Concept inventories are widely used in physics education research, yet numerous studies show that concept inventories measure dramatically different learning gains in different demographic groups. Prior studies show that the performance gaps between demographic groups are already present in their preinstruction responses, suggesting that the…

Students entering high school often bring misconceptions about the nature of science and experimentation with them from middle school. Many also bring a belief that they are not a "science kid" and, therefore, cannot be a strong student in Biology. This belief can lead to a lack of self-efficacy and of student agency in the classroom.…

The problem addressed by this study was to determine the influence of high school start times on students' academic achievement and precisely how this impacts the scores students received on the Biology I End of Course Exams. It also determined if there was a difference in influence between males and females. This was determined by comparing the…

In this study, I documented, analyzed, and compared the thought processes of six high school science teachers during twenty minutes of planning for NGSS-aligned instruction. Teachers' thoughts were captured using a virtual revisit think-aloud protocol and their thoughts were analyzed and compared using a novel tool called a thinking web. A…

The purpose of the study is to see if there is a significant difference in chemistry exam achievement growth for 10th grade students in classes with problem-based learning compared with those students in classes with direct instruction. The state in which the study was conducted is developing new standards that are challenging students more than…

Algorithms may be better at prediction than humans in a variety of contexts, but they are not perfect. A deeper understanding of the ways in which educators use and question algorithmic advice within their professional domain is needed. Educators are a particularly unique professional group, in comparison with the other groups studied in the…

This study addressed the following research questions: 1) What is the effect of differentiated gamified instruction on the cognitive engagement of ninth grade students in the unit of plant and animal systems? 2) What is the effect of differentiated gamified instruction on the behavioral engagement of ninth grade biology students in the unit of…

This dissertation focuses on three manuscripts all related to bolstering science achievement through recommendations from the National Research Council (NRC) regarding the teaching and learning of science. The manuscripts address meeting the NRC's call to incorporate curriculum and assessment that lead to more in-depth knowledge that can be…

Nature of Scientific Knowledge (NOSK) and Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI) are important components of scientific literacy and important educational objectives in science education. Recent literature theorizes that understanding both NOSK and NOSI increases students' understanding of science content knowledge. However, this assumption has yet…

Our nation has declining participation in science and technology fields, even though in the United States we have seen an astounding collection of innovations in technology, communication, the Internet, and financial products. This lack of participation is even more noticeable for students with learning disabilities (SWLD) when compared to general…

High school students' chemistry self-efficacy (CSE) and scientific identity (SI) are not well understood in the high school chemistry classroom. The purpose of this research was to quantitatively investigate the interaction between gender and giftedness on students' CSE and SI in a suburban high school chemistry classroom, with and without…

The "Framework for K-12 Science Education" and the Next Generation Science Standards have called on teachers to shift from having students "learn about" science topics to having students engage in a process of "figuring out" how and why natural phenomena occur. These reform documents push teachers away from a…

This study investigated the integration of Citizen Science projects in high school science classrooms, aiming to discern the prerequisites for their successful implementation. Qualitative data collection methods were employed to illuminate how six high school Environmental Science teachers incorporated these projects into their curriculum and…

This dissertation explores the implementation of classical education in a non-classical charter high school, with a focus on science education using classical methodologies. Employing techniques like copy work, history-based science teaching (HBST), the Socratic method, and the Progymnastmata, astronomy, and chemistry were taught. To identify…

This ex-post facto quantitative study examined how a comprehensive STEM education program impacts high school students' ACT math and science scores as well as their attitudes toward STEM. Using data from one STEM-designated school, the researcher examined ACT math, science, and STEM results for students who took the ACT in the Spring of 2024,…