The periodic table is recognized as one of the most powerful tools in science. While it is included in virtually all high school and undergraduate general chemistry curricula, it remains a mystery to many chemistry students who find it impossible to decode. Students are often able to predict periodic trends concerning atomic radius, ionization…

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of heuristics by students and gain insight into the thought process behind their problem-solving skills. The study used an adaptive narrative as the information delivery medium. An adaptive narrative was chosen because it could be designed to simulate decision making processes encountered in real…

Over the last two decades, students in Singapore consistently scored above students from other nations on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS; Provasnik et al., 2012). In contrast, students in the United States have not performed as well on international and national mathematics assessments and students with…

Writing-to-Learn in High-School Chemistry: The Effects of Using the Science Writing Heuristic to Increase Scientific Literacy The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) as an instructional tool to improve academic achievement and writing in the context of scientific literacy. This…

Darwinian evolution is a robustly supported scientific theory. Yet creationists continue to challenge its teaching in American public schools. Biology teachers in all 50 states are responsible for teaching science content standards that include evolution. As products of their backgrounds and affiliations teachers bring personal attitudes and…

An inconsistent database is a database that violates one or more of its integrity constraints. In reality, violations of integrity constraints arise frequently under several different circumstances. Inconsistent databases have long posed the challenge to develop suitable tools for meaningful query answering. A principled approach for querying…

While the importance of the development of reflection in science teacher education programs is widely acknowledged, articulations of the frameworks and strategies guiding its development in pre-service teachers are less clear. To facilitate understanding, I developed a heuristic framework to describe and interpret the construct in two dimensions:…

This study examined the differences and patterns for three categories between an argument-based inquiry group and a traditional group over the period of the SWH (Science Writing Heuristic) project: (1) teacher talk time, (2) structure of questions (question types), and (3) student responses. The participating teachers were chosen randomly by a…

This study explored what cognitive resources (i.e., units of knowledge necessary to learn) first-semester organic chemistry students used to make decisions about acid strength and how those resources guided the prediction, explanation and justification of trends in acid strength. We were specifically interested in the identifying and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the patterns of dialogue that were established and emerged in one experienced fifth-grade science teacher's classroom that used the argument-based inquiry (ABI) and the ways in which these patterns of dialogue and consensus-making were used toward the establishment of a grasp of science practice. Most…

Meta-design theory emphasizes that system designers can never anticipate all future uses of their system at design time, when systems are being developed. Rather, end users shape their environments in response to emerging needs at use time. Meta-design theory suggests that systems should therefore be designed to adapt to future conditions in the…

The primary research aim of this dissertation is to identify the strategies that best meet the information retrieval needs as expressed in the "e-discovery" scenario. This task calls for a high-recall system that, in response to a request for all available relevant documents to a legal complaint, effectively prioritizes documents from an…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not there have been successful applications of lean manufacturing principles in highly variable defense IT environments. Specifically, the study assessed if implementation of the lean philosophies by a defense organization yielded repeatable, predictable results in software release schedules…

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine if employing the writing-to-learn strategy known as a "Science Writing Heuristic" would positively effect students' science achievement, science self-efficacy, and scientific epistemological view. The publications "Science for All American, Blueprints for Reform: Project…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' understanding of argumentation when talk and writing were provided as learning tools, as well as to explore how talk and writing can best support students' construction of scientific knowledge. Most current studies have examined discourse patterns over a short interval of only a few class periods…