Education policy in the United States centers K-12 assessment efforts primarily on standardized tests. However, such tests may not provide an accurate and reliable representation of what students understand about the complexity of science. Research indicates that students tend to pass science tests, even if they do not understand the concepts…

Research on scientific reasoning plays an essential role at the intersection of cognitive development and science education. As only few paper-pencil-tests exist to assess scientific reasoning abilities of elementary school children, the goal of the current study was the development of a new reliable and valid instrument. We focused on the…

With only 34% of 8th grade students earning a rating of proficient or higher in science education (from the 2011 National Assessment of Education Progress data), much work is needed in our classrooms to achieve the new more rigorous performance expectations found in the "Next Generation Science Standards." For decades, researchers have…

To provide tools for programmatic assessment related to the use of ACS Exams in undergraduate chemistry courses, the ACS Exams Institute has built a content map that applies to the entire undergraduate curriculum. At the top two levels, the grain size of the content classification is large and spans the entire undergraduate curriculum. At the…

Following the recent publication of "Successful science" by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted, 2011), which is an evaluation of science education in England over a 3-year period, the author wondered at the some of the findings. There is an emphasis on scientific enquiry and why was this so?…

An experiment is described in this test that was designed to study the role of the cyclin B protein in a cell-free system. The work was performed in the lab of Tim Hunt who, together with Hartwell and Nurse, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 "for their discoveries of key chemicals that regulate the cell division cycle." It…

This study investigated the performance of U.S. eighth-grade female and minority students' achievement in learning statistics concepts using the Data and Chance content domain from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 (TIMSS 2007). Using variables that have been linked to mathematics and statistics achievement in the…

The purpose of this study is twofold. Firstly, it attempts to determine the pre-service science teachers' misconceptions about floating and sinking. Secondly, it aims to reveal the level of pre-service science teachers' misconceptions, scientific knowledge, lack of knowledge, and lack of confidence related to floating and sinking. To conduct the…

This study aimed to determine the effects of using the local and mother languages on primary students' academic performance in science, which is officially taught in English. Using the official language, English, and the two local languages--Filipino, the national and official language, and Bicol, the mother language of the respondents--science…

This study was designed to investigate the Effect of Polya Problem-Solving Model on Senior School Students' Performance in Current Electricity. It was a quasi experimental study of non- randomized, non equivalent pre-test post-test control group design. Three research questions were answered and corresponding three research hypotheses were tested…

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the molecular unit of intracellular energy and it is the product of oxidative phosphorylation of cellular respiration uses in cellular processes. The study explores the growth of the misconception levels amongst the learners and evaluates the effectiveness of animation model over traditional methods. The data…

Standardized conceptual assessment represents a widely used tool for educational researchers interested in student learning within the standard undergraduate physics curriculum. For example, these assessments are often used to measure student learning across educational contexts and instructional strategies. However, to support the large-scale…

This article combines statistical and applied research perspective showing problems that might arise when measurement error in multilevel compositional effects analysis is ignored. This article focuses on data where independent variables are constructed measures. Simulation studies are conducted evaluating methods that could overcome the…

Student performance in general organic chemistry courses is determined by a wide range of factors including cognitive ability, motivation and cultural capital. Previous work on cognitive factors has tended to focus on specific areas rather than exploring performance across all problem types and cognitive skills. In this study, we have categorized…

People find it easier to learn about topics that interest them. Recent neuroscience research has demonstrated that memory is improved when learning material about which we are curious. Therefore teaching in the context of what students are interested in should result in improved learning. How do we figure out what our students are curious about?…