ChatGPT has emerged as a popular choice in education that has transformed the experience for both teachers and students. This study investigates the performance of ChatGPT in aiding learning in the biochemistry classroom in two ways. We sought to determine how effective ChatGPT 3.5 was in generating study materials for an introductory biochemistry…

Studies showing improved learning performances for students who take notes collaboratively have speculated that sharing this task among group members may reduce the extraneous cognitive burden placed on each member. Therefore, a study (n = 171) was conducted in the context of a flipped scientific writing course to examine the effects of…

With the rapidly increasing demand for STEM skills, many scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technology professionals encourage students to pursue STEM careers. However, communicating science to lay audiences is challenging due to complex scientific terminology. This qualitative research aimed to demonstrate how an exemplary scientist, Dr.…

We investigated the effect of retrieval practice (i.e., the use of testing to enhance learning) by middle school students on science learning in an authentic educational setting. For initial study, all students (n = 39) read a science text and made study notes about the text, a regular study activity in their course. For restudy (2 days later),…

In this article, I showcase an informational text reading comprehension unit that centers on text features commonly found in science textbooks. I taught this unit to a sixth-grade class and highlighted the work samples of three focal students here. The overarching question that guided this work was as follows: How can I focus my instruction on…

The aim of this study was to analyse the kinds and frequency of visual learning representations within 8th grade students' notebooks for science classes. As part of the research, 93 science notebooks which belonged to students from 13 secondary schools in Kars Province (the east of Turkey) were collected at the end of the academic year in 2018.…

The increasing adoption of educational technology in school classrooms has resulted in greater use of electronic devices to take lesson notes. Recent research comparing performance of adult students who recorded lecture notes using computer keyboards with that of students who handwrote their notes shows somewhat conflicting findings about their…

I conducted a set of four studies to catalogue and examine course elements, including active learning strategies and evidence-based teaching practices, and their influence on student experiences and performance in college biology classes. In the first study, I defined the term "active learning" and catalogued the 300[plus] strategies…

Scientists' writing includes organized data, calculations, sketches and models, inventories and lists, timelines, detailed descriptions, locations, conditions, actions, schedules, information about variables, goals, hypotheses, research, notes, summaries of experiments, and reports to others (Fulton and Campbell 2014). By using scaffolded science…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many courses to move online, presenting a particular challenge for hands-on laboratory courses. One such course in our Biotechnology track is an advanced Protein Interactions lecture/laboratory course. This 8-week course typically meets for 5 h a week in the laboratory space. For the Fall 2020 version of the course,…

Organic Chemistry is considered by many to be the quintessential "weeder course", widely identified in the premed and STEM persistence literature as a gatekeeper to students interested in STEM or health fields (Barr, Gonzalez, & Wanat, 2008; Lovecchio & Dundes, 2002). There has therefore been considerable interest in determining…

The emergence of digital tools, including tablets with a multitude of built-in sensors, allows gathering many geological observations digitally and in a geo-referenced context. This is particularly important in the polar environments where (1) limited time is available at each outcrop due to harsh weather conditions, and (2) outcrops are rarely…

Scientific drawing and writing are critical to the development of observational and recording skills in biology. However, it is unclear how the process of drawing and writing contribute to the learning of plant taxonomy. In the present study, 41 adult botanical novices studied a suite of UK native plant species using two methods: labelled drawing…

Using multimodal conversation analysis, this article examines how students strive to resolve non-understandings through requests for clarification during teacher-fronted physics lectures taught in English in Finland. The findings provide new insights on the sequential environments in which students launch the requests (i.e. between or during…

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. In this month's issue the authors provide a more definitive answer to the "What Makes a Good Case?" question based on a just-completed Survey Monkey survey given to NCCSTS teachers.