This study investigated 8th-grade science students (13-14 years old) in advanced and traditional ability classrooms perceptions of their vocabulary knowledge, learning, and content achievement. This research acknowledges the critical role that developing vocabulary knowledge from reading plays in gaining a deeper content understanding as well as…

Chemical processes can be fully explained only by employing quantum mechanical models. These models are abstract and require navigation of a variety of cognitively taxing representations. Published research about how students use quantum mechanical models at the upper-division level is sparse. Through a mixed-methods study involving think-aloud…

Despite the global decline in the number of girls who study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects, in Israel, gender differences of physics students are especially worrying. Although girls and boys in junior high school reach similar achievements in physics, the number of girls who study physics in high school is…

A primary goal of university instruction is the students' demonstration of improved, highly developed critical thinking (CT) skills. However, how do faculty encourage CT and its potential concomitant increase in student workload without negatively impacting student perceptions of the course? In this investigation, an advanced biology course is…

This three-part report examines chemistry education at the two-year college as revealed by a nationwide study of two-year science education which involved a review of the literature, an analysis of the catalogs and class schedules of 175 representative two-year institutions, and a survey of 82 chemistry instructors. Part I, in an examination of…

One in a series of 12 publications on two-year science education, this four-part monograph examines biological education as revealed by a literature review, a study of the catalogs and class schedules of 175 representative two-year institutions, and survey responses of 160 biology instructors. Part I first presents the findings of a review of the…