Teaching green chemistry within the K-12 classroom has a positive impact on attitudes and perceptions of chemistry in society for future scientists and professionals, resulting in safer, less hazardous chemistry experiments and demonstrations. The state of New York has taken advantage of the benefits that green chemistry provide in the classroom…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order implemented by the New York State Governor, the introductory undergraduate biology courses were changed to an at-home remote learning modality. To provide conceptual learning and hands-on experience, the second semester introductory biology laboratory course utilised a multi-modal learning…

As physics laboratory courses (labs) transition from traditional, model-verifying activities to discovery-based investigations, it becomes crucial to understand the role of the instructor in the implementation of various lab types. Prior work has started to address this need by examining either coarse-grained frequencies or fine-grained content of…

There currently exists a significant deficiency in the nuclear chemistry workforce within the United States, despite its importance in areas of medicine, national security, and energy. Poor coverage of this topic across many chemistry departments at the undergraduate level likely contributes to this shortage. Increasing interest and hands-on…

Understanding social interactions among students comprises a rich area of physics education research. Here we focus on the social interactions in introductory physics laboratories (labs). Most existing research in such contexts focuses on within-group social dynamics, however, we argue that interactions between different lab groups are just as…

Physics education research is replete with observations and proposed explanations for gender disparities in physics. In this work, we operationalize a definition for equity as everyone has access to the learning environment and everyone's voice is heard (adapted from previous definitions). We review prior research that observed inequities in…

With the adoption of instructional laboratories that require students to make their own decisions, there is a need to better understand students' activities as they make sense of their data and decide how to proceed. In particular, understanding when students do not engage productively with unexpected data may provide insights into how to better…

This article describes the authors' experiences developing and implementing an innovative curriculum connecting mathematics and the biological sciences. It describes the original plan, the modifications that were necessary, and some advice to readers who might want to develop comparable programs.

This paper describes the course outline for a three credit hour nonlaboratory course in Environmental Health Chemistry which was taught from 1981 until 2008 at the State University of New York College at Oneonta. The purpose of this paper is to share the lecture outline in the hopes that it might be useful to others who are preparing to teach…

Fostering experiential learning experiences that allow students to apply their design thinking skills is important for developing technological and engineering (T&E) literacy. However, K-12 schools must ensure that educators providing these experiential T&E experiences are adequately prepared and supported to maintain a safer teaching and…

This dissertation asks how to improve science education and science communication, and suggests that digital storytelling techniques can be used to better engage learners in the process of knowledge making. Digital storytelling refers to both the use of high-quality digital media content as learning materials, and also to the use of social…

This article examines how the MAT [Master of Arts in Teaching] program in Earth Science at the American Museum of Natural History was conceptualized and enacted within its institutional context. We argue that the program was completely consistent with the museum's public and democratic institutional logic, as reflected in funding, staffing,…

The issue of science teacher turnover has been examined in many national studies, yet most educational policies related to teacher preparation and student performance are determined at the state level. There has been a lack of research that explores this issue in specific science domains. The present nonexperimental longitudinal study examined…

The COVID-19 pandemic presented many challenges for educators. In Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs), where students learn about the scientific process by working on novel research, few resources for remote learning were available. Here the impact of changes to course delivery format on student learning gains in a…

Many science educators have been incorporating the use of case studies into their teaching. An advantage of using minicase studies is that they can be used at any time throughout the semester to reinforce important topics covered without having to sacrifice a large amount of class time. In this article, the authors present a series of 10 mini-case…