Practical work involving laboratory experiments is agreed upon to be an essential component of secondary science education. Practical work encompasses a broad range of activity types. The different forms of practical work are not equal in terms of cognitive demand and learning benefit. Inquiry-based investigations provide experience of cognitive…

Lately, new materialism has been proposed as a theoretical framework to better understand material-dialogic relationships in learning, and concurrently network analysis has emerged as a method in science education research. This paper explores how to include materiality in network analysis and reports the development of a method to construct…

It is well known that post-secondary science and engineering programs attract fewer female students. In this paper, we analyze gender differences through text mining of over 30,000 applications to the engineering faculty of a large North American university. We use syntactic and semantic analysis methods to highlight differences in motivation,…

A simple organic chemistry experiment is described that investigates the kinetics of the reaction between 1-bromobutane (BuBr) and iodide (I[superscript -]) as followed by observing the disappearance of BuBr and the appearance of 1-iodobutane (BuI) using [superscript 1]H NMR spectroscopy. In small groups of three to four, students acquire data to…

The Swift Turbidity Marker is an optical instrument developed to measure the level of water turbidity. The components and configuration selected for the system are based on common turbidity meter design concepts but use a simplified methodology to produce rapid turbidity measurements. This work is aimed at high school physics students and is the…

Chemistry instructors in teaching laboratories provide expert modeling of techniques and cognitive processes and provide assistance to enrolled students that may be described as scaffolding interaction. Such student support is particularly essential in laboratories taught with an inquiry-based curriculum. In a teaching laboratory with a high…

The preparation of a data tape and users guide is reported. The tape contains about 700 cases with nearly two thousand variables collected over a three-year period as part of a curriculum evaluation study. The student group is the eleven- to fourteen-year-old population that participated in the field test of the BSCS Human Sciences Program.…

Describes the data bases and programs of numerous on-line retrieval systems for chemical information, including mass spectra, NMR, x-ray, and substructure data. (MLH)

Discusses the use of computers for nine different tasks in biological education: information retrieval, data accumulation, data analysis, simulation and systems analysis, decision making, experimental control, course review, computer-managed instruction, and word processing. (PEB)

Discusses the use of an external analog-digital converter to use a computer as a storage oscilloscope. Provides program listings for use as a unipolar or bipolar voltmeter and storage oscilloscope. Schematics and component list are included. (JM)

Reviews three functions performed by modern computing integrators: (1) data acquisition; (2) data processing; and (3) communication. Also shows with examples how new electronic components enhance the functions of this popular analytical instrument in those areas. (JN)

Describes the use of the Apple Macintosh and MULTIPLAN spreadsheet to record and analyze test data. Provides step-by-step instructions on data entry, item difficulty and discrimination calculations, test reliability, score distribution, and graphing of distributions. (JM)

A gas chromatography (GC) mass spectroscopy (MS) system recently developed by Hewlett-Packard (HP-5987 GC/MS/Data System) is described, illustrating the technological advances that have been achieved with the system. Examples of the data processing and output process are provided to demonstrate the capabilities and application of the system to…

Describes a flexible, multichannel, highly accurate, digital data acquisition system for use with a microcomputer. Includes a description of instrumentation for computer data acquisition, data acquisition systems, software, uses in the curriculum, library interaction and action, and use in a mechanical engineering laboratory. (DS)