Artificial intelligence (AI) and data science (DS) are receiving a lot of attention in various fields. In the educational field, the need for education utilizing AI and DS is also being emerged. In this context, we have created an AI/DS integrating program that generates a compound classification/regression model using characteristics of compounds…

Laboratory practical sessions are critical to scientific training in biology but usually fail to promote logical and hypothesis-driven reasoning and rely heavily on the teacher's instructions. This paper describes a 2-day laboratory practicum in which students prepare and analyze larval cuticle preparations of "Drosophila" segmentation…

The protection of earth's biodiversity requires a sophisticated understanding of how human activities can affect the relative abundances of species in natural ecological communities. Here, we report on an introductory biology laboratory activity in which students quantified biodiversity while investigating one of the most important controls on the…

To help educators deliver their physiology laboratory courses remotely, we developed an inexpensive, customizable hardware kit along with freely available teaching resources. We based the course design on four principles that should allow students to conduct insightful experiments on different physiological systems. First, the experimental setup…

This study concerns a framework for designing Teaching-Learning Sequences that aims to integrate the implementation of scientific practices in the context of daily problems. Said framework consists of three stages (formulation of the design principles, instructional design and design of the learning activities). It is based on four design…

A lesson plan on the phylum Tardigrada is presented in a storytelling workbook that introduces the evolutionary concepts of adaptive radiation, speciation, divergence, and "tree-thinking" through narrative, transitional art, contemplative coloring, and data searches, which can be enhanced with microscopy wet labs. Students gain insight…

This study examines the extent to which instructions to self-explain vs. "other"-explain a text lead readers to produce different forms of explanations. Natural language processing was used to examine the content and characteristics of the explanations produced as a function of instruction condition. Undergraduate students (n = 146)…

Developing students' scientific literacy requires teachers to use a variety of pedagogical approaches including video as a form of instruction. In addition, using video is a way of engaging students in science ideas not otherwise accessible to them. This study investigated the merit of video clips representing scientific ideas in a secondary…

In the last decade, our understanding of the chemistry of olive oil has dramatically improved. Here, the essential chemistry of olive oil and its important minor constituents is described and related to the typical sensory categories used to rate and experience oils: color, aroma, bitterness, and pungency. We also describe experiments to explore…

This study describes the possible variations of thought experiments in terms of their nature, purpose, and reasoning resources adopted during the solution of conceptual physics problems. A phenomenographic research approach was adopted for this study. Three groups of participants with varying levels of physics knowledge--low, medium, and high…

The classroom, with its complex social structure and kaleidoscope of cognitive and phycho-sociological variables, has not often been the object of serious research. Content area specialists have concentrated on the sequential organization of materials and have left the direct applications of these materials, either to the intuitive strategies of…

"Candida" spp. includes more than 160 species but only 20 species pose clinical problems. "C. albicans" and "C. parapsilosis" account for more than 75% of all the fungemias worldwide. In 1995 and 2005, one "C. albicans" and two "C. parapsilosis"-related species were described, respectively. Using…

Since it was first published 30 years ago, the seminal paper of Chi "et al." on expert and novice categorization of introductory problems led to a plethora of follow-up studies within and outside of the area of physics [Cogn. Sci. 5 121 (1981)]. These studies frequently encompass "card-sorting" exercises whereby the…

Creating inquiry activities is inherently difficult. Asking meaningful questions requires both background knowledge on the part of the students and complexity on the part of the phenomena. Yet numerous strategies can help teachers conduct inquiry activities. In this article, the authors share a taxonomy of teaching strategies used to create…

Static headspace analysis of accelerants from suspected arsons is accomplished by placing an arson sample in a sealed container with a carbon strip suspended above the sample. The sample is heated, cooled to room temperature, and then the organic components are extracted from the carbon strip with carbon disulfide followed by gas chromatography…