The field of anatomy is often seen by nonanatomists as concerned primarily with the tasks of locating, naming, and describing structures; these tasks, in turn, are often assumed to require only lower-order cognitive skills (LOCSs), i.e., the Knowledge or Comprehension levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Many nonanatomists may thus believe that studying…

Redox reactions and their balancing are one of the basic chemistry subjects in which students may experience remarkable learning difficulties at the beginning of their university career. This topic represents an evolution of stoichiometry concepts related to the balancing of chemical reactions and can be taught with different approaches as a…

The Integrated Concentration in Science (iCons) 4-year program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was designed to promote interdisciplinary STEM collaboration in the solution of real-world problems and encourage student independence and interdependence through a student-centered teaching approach that structures all projects as group…

The need for changing how science is taught and the expansion of undergraduate research experiences is essential to foster critical thinking in the Natural Sciences. Most faculty research programs only involve a small number of upper-level undergraduate students each semester. The course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) model enables…

The introduction of problem-based learning into K-12 science classrooms faces the challenge of achieving the dual goal of learning science content and developing problem-solving skills. To overcome this content-process tension in science classrooms, we employed the knowledge-creation approach as a boundary object between the two seemingly…

This paper describes research on a classification of physics problems in the context of introductory physics courses. This classification, called the Taxonomy of Introductory Physics Problems (TIPP), relates physics problems to the cognitive processes required to solve them. TIPP was created in order to design educational objectives, to develop…

Road map problems ask students to integrate their knowledge of organic reactions with pattern recognition skills to "fill in the blanks" in the synthesis of an organic compound. Students are asked to identify familiar organic reactions in unfamiliar contexts. A practical context, such as a medicinally useful target compound, helps…

A semester-long laboratory course was designed and implemented to familiarize students with modern biochemistry and molecular biology techniques. The designed format involved active student participation, evaluation of data, and critical thinking, and guided students to become independent researchers. The first part of the course focused on…

In response to the calls to improve and deepen scientific understanding and literacy, considerable effort has been invested in developing sustainable technology-enhanced learning environments to improve science inquiry. Research has provided important guidance for scaffolding learning in mathematics and science. However, these reports have…

Have your students ever wondered what NASA scientists do? Have they asked you what their science and mathematics lessons have to do with the real world? This unit about Earth's atmosphere can help to answer both of those questions. The unit described here showcases "content specific integration" of science and mathematics in that the lessons meet…

Helping students set up equations is one of the major goals of teaching a course in physics that contains elements of problem solving. Students must take the stories we present, interpret them, and turn them into physics; from there, they must turn that physical, idealized story into mathematics. How they do so and what problems lie along the way…

Method development and assessment, central components of carrying out chemical research, require problem-solving skills. This article describes a pedagogical approach for teaching these skills through the adaptation of published experiments and application of group-meeting style discussions to the curriculum of an undergraduate instrumental…

This case study examines the performances of 18 10th-grade students (age 15-16 years) in the process of performing problem-solving tasks in the physics and chemistry laboratory. The study focuses on different types of problems arising in the process of transferring responsibility to students in a context of teacher assistance to autonomous…

Reviews several sources of published materials which contain learning objectives for general problem solving as well as problem solving in mathematics, science, and computer science. Lists of objectives are included where appropriate. (JN)

This laboratory exercise encourages upper level biochemistry students to build and expand upon previously developed laboratory skills and knowledge as they conduct a comparison of two methods of plasmid preparation based upon cost, quality of product, production time, and environmental impact. Besides creating an environment that mimics a more…