This study sought to assess the level of secondary students' scientific literacy in suburban schools in Malaysia and England, a research area which to date has not been fully explored in the literature. The study analyzed the data using the OECD's three domain-specific competencies of scientific literacy, namely: (i) explain phenomena…

This study aims at determining the cyber accessibility of teacher-made exams by analyzing the teachers', students', and parents' views on this subject. To fulfill this purpose, 60 exam papers in 4 different courses, including Turkish, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies/Atatürk's Principles and Revolutions, were examined through the technique of…

In this research, the effect of experimental applications by using robotics technology in Science and Technology course the "Force and Motion" unit on the level of scientific creativity and scientific attitude of students was investigated. This research was designed according to the quasi-experimental method pre-test post-test design…

Despite their drawback, multiple-choice questions are an enduring feature in instruction because they can be answered more rapidly than open response questions and they are easily scored. However, it can be difficult to generate good incorrect choices (called "distractors"). We designed an algorithm to generate distractors from a…

In this work, we discuss the importance of underlying theoretical assumptions in research, focusing on the conclusions reached when analyzing data from a misconceptions constructivist (stable, unitary) perspective in contrast to a fine-grained constructivist (resources, knowledge-in-pieces) perspective. Both frameworks are rooted in the idea that…

Growing evidence suggests that students' self-beliefs about altering their academic abilities can directly influence long-term achievement. These self-beliefs or mindsets can either be fixed (unchangeable) or growth oriented. Students with growth mindsets believe their academic abilities can change, which leads to higher grades and academic…

This paper extends prior work establishing an operationalized framework of mathematical sense making (MSM) in physics. The framework differentiates between the object being understood (either physical or mathematical) and various tools (physical or mathematical) used to mediate the sense-making process. This results in four modes of MSM that can…

We designed a rubric to assess free-response exam problems in order to compare thinking skills evidenced in exams in classes taught by different pedagogies. The rubric was designed based on Bloom's taxonomy and then used to code exam problems. We have analyzed historical and recent exam problems in both algebra-based and calculus-based exams. In…

Smartphones are no longer just a communication tool, but also a means of information exchange by students. Smartphone may also positively contribute to students' higher order thinking skills (HOTS). This research aimed to determine smartphone usage intensity, students' HOTS level, and the effect of smartphone usage intensity on students' HOTS in…

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the move to online teaching and assessment. This has created challenges in teaching laboratory skills and producing assessments that are robust and fair. Our solution was to use bespoke laboratory videos to provide laboratory training and to generate unique data sets for each student in coursework and exams. For…

Science performance is highly affected by students' reading comprehension. Recently, there has been a growing attention to the role of linguistic features for science performance, but findings are ambivalent, especially when looking into item word count. The aim of this study was to investigate the interaction of students' reading comprehension…

For the past eight years, the ACS Examinations Institute has been developing Anchoring Concepts Content Maps for the different subdisciplines taught throughout the undergraduate curriculum. The structure of the map consists of two top levels that are shared throughout the entire curriculum and two subdiscipline specific levels that contain…

This study examined the relationship between quality of student prepared crib cards and exam scores in Anatomy and Physiology I and II. We hypothesized that students with better quality crib cards would have higher exam scores. Measured crib card attributes were: number of sections, number of colors used, and amount of the card utilized. Two…

Inquiry-Based Teaching Practice (IBTP) is an essential component of science education, and promoting its implementation is at the heart of various reform efforts. Even though science teachers regard IBTP as an essential pedagogical method, they rarely use it for various reasons. This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework to examine…

Use of high-stakes exams in a course has been associated with gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequities. We investigated whether offering students the opportunity to retake an exam makes high-stakes exams more equitable. Following the control value theory of achievement emotions, we hypothesized that exam retakes would increase students'…