Solving chemical problems entails content knowledge and mastery of problem-solving processes. However, students sometimes lack metacognitive processes required for problem solving in chemistry. This study investigated how first-year chemistry students engaged with the metacognitive problem-solving scaffold Goldilocks Help. Data was collected from…

Laboratory courses can help students learn in a meaningful way. In the past, students encountered difficulties in chemistry laboratory courses due to limited access to equipment and space for practicing experimental operations. In recent years, virtual laboratories have allowed students to repeatedly practice in order to achieve their experimental…

More research is needed on how to best use analytics to support educational decisions and design effective learning environments. This study was to explore and mine the data captured by a digital educational game designed for middle school science to understand learners' behavioral patterns in using the game, and to use evidence-based findings to…

This study designed a science course following collaborative problem solving (CPS) processes, and examined the effect on students' CPS awareness. The "Limnic Eruption" CPS course was implemented using a Moodle system in a tenth-grade class. Considering the complex and coordinated nature of CPS, in order to improve CPS skills, it is…

Besides measures of students' performances, a valid assessment of students' efficiency in a teaching process should also include measures of invested mental effort. The research presented herein covers several approaches in measuring students' mental effort including 5, 7 and 9-point Likert type scales, time on task, as well as eye tracking…

Teachers' and parents' perceptions of scientific creativity are assumed to be an important environmental factor for scientific creativity, so this research surveyed their perceptions of the behavioral characteristics of scientific creativity and compared their perceptions to those of students. This is achieved with a list of behavioral…

Problem-solving skills are often identified as a key component of 21st century education. This study collected data from students enrolled in a university-level Liberal Education science course called "Problems and Puzzles," which introduced students to the theory and practice of problem solving via puzzles. Based on classroom…

THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INVENTORY OF SCIENCE PROCESSES INCLUDED THE DESCRIPTION OF A MODEL OF INQUIRY AND AN INSTRUMENT TO SAMPLE THESE INQUIRY BEHAVIORS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS. THE BEHAVIORS OF SEARCHING, DATA PROCESSING, VERIFYING, DISCOVERING, ASSIMILATING AND ACCOMMODATING WERE IDENTIFIED AS COMPONENTS OF THE MODEL OF INQUIRY. THE TAB…

Investigated were relationships between student self perception and actual classroom behavior in problem solving situations of 201 elementary students. Results indicated students with positive self concept were more independent from teachers and peers. Dependance upon others by low self esteem students is more evident in higher grades. (SL)

A study was conducted to determine if a group of eighth graders (N=26) who received environmental action instruction would exhibit more overt environmental behavior than groups who received environmental awareness instruction (N=21) or science instruction (control group). The study supported the action instruction. (DC)

Investigated the extent to which differences in problem-solving performance of stronger and weaker novices in physics arise from differences in amount of domain knowledge, in how domain knowledge is organized, and in the strategic application of domain knowledge. Differences were observed in how 10 university physics students solved easy and…

Discusses a study which focused on students' actual programming behavior. Descriptive data revealed that the high school students spent little time in planning their programs or writing their code. Their debugging behavior was characterized as a trial and error strategy. (ML)

Student questioning within the Search, Solve, Create, and Share (SSCS) problem solving instructional model was investigated. The results suggest that the SSCS problem-solving instructional model increases student questioning in the presence of the teacher (n=22) when compared to a teacher-directed laboratory instructional model. The implications…

This pilot study investigated the capacity of eye-gaze tracking to identify differences in problem-solving behaviours within a group of individuals who possessed varying degrees of knowledge and expertise in three disciplines of science (biology, chemistry and physics). The six participants, all pre-service science teachers, completed an 18-item…

A theoretical model specifying the underlying knowledge and procedures whereby human subjects can generate effective initial descriptions of scientific problems was formulated. The model is prescriptive since it does not necessarily try to simulate the behavior of actual experts nor assume that their performance is optimal. The model, elaborated…