One of the most important skills needed to face the 21st-century challenges is critical thinking. Gender differences are considered to contribute to the critical thinking skills. The objective of this study was to determine students' critical thinking skills based on gender. This quantitative research involved 57 students of the Natural Sciences…

Loops concept is one of the basic programming concepts. Students have difficulties in learning loops concept. Helping learners understand loops is an important task. Visualization is one of the ways to help students improve their understanding. The aim of the study was to construct and evaluate a visualization based instruction related to loops. A…

Network science has allowed varied scientific fields to investigate and visualize complex relations between many variables, and psychology research has begun to adopt a network perspective. In this paper, we consider how leaving behind reductionist approaches and instead embracing a network perspective can advance the field of parental burnout.…

We incorporated a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) into a Wildlife Management Techniques course to improve student skills and confidence in bird identification and research, study design, and scientific writing. The course objective was to provide hands-on experiences for students and give them exposure to field methods used…

In the early 2000s some were concerned that few soil science graduate students were receiving their bachelor's degrees in soil science. However, no studies were conducted to investigate this or how it may have changed over time. Information available on university webpages for faculty in the United States was used to determine the faculty's…

The presentation of pre-sliced specimens is a frequently used method in the laboratory teaching of cross-sectional anatomy. In the present study, a new teaching method based on a hands-on slicing activity was introduced into the teaching of brain, heart, and liver cross-sectional anatomy. A randomized, controlled trial was performed. A total of…

We propose new methods for identifying and classifying aberrant response patterns (ARPs) by means of functional data analysis. These methods take the person response function (PRF) of an individual and compare it with the pattern that would correspond to a generic individual of the same ability according to the item-person response surface. ARPs…

Across our combined 15 years of experience as methodologists and research methodology instructors, we have found that the concept of 'failure' is only a small portion of methodological literature and is similarly missing from scholarship on teaching and learning social science research methodology. We define failure in terms of our inability as…

This article analyses the diversification of research systems by focusing on the role of the new population of centres created by universities, public research organizations, and firms for the purpose of knowledge transfer and exchange. It departs from the mix of policies and the structural conditions in Spain which resulted in an organizational…

This is a fundamental and pedagogical work in quantum physics/chemistry, where we try to illustrate the Mulliken's question, "What are the electrons really doing in molecules?". And we also briefly review the development of the most popular numerical approaches in computational chemistry. We examine in a novel approach, how we can…

From ancient times, the different features of planets and moons have created a huge interest. Aristarchus was one of the first to study the relative relations among Earth, Moon, and Sun. This interest has remained until today, and therefore it is always relevant to make this knowledge more appealing to the younger generations. Nowadays, smartphone…

People often have difficulty in understanding processes of biological change, and they typically reject drastic life cycle changes such as metamorphosis, except for animals with which they are familiar. Even after a lesson about metamorphosis, people often do not generalize to animals not seen during the lesson. This might be partially due to the…

The CHIMACTIV website (http://chimactiv.agroparistech.fr/) offers open educational resources related to analytical chemistry. It addresses a frequently encountered pedagogical issue: How can we encourage students to be more involved in learning during their courses (and especially during lab work) as well as provide a deeper teacher-learner…

This study develops a framework to conceptualize the use and evolution of machine learning (ML) in science assessment. We systematically reviewed 47 studies that applied ML in science assessment and classified them into five categories: (a) constructed response, (b) essay, (c) simulation, (d) educational game, and (e) inter-discipline. We compared…

We address the aims of this Special Issue by exploring, critiquing, and responding constructively to the emergence and potential significance of new materialist thought in environmental education research and the broader theoretical landscape in which such research is situated. We offer some productive possibilities for advancing postparadigmatic…