Research reproducibility is essential for scientific development. Yet, rates of reproducibility are low. As increasingly more research relies on computers and software, efforts for improving reproducibility rates have focused on making research products digitally available, such as publishing analysis workflows as computer code, and raw and…

We have entered the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which has brought widespread digital transformation with advanced and broadened technologies including artificial intelligence (AI). To help students prosper in a world full of AI applications, it is important for us to offer students sufficient AI-integrated learning opportunities across different…

It has been 150 years since D.I. Mendeleev formulated the Periodic law and expressed it visually in the form of a table of elements in 1869. As is clearly well known today, Mendeleev's ideas, confirmed by the discovery of the elements he predicted, turned out to be very promising indeed. However, Mendeleev was not the first, nor the only scientist…

A critical component to disciplinary engagement in science is that of epistemic affect--learning how to "feel" as scientists do when engaged in their work. The emotional responses, feelings, and dispositions that emerge as one participates in the construction of knowledge are part and parcel to the experiences of scientists and, we…

Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) integrate active, discovery-based learning into undergraduate curricula, adding tremendous value to Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) education. There are multiple challenges in transforming a research project into a CURE, such as the readiness of students, the time commitment of the…

Topics associated with the chemical sciences form a significant part of the curriculum in science at the primary school level in the U.K. In this methodology paper, we demonstrate how a wide range of research articles associated with the chemical sciences can be disseminated to an elementary school audience and how children can carry out…

The rapid development of molecular biotechnology presents a curricular challenge for educators trying to provide students with relevant coursework. A comprehensive biology education should also include opportunities for students to develop intellectual and technical skills through authentic research experiences. Integrating relevant and…

This paper describes the design and implementation of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) sequence in chemistry that links a lower-division, organic chemistry course to an upper-division, analytical chemistry course. The focus of student research is on blood preservation using trehalose derivatives in order to mimic the…

To fully appreciate genetics, one must understand the link between genotype (DNA sequence) and phenotype (observable characteristics). Advances in high-throughput genomic sequencing technologies and applications, so-called "-omics," have made genetic sequencing readily available across fields in biology from applications in…

In this paper, we present a physical modeling activity whose objective is to allow students to determine the differences between a disk and a sphere using pure scientific criteria. Thereunto, we reproduce the Sun-Earth-Moon system with low-cost materials and compare the illumination effects on the Moon considering two possible shapes for it (a…

Scientific evidence-based reasoning has been recognized as a form of reasoning that characterizes scientific thinking. This study questioned what scientific evidence means in the various types of scientific activities; that is, this study explored the nature of scientific evidence (NOSE). To do this, previous studies were examined to understand…

This paper analyses the epistemic criteria that pre-service teachers consider when assessing the quality of a scientific investigation about friction force. The participants were 71 pre-service primary teachers working in 18 small groups of three or four participants (N = 18), who were enrolled in a science teaching methods course that addressed…

In order to help students become scientifically literate citizens, science education should allow them to gain a more concrete understanding of the potential social and ethical impacts of scientific and technological change. Using Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as an imaginative tool, we designed simple hands-on activities and a digital narrative…

Nested hierarchical structure is one of life's most familiar properties and a major component of biological diversity and complexity. However, there is little effort to teach the evolution of the hierarchy of life, as there is little effort to teach biological complexity per se. We propose a framework for teaching biological complexity based on…

Aragón, Acevedo-Díaz and García-Carmona study prospective biology teachers' understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS). In my comment, I would first like to step back and ask "what it is to understand something", i.e. the sciences. I will turn to a quasi-Wittgensteinian epistemological tradition and suggest that, contrary to our habit…