There has been a growing awareness that graphing is an essential part of the science curriculum. While much research has focused on student conceptions and abilities regarding graphical representations, only few studies have investigated what teachers think about them and how they use graphs in science class. The purpose of this study is to…

It is common for high school physics teachers to comment on the challenges they face in supporting students' graph drawing skills, knowing their importance for the study of physics. This paper suggests a novel and alternative way to support students to develop their graph drawing skills as well as teach them about sound, frequency, and amplitude.…

Graphs are often used to represent mathematical functions, to illustrate data from social and natural sciences, or to specify scientific theories. With increasing emphasis on the development of scientific research skills, the work with graphs and data interpretation are gaining in importance. The research involved an eye-tracking experiment…

Many students have very robust misconceptions about natural selection, stemming from intuitive theories that form a child's earliest understandings of the natural world. For example, students often imagine that species evolve in response to environmental pressures that cause a need for change and that all individuals in the population…

Along-standing energy lab involves dropping bouncy balls and measuring their rebound heights on successive bounces. The lab demonstrates a situation in which the mechanical energy of a system is not conserved. Although students enjoyed the lab, the author wanted to deepen their thinking about energy, including the connections to motion, with a new…

This study uses graphs of conductivity measured by a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) to promote students' macro, micro, and symbolic representations when learning about net ionic reactions (NIR). A total of 54 students, aged 14-15 years old participated in this research, and were randomly divided into an experimental group (N = 27) and a…

Kinematics is a topic students are unknowingly aware of well before entering the physics classroom. Students observe motion on a daily basis. They are constantly interpreting and making sense of their observations, unintentionally building their own understanding of kinematics before receiving any formal instruction. Unfortunately, when students…

This article describes a two-day optics laboratory activity that investigates the scientific phenomenon of reflection, which students are generally familiar with but usually have not studied in depth. This investigation can be used on its own or as part of a larger unit on optics. This lesson encourages students to think critically and…

In this paper, we present materials and teaching ideas utilizing multiple representations in the contexts of kinematics and the force concept. These ideas and materials are substantiated by evidence and can be readily used in teaching with no special training. In addition, we briefly discuss two multiple-choice tests based on physics education…

Data literacy is complex. When students investigate the natural world, they must be able to gather data, organize it in tables and spreadsheets, analyze it in context, and describe and interpret it--usually as evidence to support a scientific argument. These skills are echoed in the science and engineering practices of the "Next Generation…

Two graphic holistic metrics for assessing the greenness of synthesis, the "green star" and the "green circle", have been presented previously. These metrics assess the greenness by the degree of accomplishment of each of the 12 principles of green chemistry that apply to the case under evaluation. The criteria for assessment…

The article describes the use of Mathematica, a computer algebra system (CAS), in a high school chemistry course. Mathematica was used to generate a graph, where a slider controls the value of parameter(s) in the equation; thus, students can visualize the effect of the parameter(s) on the behavior of the system. Also, Mathematica can show the…

We constantly encounter data--in the form of graphs--that convey information about weather, medicine, politics, finances, and nutrition. These graphs are intended to help us visualize data for easy interpretation; however, approximately 41% of adults in the United States have low graph literacy (Galesic and Garcia-Retamero 2011). In this article,…

The maximum power theorem is a useful extension to work on EMF and internal resistance at school level. Furthermore, a very simple physical collision model can be used to show equivalent mathematical patterns to those found with the maximum power theorem and to emphasize fundamental links to ideas of impedance matching. (Contains 2 tables and 6…

This study explored teachers' use of the Argumentation and Evaluation Intervention (AEI) and associated graphic organizer to enhance the performance of students in middle and secondary science classrooms. The results reported here are from the third year of a design study during which the procedures were developed in collaboration with…