We present an inquiry-based, aquatic science professional development (PD) for upper-elementary, middle, and high school teachers and examine changes in student outcomes in light of participating teachers' characteristics and the grade band of the students. Our study lends support to the assertion that inquiry- and content-focused PD, paired with…

Playground Physics is a technology-based application and accompanying curriculum designed by New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) to support middle school students' science engagement and learning of force, energy, and motion. The program includes professional development, the Playground Physics app, and a curriculum aligned with New York State…

Most discipline-based education researchers (DBERs) were formally trained in the methods of scientific disciplines such as biology, chemistry, and physics, rather than social science disciplines such as psychology and education. As a result, DBERs may have never taken specific courses in the social science research methodology--either quantitative…

This laboratory session provides hands-on experience for students to visualize the beating human heart with ultrasound imaging. Simple views are obtained from which students can directly measure important cardiac dimensions in systole and diastole. This allows students to derive, from first principles, important measures of cardiac function, such…

The purpose of this case study is to delve into the complexities of the early development of preservice chemistry teachers' science teaching orientations, knowledge of learners, knowledge of instructional strategies, and knowledge of assessment during a two-semester intervention designed to enhance their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for…

The present paper is a case study based on a first year BA Hons Education Studies module that explores a number of important questions about the relationship between technology, knowledge and society and begins to think about how our ideas about each of these contribute to an understanding of what education means. Following a Foucauldian…

The research objective of this study was to compare the relative effectiveness of history of science (HOS) integrated instruction and curriculum-oriented instruction on sixth grade students' understanding of nature of science (NOS). Accordingly, two classes were assigned to experimental group and other two were assigned to comparison group…

The objective of this paper is to present a laboratory program designed for the Thermodynamics course offered in the Department of Thermal Engineering at the University of the Basque Country. With reference to one of the examples given in the textbook by Moran, Shapiro, Boettner and Bailey (2012), the balances of mass, energy, entropy and exergy…

In this article the authors share a great activity for teaching the nature of science (NOS). Using a simple Amish pull toy to encourage a high school chemistry class to think about NOS, the authors realized that the activity not only highlighted scientific practices emphasized in the "Next Generation Science Standards" (Achieve Inc.…

A revisitation of the classical "mushroom cloud" demonstration is described. Instead of aniline and benzoyl peroxide, the proposed reaction involves household chemicals such as alpha-pinene (turpentine oil) and trichloroisocyanuric acid ("Trichlor") giving an impressive demonstration of oxidation and combustion reactions that…

In this paper an experiment to study Planck's radiation law is presented. The spectra of a heated furnace and of a halogen lamp under various conditions were measured with a small USB grating spectrometer and fitted using Planck's law. The temperature determined from the fit was then compared with the results of comparative temperature…

Catt's anomaly is a sort of "thought experiment" (a "gedankenexperiment") where electrons seem to travel at the speed of light. Although its author argued with conviction for many years, it has a clear and satisfactory solution and it can be considered indubitably just an apparent paradox. Nevertheless, it is curious and…

An alternative method of presenting the second law of thermodynamics in introductory courses is presented. The emphasis is on statistical approaches as developed by Atkins. This has the benefit of stressing the statistical nature of the law.

In this paper the mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes are discussed in connection with the possibility to use them for the construction of a space elevator. From the fundamental information about the structure of a carbon nanotube and the chemical bond between carbon atoms, Young's modulus and the ultimate tensile strength are…

Maybe the most difficult aspect of thinking about chemistry arises from the fact that chemistry isn't an homogeneous subject. As a central science, it draws on a range of philosophical perspectives which in turn can result in different cognitive, learning and teaching styles in chemical education. This idea, apparently non-controversial, needs to…