For many years the need to educate and support our teachers to implement science and mathematics education has been ongoing throughout the world (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Mundry et al., 2009). In more recent years, this call has extended to include teaching through integrated science, technology,…

For many years the need to educate and support our teachers to implement science and mathematics education has been ongoing throughout the world (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Mundry et al., 2009). In more recent years, this call has extended to include teaching through integrated science, technology,…

There is much agreement among chemical education researchers that expertise in chemistry depends in part on the ability to coordinate understanding of phenomena on three levels: macroscopic (observable), sub-microscopic (atoms, molecules, and ions) and symbolic (chemical equations, graphs, etc.). We hypothesize this "level-coordination…

In this study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI) were selected as materials to explore the electrophysiological correlates of scientific innovation induced by heuristic information. Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to do so, college students solved NSI problems (for which they did not know the answers) and OSI problems…

Linear programming (LP) is taught in different departments across college campuses with engineering and management curricula. Modeling an LP problem is taught in every linear programming class. As faculty teaching in Engineering and Management departments, the depth to which teachers should expect students to master this particular type of…

Successful science students have mastered their field of study by being able to apply their learned knowledge and problem solving skills on tests. Problem solving skills must be used to figure out the answer to many classes of questions. What this study is trying to determine is how students solve complex science problems in an academic setting in…

Diagrams and figures play a central role in science and science education. Research has indicated that, when presented and used properly in a classroom setting, these external representations can contribute to students' understanding of scientific concepts; however, it is apparent that students do not always use, understand, interpret, or value…

A high failure rate at first year physics is often attributed to the lack of readiness of high school students to pursue such studies. This research explores this issue and reports on the perceptions of five physics lecturers at a South African university on the preparedness of high school students for first year physics. Qualitative data was…

Despite concerted efforts by science educators to understand patterns of evolutionary reasoning in science students and teachers, the vast majority of evolution education studies have failed to carefully consider or control for item feature effects in knowledge measurement. Our study explores whether robust contextualization patterns emerge within…

Presents a demonstration of kinematics principles that stresses conceptual analysis over equation manipulation. Aims at focusing students' attention on concepts by using comparative problems, allowing students to predict the outcome of the demonstration and explain the reasoning behind their predictions, and extending the context in which the…

Examines the following research questions and others: (1) How do students define the mole concept? and (2) Is there a connection between student's definition of the mole concept and their explanations of the numerical identity between the atomic or molecular mass and molar mass of a substance? Results are discussed in terms of research in chemical…

Describes a project that helps students integrate biological concepts using both creativity and higher-order problem-solving skills. Involves students playing the roles of junior scientists aboard a starship in orbit around a class M planet and using a description of habitats, seasonal details, and a surface map of prominent geographic features to…

The strength of intuitive knowledge is illustrated by the difficulty that individuals have in trying to restructure student misconceptions. In order to harness this power, intuition must be developed within the context of each new concept to be taught. An experiment with one possible approach to this instructional problem is described and…

Presents an application of fundamental principles of mechanics for an isolated system in solving problems related to rocket velocity and exhaust elements. (JRH)

Discusses research into problem-solving skills that have caused the theoretical methods of teaching and learning problem solving to evolve rapidly. Presents issues and questions that still need to be explored. (PR)