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A word association test was used to determine knowledge structures on biochemistry concepts of secondary school chemistry students, aged between 18-19 years. The basic biochemistry concepts related to the topic of Carbohydrates that take place in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme curriculum were determined as stimulus words: "Monosaccharides", "Glucose", "Cellular respiration", "Fructose", "Disaccharides", "Glycosidic bonds", "Polysaccharides", "Starch". Students were required to provide response words for each of the eight stimulus words within the pre-determined period of time. Analysis of data was done in order to find the stimulus words with the highest number of associations in students' knowledge structures and to calculate the relatedness coefficient between the stimulus words, in order to construct the relatedness networks that should model the students' knowledge structures. The results showed that students managed to relate most of the stimulus words with strong or medium strength links, however, "Cellular respiration" remained unconnected to other stimulus words in the students' knowledge structures. [For the full proceedings, see ED629086.]

While interdisciplinary approaches in the STEM subjects are widely advocated there are concerns that disciplinary learning can be compromised, especially in mathematics. The Interdisciplinary Mathematics and Science (IMS) project is a three-year longitudinal study in four Victorian primary schools that has developed a pedagogical approach to mathematics and science learning where data modelling and representation are common to each. Investigations include astronomy, ecology, chemistry, fast plant growth, force and motion, water use, heat and temperature, body height, light and microorganisms. The paper describes the role of mathematics in the IMS pedagogical model and design of learning sequences.

Gamification is a very useful technique, that has been fully increasing in the last years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our innovation teaching group sent to our students several games, that were used by them for self-studying. Considering that many numerical problems can be proposed in Biochemistry, rather than numerical games (sudoku, adding and subtracting number games, …) word games were preferred to learn biomolecule nomenclature. Among these word games, we adapted to Biochemistry: connecting dots, labyrinths, mazes, matching two sets, amidakuji, logic games, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, knight's tour games or anagrams. In this work, we present several games related to labyrinths and mazes. Connecting dot games were adapted to Biochemistry by using intermediate metabolite of a pathway instead of numbers to develop a picture when connecting the dots. Anyway, as pathways don't contain a big number of metabolites, no difficult pictures can be used. Thus, a labyrinth with questions and answers and letters connecting questions with answers can be better used. Correct answers can develop the letters of a biomolecule's name. Other kind of labyrinth can be those where the letters can be taken from the shortest route. Labyrinths can also be used to develop a word following the route in labyrinths and taking letters to get the word, as an anagram. Several examples are shown hereby, adapted for Biochemistry students of Chemistry degree. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]

Failing test scores in reading proficiency have been a blemish on our nation's report card for decades as scores have remained static despite the readily-available information on language and literacy attainment, and the employment of research-based strategies in classrooms. While we continue our quest to efficiently bolster reading skills, a less obvious solution may have little to do with literacy and everything to do with neuroscience. Over 60% of youths have suffered from one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and children who experience adversity are more likely to struggle in school. Cortisol, a hormone released under stress, limits brain function and negatively impacts one's working memory, decision-making skills, and attention, all of which are required for reading proficiency. Researchers have proven that oxytocin, the "love hormone", reverses the effects of cortisol and is easily triggered in classroom settings via physical contact. By reversing the effects of cortisol, students will have the "mental real estate" to learn and retain the skills and knowledge necessary to become proficient readers. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

Games are fully accepted by students, as they stimulate memory, activate reasoning capacities in brain, improve the knowledge and keep out the stress. Our innovation teaching group is interested in using games for teaching Biochemistry of the Chemistry degree. Most of the individual games found in Internet are classified in numerical games (sudoku, calculation games, a grid to paint black squares depending on the file and column numbers, …) and word games (anagrams, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, connecting dots, mazes, labyrinths, matching two sets, amidakuji, logic games, or knight's tour games). Biochemistry books often contain glossaries and word index, and usually students must learn many difficult words, including biomolecules. In Chemical degree, it is important that students also know the structure of these biomolecules. In this work, we present some examples of chained-words games. Some of these games can be difficult to prepare, as most of the biomolecules end in -ose (most carbohydrates), -ase (most enzymes), whereas not many biomolecules begin with e-. Thus, domino games can be a good option to learn two aspects of biomolecules: structure and nomenclature. Dominoes tiles contain two zones (one with a structure of a molecule, and the other with the name of another molecule). Student must fit the structure of one molecule with its name, thus learning both structure and name. Depending on the dominoes, this game can be played individually or in groups of students. The game was very appreciated by all our students. [For the full proceedings, see ED630948.]

Games are highly appreciated by the population, so due to the COVID-19 pandemic confinement we decided to carry out an Internet research of several games, in order to use them for the assimilation of new words of Biochemical students. Games found in puzzle books allow the stimulation of memory, reasoning and other brain capacities, such as keeping us out of stress and improving our knowledge. For this reason, we thought that they could be interesting for relieving students of the stress of confinement, and at the same time allowing to learn Biochemical words with those games. Games found in puzzle books are based on two types of problems, based in numbers or in letters. Among the games based in numbers, the most frequent include sudokus, suzenjou, kakuros, arithmograms; while those based in letters include crosswords, self-defined, and games of words or letters. We decided to perform various puzzles based on letters, and the easiest to implement were those based on words and syllables games. The simplest word games are based on searching within a set of words, those that have some part in common. In this sense, we invented rhyming games, in which words ended in -ine (frequent ending of amino acids, nitrogenous bases, nucleosides and some proteins), in -ose (frequent ending in carbohydrates), or in -ic / -ate (frequent termination of fatty acids and other intermediate acids of metabolism, or of their corresponding salts). Thus, the students were able to observe these characteristics in the nomenclature. On the other hand, incomplete word games allow you to fill in the names of the metabolites using groups of letters to choose from. Our proposal includes various word games that we can apply to the Biochemistry course so that students remember them. [For the full proceedings, see ED626668.]

The aim of the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (iHSES) conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, discuss theoretical and practical issues, and connect with the leaders in the fields of "humanities," "education" and "social sciences." It is organized for: (1) faculty members in all disciplines of humanities, education and social sciences; (2) graduate students; (3) K-12 administrators; (4) teachers; (5) principals; and (6) all interested in education and social sciences. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]