Background: A multimedia software designed as a Computer-Assisted Scaffolding system was used to teach gas behavior on the submicroscopic level using Physics Education Technology Project (PhET) simulation. PhET is a set of interactive, research-based science and mathematics online simulations (https://phet. colorado.edu/). Purpose: The purpose was…

This study aimed to develop the small-scale experiments involving electrochemistry and the galvanic cell model kit featuring the sub-microscopic level. The small-scale experiments in conjunction with the model kit were implemented based on the 5E inquiry learning approach to enhance students' conceptual understanding of electrochemistry. The…

There are various types of instructional media related to Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) but there is a lack of diversity of resources devoted to assessment. This research presents an assessment and comparison of students' understanding of VSEPR theory before and after tuition involving the use of the foam molecule model (FMM) and…

Preliminary research shows promise for the use of supported electronic text (eText) combined with explicit instruction in facilitating comprehension for students with intellectual disability. Researchers used a multiple probe across participants design to evaluate effects of supported eText including explicit instruction on measures of vocabulary,…

Background: A teaching method to improve students' ability to communicate ideas in genetics across the macro-micro levels of organisation was investigated in this study. Purpose: It is designed to help students deconstruct the level of organisation of each tier of a genetic diagram, as the symbols used in such diagrams (i.e. lines and letters) can…

The case-based computerized laboratory (CCL) is a chemistry learning environment that integrates computerized experiments with emphasis on scientific inquiry and comprehension of case studies. The research objective was to investigate chemical understanding and graphing skills of high school honors students via bidirectional visual and textual…

The Physics First movement--teaching a true physics course to ninth-grade students--is gaining popularity in high schools. There are several different rhetorical arguments for and against this movement, and it is quite controversial in physics education. However, there is no actual evidence to assess the success, or failure, of this substantial…

While genetics has remained as one key topic in school science, it continues to be conceptually and linguistically difficult for students with the concomitant debates as to what should be taught in the age of biotechnology. This article documents the development and implementation of a two-tier multiple-choice instrument for diagnosing grades 10…

This study examines question asking about "causal" relations when students read scientific texts. We examine the influence of the length of causal chains and the knowledge of readers. Students from grades 8 and 12 read two short paragraphs that described natural phenomena. Length of the causal chain linking cause and effect in two key sentences…

This study describes the multiple analogical models used to introduce and teach Grade 12 chemical equilibrium. We examine the teacher's reasons for using models, explain each model's development during the lessons, and analyze the understandings students derived from the models. A case study approach was used and the data were drawn from the…

This study examines Indonesian students' understanding of conservation of matter, balancing of equations and stoichiometry. Eight hundred and sixty-seven Grade 12 students from 22 schools across four different cities in two developed provinces in Indonesia participated in the study. Nineteen teachers also participated in order to validate the…

This article explores the conceptual change of students in Grades 10 and 12 in three Australian senior high schools when the teachers included computer multimedia to a greater or lesser extent in their teaching of a genetics course. The study, underpinned by a multidimensional conceptual-change framework, used an interpretive approach and a…

This article reports on the third year of a three-year longitudinal investigation into six secondary students' understanding of optics at a secondary school level. In the third year of this investigation the students, who by now were in Year 12, underwent a teaching sequence that centred on the teaching and learning of physical optics and quantum…

Nine 12th grade students, attending the science section of the upper secondary school in Cyprus, were individually interviewed about their understanding of the changes associated with the process of oxidation/combustion. Each student was instructed to firstly predict what would happen when heating a piece of copper wire or a piece of magnesium…