Inquiry-based teaching is the most widespread approach in science education worldwide. However, in Peru, this model became better known since the latest curriculum reform in 2016, which proposed implementing that teaching approach at all levels of schooling. Since then, no literature review has been conducted on the status quo of implementing…

Scientific argumentation skills are a key component of science learning practices needed by students in the 21st century. Where the essence of scientific argumentation is to support the argument with evidence and reasoning and then refute the claims and evidence of the opponent's argument. Supporting arguments with evidence and reasoning can be…

A national survey on chemistry instructional laboratories was administered to faculty members at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States for the purpose of exploring levels of inquiry-based instruction implemented in laboratory courses. Respondents were asked to rate the level of choice their students had in deciding six key…

Teaching physics in real-life contexts continues to be a challenge for teachers at different educational levels. In this article, three context-rich problems are proposed to be implemented in the classroom for higher education, using the explosion that occurred in Beirut as a case study. These problems require the search and analysis of real data,…

This case study details the development, production, and performance of the theatrical play 'Gaia-Pachamama: An Environmentalist Parable', created during the first semester of 2022 as part of an integrated undergraduate and graduate course. The play was presented in the context of an outreach project, engaging professors and students of various…

Many K-16 educators agree that active learning is a key component for student success in life sciences. At the same time, some instructors are frustrated by inconsistent student participation in these activities and may revert to traditional teaching strategies. Horse caregivers face a similar frustration when they lead a horse to water and it…

There is so-called troublesome knowledge in every subject. There is various subject-specific research available on what these particular concepts are, as well as some examples of how to help students cross those thresholds. There is, however, a gap in the area of implementation, a more practical format for addressing student learning when there…

Improving academic performance and achievement requires educational systems to adopt inclusive learning practices that recognize and accommodate the diverse needs of all students. Inclusive education emphasizes equitable access to learning opportunities, tailored instructional methods, and supportive environments that value each learner's…

Discipline-based educational research (DBER) has shown that three instructional techniques--Supplemental Instruction (SI), Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL), and Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL)--can be effective ways of improving student performance in chemistry courses at the K-12 or college/university levels. The goal of this paper…

This study investigates the impact near-peer tutors (NPTs) have on the learning experience of students enrolled on the biomedical and medical science programmes at De Montfort University, UK. Using a questionnaire, tutees were able to comment on their confidence level on certain academic taught topics in human physiology before and after attending…

Teaching biological evolution can be difficult on a number of levels, be it student confusion arising from prior conceptions and the controversy surrounding evolution, or simply because the material is complex. Games and simulations can help to convey complex topics and also to increase variety in teaching methods. Here I describe a card game that…

A university geology department partnered with a STEM-focused high school to introduce project-based learning-centered geoscience content at the ninth-grade level. We hypothesized that these students, already interested in science, would be a natural recruitment pool into geoscience. Because they are enrolled by lottery, their demographics match…

A successful active learning community in which students engage in meaningful learning is characterized by a number of critical elements. These include a safe learning environment in which both instructor and students are willing to take intellectual risks and share their thoughts about content being discussed. Although many instructors recognize…

Although there is considerable interest in learning spaces in higher education, the relationship between spaces and learning is complex and not well-understood. Despite challenges, such as the lack of comparability between studies, we need to learn more about the interaction of space design and learning. A crucial step towards this is the creation…

Despite its value in higher education, academic rigor is a challenging construct to define for instructor and students alike. How do students perceive academic rigor in their biology course work? Using qualitative surveys, we asked students to identify "easy" or "hard" courses and define which aspects of these learning…