Electron configuration provides insight into the chemical behaviors of elements and is an important concept for students to master in introductory chemistry. To better strengthen undergraduate students' mastery of electron configurations of atoms and ions, we designed a novel, interactive chemistry game called ChemisTree that uses active-learning…

Students with strong metacognitive skills are positioned to learn and achieve more than peers who are still developing their metacognition. Yet, many students come to college without well-developed metacognitive skills. As part of a longitudinal study on metacognitive development, we asked when, why, and how first-year life science majors use…

Learning effective science writing is an important component of becoming a scientist, but it can also be difficult to master. Even though the lab report has a long history in science education, there are still lingering issues that impact life science instructors and students. This dissertation is a coherent body of three interrelated research…

Science classrooms often marginalize students of color, particularly Black and Brown boys, by devaluing their perspectives and supporting narratives that reinforce long-lasting deficit mindsets that sustain practices that keep Black and Brown boys in the margins. Using a Critical Participatory Action Research methodology, this qualitative research…

Argumentation plays a central role in the development and justification of scientific knowledge. Learners could attain a more scientifically acceptable conceptual understanding by attending argumentation-based discussions. During argumentation-based discussions, students need to activate some metacognitive processes related to concept learning,…

This research aimed to examine the impact of argumentation-based chemistry instruction on the argumentation self-efficacy of pre-service teachers' (PSTs') and their perceptions regarding the effectiveness of this instruction on their argumentation self-efficacy. This exploratory study involved a cohort of PSTs who actively participated in a series…

This article provides a conceptual reformulation of Merton's scientific ethos widely known by the acronym CUDOS (i.e. communism, universalism, disinterestedness and organised scepticism). While Merton perceived the threat to the autonomy of science as coming from "outside" the walls of academe, mainly in the form of nationalism and…

Taking on an agentic perspective, this study employed a digital ethnographic approach to examine a science teacher's emotional experiences in an online graduate science education course during the COVID-19 pandemic. Veronika, the teacher, revealed her feelings of grievance and loss to the graduate course cohort at the advent of large-scale school…

This mixed methods study explored how elementary teachers reported using a commercially published instructional unit to plan and deliver science instruction in their elementary classrooms. Of particular focus is what elements of the program teachers eliminated during planning and instruction, what outside materials teachers added to instruction,…

Chemical bonding is central to explaining many phenomena. Research in chemical education and the Framework for K-12 Science Education (the "Framework") argue for new approaches to learning chemical bonding grounded in (1) using ideas of the balance of electric forces and energy minimization to explain bond formation, (2) using learning…

In the study, repair activities were planned with prospective science teachers (f=24) using broken household appliances and it was aimed to establish a relationship between such practices and science teaching during the activities. The activities, which were carried out as a single group, were carried out in collaborative groups of four. Case…

Here's a fresh way to help your students learn life science by determining how you can help them learn best. "Uncovering Student Ideas in Life Science, Volume 2," offers 30 new formative assessment probes--engaging questions that can reveal what students already know (or think they know) about a core science topic. Armed with that…

The implementation of California Assembly Bill (CAB) 705 has impacted how students enroll into Physics courses. This paralleled anecdotal evidence of a decline in student mathematical abilities. The goal of this research study was to determine the existence of a relationship between CAB 705 and student success in specific Physics courses. This…

In 2017, the Department of Biology at Virginia Wesleyan University modified its two-course introductory sequence in response to high DFW rates (>50% scoring a D, F, or withdrawing) in the first semester. The revised curriculum created a new third course and moved content that many students struggled with from the first semester to the third…

Students with learning disabilities have difficulty in science literacy because of the extensive amount of abstract concepts in comprehending science content. An adapted alternating treatments design with an extended baseline was used to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of graphic organizers (GOs) enhanced with…