Both students and teachers have misconceptions about Force and Motion, often caused by teachers not being well-prepared to teach the accepted scientific theory. Besides, teachers rarely or never use a cognitive conflict strategy in their teaching. The present study is aimed at investigating the use of a discrepant event to facilitate preservice…

Plants and plant products are key to the survival of life on earth. Despite this fact, the significance of plant biochemistry is often underrepresented in science curricula. We designed an innovative laboratory activity to engage students in learning about the biochemical properties of natural polymers produced by plants. The focus of the hands-on…

A low-cost turbidimeter, colorimeter, and nephelometer (TCN) multipurpose instrument applicable for undergraduate, graduate, and research laboratories is demonstrated within this work. The instrument relies on simple and robust electronics while using a PC sound card as an analog-to-digital converter. The performance of the instrument was…

In this article, we report on sixth-grade students' responses to a set of problem activities that required the application of mathematics, science, and engineering knowledge in designing and constructing a paper bridge that could withstand an optimal load. Increasing students' application and awareness of their disciplinary learning and how they…

Facing calls for greater emphasis on STEM education in primary school classrooms, teachers may be anxious because of limited exposure to STEM in their own education. The Australian Curriculum: Technologies is new and many teachers are not familiar with its content. Hence both in-service and pre-service teachers (PSTs) require preparation. This…

This study aimed to develop a science experiments guidebook (based on discussion method and enriched worksheet) for fourth grade mainstreamed students with learning disabilities and to investigate its effect on their conceptual understanding of the "Matter and its Nature", "Living Things and Life", "Physical Events"…

This research aimed to determine whether implementation of virtual technology or implementation of physical materials in a learning environment is more efficient in understanding physics concepts and developing positive attitudes at the high school level. The theory that framed this study is the model of learning as dynamic transfer. Participants…

Computational thinking is an essential skill in the modern global workforce. The current public health crisis has highlighted the need for students and educators to have a deeper understanding of epidemiology. While existing STEM curricula has addressed these topics in the past, current events present an opportunity for new curricula that can be…

This research aimed to design an instructional module to teach light diffraction by a grating to secondary students applying a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-integrated approach. Based on this approach, instructional management integrated the disciplines of physics and mathematics with engineering design process…

Biodiversity education is widely considered a necessary component of protecting global biodiversity by helping to change harmful attitudes and actions. BioBlitz events, rapid surveys of all living things in a defined area over a set period, are becoming a widely used practice for biodiversity education. The aim of this study was to evaluate the…

This study is a collaborative project between university researchers and museum practitioners investigating ways to advance STEM learning opportunities for young children and their families in museums. The focus of the work is on how the knowledge resources that are available to families (e.g., prior knowledge, information provided by the museum…

Our goal was to understand how students' chemistry learning environments changed and how students responded to the wholesale transition to online learning. We deployed surveys to students enrolled in nine undergraduate chemistry courses at all levels. Survey 1 was deployed 2 weeks post-transition (N = 208); Survey 2, a week before semester's end…

At the University of South Australia (UniSA), Biochemistry is a second year undergraduate course. The student cohort is diverse, with students enrolled in courses with a laboratory focus, such as Laboratory Medicine, Medical Science, Nutrition and Food Science and Pharmaceutical Science. The course is taught in a traditional manner, with weekly…

This research aimed to explore the effects of a virtual lab (VL) and a Microcomputer-based Lab (MBL) on students' performance in scientific modeling. A web-based virtual lab and a low-cost MBL were proposed to help first-year engineering students build scientific models. Empirical research was done in a slope motion experiment. The participants…

The provision of hands-on wet lab training for students to perform micro-organism proliferation experiments is useful for experiential skills development. However, the risk of laboratory-acquired infections arising from inadvertent ingestion, inhalation or skin penetration of these micro-organisms presents a safety concern. To obviate this risk,…