In this article, we present a hierarchical model for teaching scientific thinking to gifted students. This article follows up on an article published 40 years ago in this journal. The problem now, as 40 years ago, is that gifted students often are taught science courses at a more intensive level, but without their truly learning how to think…

Although integrating the history of science (HOS) into teaching has long been recommended in science education research, studies have revealed conflicting results on its effectiveness. These are mainly due to the need for more studies in this context. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the impact of HOS teaching on science process skills,…

Students who experience research as undergraduates tend to remain in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Since course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are often expensive to implement, we developed a relatively inexpensive first-semester research course for majors entitled "Freshman Research in…

In this study, high school physics textbooks published by People's Education Press (PEP) and Educational Science Publishing House (ESP) (a total of 6 books) in China were analyzed via a self-developed scale measuring nature of science (NOS) including three first-level indicators of scientific knowledge, scientific process, and scientific…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) integrate authentic research into undergraduate chemistry laboratories, introducing students to research while simultaneously reinforcing fundamental concepts. Despite their ubiquitous nature in bioanalytical research, few CUREs have been published applying the fundamental techniques of…

The goal of undergraduate chemistry laboratories is to allow students to learn about chemical systems and key laboratory skills. They should then apply this knowledge to solve problems and connect macroscopic observations in the laboratory with those occurring at the submicroscopic level. Unfortunately, these needs are not met through traditional…

As a cross-cutting and comprehensive subject, medicinal chemistry involves the knowledge of chemical, biological, medical, and pharmaceutical sciences. A comprehensive medicinal chemistry experience for undergraduates is expected to train various experimental skills and enhance their scientific research ability. Herein, a series of laboratory and…

There is increasing recognition of the multimodal representational nature of science discovery practices and the roles of multiple and multimodal representations in students' meaning making in science (Lemke, 1998; Tytler, Prain, Hubber, & Waldrip, 2013; Tang, "International Journal of Science Education," 38(13), 2069-2095, 2016).…

Action research was conducted in two sections of a scientific inquiry class in a Midwestern U.S. university to identify the types of questions that students ask for their investigations, identify emerging patterns regarding students' questioning, and determine students' ability to transfer their nature of science (NOS) understanding to a new…

Science appears to be coming under increasing pressure in parts of society and the media, with an increase in 'fake news' and less regard for 'experts'. If this is to be combatted, it is important that students develop a good understanding of both the big conceptual ideas of science and the nature of science itself. This understanding will mean…

Evidence-based teaching practices are being encouraged to increase student skills and understanding in the sciences. Finding, interpreting, and applying education literature to a specific context are barriers to adopting these evidence-based practices. Here, we introduce a new feature, "Evidence-Based Teaching Guides." This feature…

Recent calls in education have emphasized the critical need for curricula in the sciences to support student development of the general and disciplinary-specific practices that are relevant to modern scientific research and careers, as well as foundational scientific knowledge that reflects recent advances. In this regard, the life sciences,…

Student reasoning about cases of natural selection is often plagued by errors that stem from miscategorising selection as a direct, causal process, misunderstanding the role of randomness, and from the intuitive ideas of intentionality, teleology and essentialism. The common thread throughout many of these reasoning errors is a failure to apply…

A simple and straightforward synthesis of an ultrastable porous metal-organic framework (MOF) based on copper(II) and a mixed N donor ligand system is described as a laboratory experiment for chemistry undergraduate students. These experiments and the resulting analysis are designed to teach students basic research tools and procedures while…

Homologous recombination, a central concept in biology, is defined as the exchange of DNA strands between two similar or identical nucleotide sequences. Unfortunately, undergraduate students majoring in biotechnology often experience difficulties in understanding the molecular basis of homologous recombination. In this study, we developed and…