipated by several researchers and educators recently as a new necessary component of language learning. This is ascribed on the one hand to the continuous advancements in the new technological devices that might be used in presenting the various types of…

The objective of our research was to identify the level of the acquired scientific literacy among Geography students studying bachelor's studies and compare it with the level of scientific literacy among students of other academic disciplines within the natural sciences. To identify the level of scientific literacy among students, we applied the…

Undergraduate biology education reform aims to engage students in scientific practices such as experimental design, experimentation, and data analysis and communication. Graphs are ubiquitous in the biological sciences, and creating effective graphical representations involves quantitative and disciplinary concepts and skills. Past studies…

The method of least squares (LS) yields exact solutions for the adjustable parameters when the number of data values n equals the number of parameters "p". This holds also when the fit model consists of "m" different equations and "m = p", which means that LS algorithms can be used to obtain solutions to systems of…

This research compared undergraduate Novices and PhD Experts in psychology and business in their exploration of psychology and business domain graphs. An overall expertise effect in graph explanation was found. Results indicated that Novices paused longer than Experts before beginning their explanations. Qualitative analyses showed that Experts…

As part of a larger research study, this paper describes calculus students' reasoning about the Intermediate Value Theorem (IVT) in verbal, written, and graphical form. During interviews, students were asked to verbally describe the IVT in their own words. They then provided written descriptions, watched video of their verbal descriptions,…

An interesting aspect in the current literature about learning networks is the shift of focus from the understanding of the "whole network" of a course to the examination of the "personal networks" of individual students. This line of research is relatively new, based on small-scale studies and diverse analysis techniques,…

To succeed within scientific disciplines, using representations, including those based on words, graphs, equations, and diagrams, is important. Research indicates that the use of discipline specific representations (sometimes referred to as expert generated representations), as well as multi-representational use, is critical for problem solving…

Chemistry students in Israel have two options for studying chemistry: basic or honors (advanced placement). For instruction in high school honors chemistry courses, we developed a module focusing on abstract topics in quantum mechanics: Chemistry--From the Nanoscale to Microelectronics. The module adopts a visual-conceptual approach, which…

The aims of this cross-grade study were (1) to determine the level of understanding of energy concepts of students at different academic grades and the differences in understanding between these grades and (2) to analyse the conceptual development of these students. Two hundred and forty-three students at 3 different levels (high school,…

This study compared the effects of a computer-based stimulus equivalence protocol to a traditional lecture format in teaching single-subject experimental design concepts to undergraduate students. Participants were assigned to either an equivalence or a lecture group, and performance on a paper-and-pencil test that targeted relations among the…