This study investigated the effects of presenting domain information (basic information about the domain) either together with or instead of offering exploratory practice (an exploratory opportunity in a simulation-based representation of the learning domain) prior to inquiry learning for facilitating students' hypothesis generation and subsequent…

This paper's purpose is to investigate the attitude of students in mathematical discovery processes in terms of the handling of counterexamples. By understanding this attitude as a kind of scientific attitude, it consists of different aspects that become visible in the behaviour during a mathematical discovery process. Since such a process is…

Collaborative inquiry is an instructional approach that encourages student groups to engage in scientific inquiry processes, thereby enhancing their critical thinking and exploratory skills. The effective classroom implementation of this method requires ensuring student engagement in each inquiry stage, where technological tools and activity…

Psychologists and educators have long pointed to myriad benefits of self-directed learning. Yet evidence of its efficacy in real-world domains is mixed and it remains unclear how it is constrained by basic perceptual and cognitive processes. Previous work suggests that, in particular, self-directed learning is affected by the way that people…

Research experiences are widely understood to be valuable for the intellectual and professional development of undergraduate science students. Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have become popular as a means of engaging large numbers of students in research by leveraging institutional supports for laboratory courses. At…

We sought to test a hypothesis that systemic blind spots in active learning are a barrier both for instructors--who cannot see what every student is actually thinking on each concept in each class--and for students--who often cannot tell precisely whether their thinking is right or wrong, let alone exactly how to fix it. We tested a strategy for…

Earth's easily seen surface features (mountains, volcanoes, and islands)--and the movement of the tectonic plates that lie below--offer hints about the processes that produced them. Inquiries in seismology, the study of earthquakes and other ground movements, can help students learn about Earth's geologic processes. This article describes an…

Two approaches to the process of guided discovery learning are compared for their impacts on concept understanding. One, referred to as design, emphasizes invention and draws on the simulation literature. The other, referred to as case analysis, focuses on discovery and draws on the case-based reasoning literature. Following a lecture on four…

In the era of contemporary society, which revolves around the fast information science revolution, the pupil is no longer just an observer in the educational process but rather an active constructor of one's own knowledge. Current didactic theories proclaim teaching, in which the teacher is an instructor and a facilitator, and as such should…

In the information explosion era with constant changes of information, educators have promoted various effective learning strategies for students adapting to the complex modern society. The impact and influence of traditional teaching method have information technology integrated modern instruction and science concept learning play an important…

A laboratory experiment was designed for undergraduate students, in which the outcome of an easy single-step organic synthesis with well-defined conditions was not elucidated until the end of the exercise. In class, students predict and discuss the possible products using their knowledge of reaction mechanisms. In the laboratory, they learn how to…

Error-based simulation (EBS) has been developed to generate phenomena by using students' erroneous ideas and also offers promise for promoting students' awareness of errors. In this paper, we report the evaluation of EBS used in learning "normal reaction" in a junior high school. An EBS class, where students learned the concept…

This study aimed to gain knowledge of students' beliefs and difficulties in understanding p-values, and to use this knowledge to develop improved teaching programs. This study took place over four consecutive teaching semesters of a one-semester tertiary statistics unit. The study was cyclical, in that the results of each semester were used to…

The current National Curriculum for history requires pupils to "identify and investigate specific historical questions, making and testing hypotheses for themselves". While Kate Hammond relished the encouragement that this gave to her pupils to engage in the process of historical enquiry, she was keen to develop a much clearer sense of…

General education must develop in students an appreciation of the power of science, how it works, why it is an effective knowledge generation tool, and what it can deliver. Knowing what science has discovered is desirable but less important.