The central goal of this research study was to characterise the different types of reasoning manifested by high school chemistry students when building initial written explanations of a natural phenomenon. In particular, our study participants were asked to explain why a mixture of water and alcohol works as an antifreeze. Data collected in the…

Julie Thompson Klein's contributions to interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research have enriched the way collaboration is discussed and handled by introducing concepts of boundary work and boundary crossing from the field of Science and Technology Studies. In recent years, she has been integrating those concepts into crossdisciplinarity, an…

This study explores middle school student learning of Next Generation Science Standards aligned content and practices associated with use of an innovative virtual learning environment. The learning environment, a computer-based game called Mission HydroSci (MHS), was developed with the aim of supporting student learning of water systems science…

The purpose of this research is to determine ecological footprint awareness level of pre-service teachers who are majoring in three different programs of Teacher Education Department. The study also investigated whether there is a difference in ecological footprint awareness level based on gender, parents' education, program of study, and longest…

The purpose of this essay is to conceptualize accessibility in digital education for school children through a minimal computing perspective. This perspective prioritizes the contextual, social, and relational as part of the ethic of minimal computing mantra to consider "What." "We." "Need." To achieve our goals, we…

Why Does It Take Longer to Boil Potatoes at High Altitudes? This column provides background science information for elementary teachers. This month's issue looks at why water boils at different temperatures at different altitudes.

Since at least the 1960s, organic chemistry textbooks have featured pK[subscript a] tables for organic acids that include values for H[subscript 2]O and H[subscript 3]O[superscript +] (15.74 and -1.74, respectively) that are thermodynamically and chemically indefensible. Here we trace this error back to Brønsted's early contributions in the 1920s…

Getting agricultural producers to make changes to their operations is difficult, especially related to complex systems such as the water cycle on managed agricultural lands. We surveyed participants who had watched a rainfall simulator demonstration during the summer of 2015. Results indicate that the demonstration was effective in providing…

This article presents an analogy to illustrate the effect of surface roughness on surface wettability. I used a water-filled balloon to represent water droplet, a toothpick to represent surface roughness and Styrofoam as the surface. The analogies presented in this article will help visualize how roughness affects the wettability of the surface…

This work presents a simple analogue waterproof temperature probe design and its electronic interfacing with a computer to compose a data acquisition system for water temperature measurement. It also demonstrates the system usage through an experiment to verify the water heating period with an electric heater and another to verify the Newton's law…

Malaysian mangrove resources are exploited for woods, fisheries, wildlife, agriculture, and in recent decades for aquaculture and ecotourism. Such exploitations are often unsustainable, particularly when there is permanent change in land usage. In the last four decades, it is estimated that the overall loss in mangrove areas is over 16 percent…

The nature of the drag force on an object moving through a fluid is well documented and many experiments have been described to allow students to measure the force. For low speed flows the drag force is proportional to the velocity of the object, while at high flow speeds the drag force is proportional to the velocity squared. The basic physics…

This article focuses on designing and conducting action research in diverse settings. Action research is a collaborative approach to problem solving. It involves consultative problem identification, reflects context, encourages reflexive examination, and ultimately encourages and empowers beneficiaries for desirable change. In that regard, it puts…

This study identifies a population of students who have an intermediate amount of relevant content knowledge and skill for working with data, and characterizes their approach to interpreting a challenging data-based visualization. Thirty-three undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory environmental science course reasoned about salinity…

This is the second of two articles about the National Science Foundation-funded Engineering for All (EfA) program which focuses on engineering as a potential social good, revisits major Technology and Engineering (T&E) themes (design, modeling, systems, resources, and human values) in two authentic social contexts (Food and Water), and uses…