For many students, introductory physics is an enormous hurdle to cross in their educational careers. Studies show that many students struggle with basic vector concepts and hold misconceptions of fundamental principles like Newton's laws, ideas essential to the understanding of higher-order physics concepts and for achieving success in engineering…

In the laboratory experiment described here, students synthesize silver nanostructures (AgNS) with different shapes and sizes to elucidate the shape- and size-dependent optical properties of nanostructured materials. Students also develop understanding of some thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the synthesis process through this experiment. In…

The first purpose of this study was to introduce a laboratory modelling activity focusing on teaching the concepts of radioactive elements/atoms, radioactive decay, and half-life. The second was to investigate pre-service chemistry teachers' understanding of these concepts. Fifteen pre-service chemistry teachers who had enrolled in a Physical…

Purpose: While many approaches in the field of unlearning aim at describing, understanding or explaining the "what" and/or "how" of unlearning, this paper aims to focus on the "where-to" and the goal of unlearning. In many cases, unlearning starts off with a specific result or goal in mind. This paper suggests that…

In light of recent emphasis on K-12 scientific modeling (e.g., Duschl et al. 2007, "Taking science to school: learning and teaching science in grades K-8"; Lehrer and Schauble 2015, "Handbook of child psychology and developmental science"; NRC 2012, "A framework for K-12 science education: practices, crosscutting concepts,…

How can professors more effectively persuade students to care about political science? The use of different metacognitive strategies, in which the student actively reflects on the learning process, helps students become more engaged by pushing them to critically consider the value in what they are doing. In this article, we explore one possible…

This study aims to investigate postgraduate students' academic achievement, the metacognitive strategies they use and their infographic design scores while studying with infographics. The relationships between these variables and students' views about this process are also examined. A total of 15 postgraduate students were studied from the…

More Latina and Latino faculty members are needed to mentor Latina and Latino students, as well as diversify academic research, and improve campus racial climates and retention of minority faculty members. This paper focuses on the sources of financial support that can facilitate access to faculty careers. I use multinomial logistic estimation and…

The purpose of the study was to reveal the effects of scientific argumentation-oriented teaching activities on the environmental attitudes and knowledge of seventh-grade Turkish students within the human and environment unit compared to the activities suggested by the ministry of education science and technology curriculum. This study employed a…

Item Response Theory (IRT) has proven useful in physics education research to examine the validity of concept tests (e.g., Refs. 1-3) and online homework (e.g. Refs. 4-6), yet as a tool for the improvement of physics instruction (particularly exams), it is oftentimes perceived as (a) mysterious, (b) unjustified, and (c) impractical. This article…

Although science presents ethical challenges to society, little is known about the ways in which adults express ethical concerns in everyday science-related situations. This study analyzed the ethical expressions in 1079 reader comments to online news coverage of animal experimentation and climate change in Israel. Some forms of ethical concerns…

Scholarship within the social sciences of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) exists, in part, to inform solutions to complex problems. Increasingly, complex problems are found at the nexus of social and ecological systems; therefore, scholarship within the social sciences of AFNR must mirror this social-ecological characteristic.…

Disruptive innovations continue to reshape channels of learning. The Information Systems discipline may be among the least immune to these disruptions. As such, students have greater access to the acquisition of the computing skills and knowledge that are commonly presumed to suffice entry-level employment positions sought after by graduates of…

A laboratory experiment was developed to introduce students to waste valorization. This is the process of reusing, recycling, or composting from wastes, useful products, or sources of energy. In this laboratory experiment, waste valorization is demonstrated through transforming waste orange peel (WOP) into a marmalade-type gel by extracting a…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are an explicit document that articulates our pedagogical practices in K-12 science instruction for the United States. The document is an excellent work that describes pedagogy and road maps for building coherence of science principles and student understanding of the Nature of Science. The prescient…