Creating and critiquing explanations of phenomena is a significant goal of many scientific disciplines and therefore also a learning goal of science education. A significant source of explanations is science textbooks; however, the large corpus of text in textbooks means that manual review of explanations by individual researchers is extremely…

The strategy of creating confusion and doubt about product safety, often called the "tobacco playbook" after the industry that used it so successfully, has become standard operating procedure among many corporations across a wide range of industries. The "tobacco playbook" has been widely applied, generally with great…

The current study aims to contribute to the literature on how organic chemistry students weigh various factors when predicting products of substitution and elimination reactions. This study focuses specifically on these mechanism types, as they are often the first instances where students must consider the "how" and the "why"…

Being connected to nature can have many benefits for children, including improved well-being, and more positive attitudes towards the environment. Ecological recording, as part of a citizen science project, may offer new opportunities for children to learn about, and connect with, nature. In this study, we investigate outcomes of an ecological…

One significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for educators in forensic science was adapting what is traditionally a very applied field to a virtual learning environment. Because of this, science classes with a practical laboratory component had to implement significant adjustments to ensure that student learning objectives were still met,…

Biodiversity is a multidimensional concept, and its integration into school curricula is essential for promoting sustainable development. Plants are central to the biodiversity of ecosystems; however, student teachers often fail to recognize them and understand their importance. This phenomenon, known as "plant blindness," was first…

This descriptive qualitative case study aims to find out the pre-service science teachers (PST)' confidence about instructional practice in outdoor setting, their knowledge about the plants and it explores the two research questions: To what extent do the preservice science teachers have confidence to teach in the outdoor settings? (1) and What…

University is a critical timepoint for students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) career pathway. Gender differences in the persistence of STEM students have been established, with female students more at risk for attrition from this career pathway. While the persistence of undergraduate STEM students has been a focus…

Drawing on insights from the transdisciplinary project 'SENSE: Sensory Explorations of Nature in School Environments', this paper articulates a novel approach that addresses current calls for meaningful participation of children in citizen science activities in schools. We scaffolded more typical data collection activities within diverse digital…

Scientific misinformation and disinformation, proliferating via the internet and social media, are now significant problems. Proposed solutions vary substantially. Here, I describe a set of prospective benchmarks--10 competencies--that seem essential for reorienting science education to address the challenge. They include, first, elements of…

Plant blindness refers to the tendency of people to overlook and undervalue plants in their environment, which can have negative consequences for both the environment and human well-being. As pre-service teachers play a key role in shaping the environmental attitudes and knowledge of future generations, it is important to assess their level of…

The Next Generation Science Standards regard biological structures at both the micro and macro levels as a core idea of life sciences and expect students to understand animals have external structures that perform diverse functions. Using the common creature of bees as a case, this study aimed to ascertain teenage students' ideas of bees through…

Even though marginalized women are earning more doctoral degrees in chemistry than ever before, the proportion of women who complete chemistry doctorates does not reflect national population trends. Previous research has explored the experiences of marginalized women seeking chemistry doctorate degrees. These studies highlight the issues that…

Machine learning models were constructed to predict student performance in an introductory mechanics class at a large land-grant university in the United States using data from 2061 students. Students were classified as either being at risk of failing the course (earning a D or F) or not at risk (earning an A, B, or C). The models focused on…

Science education aims to enhance students' scientific knowledge and inquiry ability. In recent years, due to the advancements of computer and network technology, as well as the considerations of safety and cost, virtual reality (VR) has been gradually applied in scientific inquiry activities. When implementing inquiry-based learning in the past,…