Chemistry teaching has traditionally been weakly connected to everyday life, technology, society, and history and philosophy of science. This article highlights knowledge areas and perspectives needed by the humanistic (and critical-reflexive) chemistry teacher. Different humanistic approaches in chemistry teaching, from simple contextualization…

The advanced interdisciplinary research laboratory (AIRLab) represents a novel, effective, and motivational course designed from the interdisciplinary research interests of chemistry, physics, biology, and education development faculty members as an alternative to the independent thesis project experience. Student teams are assembled to work…

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…

This paper compares the performance of students at a high-performing U.S. public school (n = 64) on the advanced placement (AP) chemistry exam to their performance on the ChemQuery assessment system. The AP chemistry exam was chosen because, as the National Research Council acknowledges, it is the "perceived standard of excellence and school…

After completing a science unit on transfer of energy, including how chemical energy from a battery is converted to electrical energy; electrical circuits; and transformation of energy into sound, light, or heat; the students in Mrs. Finlay's fourth-grade science class were challenged to use what they learned to solve a problem. The students…

This study explores the relationships among Taiwanese high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs (SEBs), conceptions of learning science (COLS), and motivation of learning science. The questionnaire responses from 470 high school students in Taiwan were gathered for analysis to explain these relationships. The structural equation modeling…

Studies in cognitive science have verified that working memory (where the brain solves problems) can manipulate nearly all elements of knowledge that can be recalled automatically from long-term memory, but only a few elements that have not previously been well memorized. Research in reading comprehension has found that "lecture notes with…

Compared with introductory physics, relatively little is known about the development of expertise in advanced physics courses, especially in the case of quantum mechanics. Here, we describe a framework for understanding the patterns of student reasoning difficulties and how students develop expertise in quantum mechanics. The framework posits that…

In this review, we explore the notion of teaching science to English language learners (ELLs) as a balancing act between simultaneously focusing on language and content development, on the one hand, and between structuring instruction and focusing on student learning processes, on the other hand. This exploration is conducted through the lens of a…

A physics teacher assigns problems to his or her students not to keep them indoors during sunny days, but to strengthen and deepen their understanding of the universe. Every problem has not only an answer, but also a "moral to the story"--a reason why that question and that answer are interesting and probing. It is an unfortunate fact that our…

The problem of a ladder leaning on a wall has been a staple of introductory physics for years. It is discussed in numerous physics textbooks and in journals. Now, it even has an Internet presence. Postings from students seek help for "ladder on a wall" problems. A quick review of those postings would show that they all deal with frictionless…

Learning physics requires understanding the applicability of fundamental principles in a variety of contexts that share deep features. One way to help students learn physics is via analogical reasoning. Students can be taught to make an analogy between situations that are more familiar or easier to understand and another situation where the same…

Teaching students to use and interpret different representational tools is critically important if they are to be scientifically literate, to understand how scientific ideas and concepts are represented and to appreciate how scientists think and act. Moreover, students not only need to be competent at using and explaining representations and…

Hands-on making (e.g., "Maker") has become prevalent in current educational settings. To understand the role that students' epistemic curiosity plays in hands-on making contests, this study explored its correlation to students' positive affect and continuance intention to participate in a hands-on making contest called…

This paper presents a comprehensive synthesis of physics education research at the undergraduate level. It is based on work originally commissioned by the National Academies. Six topical areas are covered: (1) conceptual understanding, (2) problem solving, (3) curriculum and instruction, (4) assessment, (5) cognitive psychology, and (6) attitudes…