Critical thinking skills has to be sharpened particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This circumstance leads to the lack of student's passion to apply their thinking skills in doing something necessary. Therefore, it requires a learning improving critical thinking skills. This study aims to describe the critical thinking skills of chemistry…

In recent decades a body of research has emerged supporting the effectiveness of a plethora of science teaching practices in improving learners' science achievement and scientific literacy. However, if the benefits of evidence-based science practice are to be realised consistently and at scale we need to improve our understanding of how teachers…

Chemistry is one of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects that has been perceived as an unattractive subject among students due to its scientific theories and practices in a laboratory. Practical and scientific writing skills are two crucial components in chemistry courses, including at the Pre-University level,…

The level of students' engagement during active learning activities conducted in small groups is important to understanding the effectiveness of these activities. The Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework is a way to determine the cognitive engagement of these groups by analyzing the conversations that occur while student groups…

Activities that engage high school students in visualizing chemical phenomena can help them develop representational competence to think about and communicate their understanding of these phenomena. This paper presents a collaborative learning activity that can engage precollege students in designing a poster that describes four different types of…

In comparison with traditional lectures, active learning methods have the potential to foster learner agency and consequently raise academic performance. However, these methods are often applied with little knowledge about their effectiveness. In this study, we introduced two concept maps in an undergraduate cell biology course, to investigate…

Laboratory courses are an important part of the undergraduate physics curriculum. During physics labs, students can engage in authentic, hands-on experimental practices, which can prepare them for graduate school, research laboratories, and jobs in industry. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, colleges and universities across the…

While group work in undergraduate science education tends to have overall benefit, less is known about the specific peer-peer dynamics that optimize learning during group interaction. The current study used peer ratings and self-reported data from 436 students enrolled in team-based undergraduate science courses (biology or chemistry) to determine…

Prior research has indicated that students in the undergraduate physics lab divide work inequitably with regard to gender. In this work, we further probed women's experiences in lab group work, focusing on women who take on managerial and leadership roles in the lab. We interviewed and surveyed women enrolled in a sophomore-level project-based lab…

The most effective teaching and learning environments are those in which students are involved as active partners with faculty, and the greatest impact occurs when faculty go beyond asking students for feedback and instead involve them in design, production, and implementation. In this paper, we explore the process of student-faculty co-creation…

"The Science and Business of Medicinal Chemistry" was developed to provide nonscience majors with an in-depth perspective into the pharmaceutical industry. As a lecture course with a laboratory component, topics discussed include an introduction to the basic concepts of medicinal chemistry, such as drug discovery, development, and…

For many reasons, physiological aspects of anatomy and physiology laboratories are often presented as simulations. While simulations effectively convey concepts, hands-on activities promote more active student engagement. Recycled soda bottles, supplemented with other inexpensive readily available supplies, can be used to create working models…

The use of flipped classrooms has been gaining popularity across various disciplines as student-centered active learning pedagogy. In this study, an introductory organic chemistry course was delivered through flipped classroom methodologies, incorporating blended learning to deliver content and group work in the classroom. The learning experiences…

Student-centered learning has been shown to be more effective than traditional instructional methods, but deeper investigation is necessary to identify how specific classroom practices lead to improved conceptual learning and student attitudes. The purpose of this study was to identify classroom practices associated with gains in student…

A collaborative learning module for teaching protein mass spectrometry has been developed to overcome common obstacles to incorporating the modern topic of biological mass spectrometry into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Protein mass spectrometry data is provided to eliminate the need for expensive instrumentation, and an instructor's…