Although previous studies have revealed that knowledge gaps, which refer to differences in what individuals want to know and what they already know, lead to curiosity, students may not experience curiosity for every phenomenon they believe they lack the knowledge of. Herein, we empirically examined the reasons for not feeling curious about the…

Scientific modeling is a core practice of scientific inquiry. Students' engagement in modeling can be enhanced by attending to epistemic criteria, which in science are standards used to evaluate the validity and accuracy of scientific models. While prior research has focused on students' development and use of epistemic criteria in scientific…

This research paper aims to propose a novel didactic sequence inspired by an historical/epistemological study of the evolution of spectroscopy and in particular of colorimetry. The working principles of the historical color comparators and the visual color matching method, first proposed by Duboscq, stimulated us in the development of a five-step…

Understanding the photosynthesis concepts is challenging due to its abstract nature, often leading to student misconceptions. This study aims to identify and analyze misconceptions among science and social studies students using the image analysis method. A total of 78 students (32 science, 46 social studies) participated, selected through a…

Background/purpose: Computational Thinking is a content that has been integrated into primary education curricula in several countries. Its proper integration into education is not limited to its inclusion in the educational curricula, and teachers and pre-service teachers must develop the necessary knowledge to integrate it into their practices…

Genetic variation is historically challenging for undergraduate students to master, potentially due to its grounding in both evolution and genetics. Traditionally, student expertise in genetic variation has been evaluated using Key Concepts. However, Cognitive Construals may add to a more nuanced picture of students' developing expertise. Here, we…

The "Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education" report establishes a set of five core concepts that students should build an understanding of throughout college biology programs. While student conceptual understanding is well studied in 4-year contexts, there are minimal studies in community college contexts. Community…

One expected outcome of physics instruction is for students to be capable of relating physical concepts to multiple mathematical representations. In quantum mechanics (QM), students are asked to work across multiple symbolic notations, including some they have not previously encountered. To investigate student understanding of the relationships…

The objective of the current study was to identify an effective learning environment for kindergarten students as they acquire an initial understanding of scientific inquiry activities (SIA) and a simple (idealized) scientific inquiry cycle (SIC). The study aimed to examine (a) the effects of instructional support and (b) the role of similarity…

This study aims to determine how the use of virtual reality impacts physics students, their knowledge, and the quality of training. The study involved 116 students aged 17-19. The main purpose is to explore the effect that VR technology has on students' knowledge and motivation. As per usual, the students were divided into two research groups:…

To create general awareness among students and assess their level of chemical safety knowledge and attitudes, an online chemical safety survey was completed by chemistry students at Jai Hind Educational Trust's (JET's), Z. B. Patil College in Dhule, India, and Concord University in Athens, West Virginia, USA during the 2020-2021 academic year. A…

Misconceptions are understandings of concepts that are not in accordance with scientific concepts. Teachers have the potential to experience misconceptions and misconceptions that occur in teachers can result in students also experiencing misconceptions. Research that examines science misconceptions in elementary school teachers is still rare, so…

In the context of scholarly and scientific discourse, students often have to deal with graphic-visual modes of communication, which requires their ability to comprehend and utilize inscriptions, that is, scientific visual representations, to convey information effectively--what we call graphical literacy. Despite its pivotal role for training…

Unlike in other countries, heredity and genetics appear first in Spanish science standards in secondary levels. However, some researchers have suggested the need of progressively introducing some basic genetic ideas already from primary education levels. In this context of no formal instruction in early stages, the objectives of our work were to…

Insects form a highly diverse taxonomic group, which has fundamental ecological functions, but is currently in a process of mass extinction. Here, we present the first cycle of design, implementation, and assessment of a didactic sequence oriented towards improving pre-service teachers' knowledge and appreciation of insect diversity. A…