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This research investigates access to senior school science and mathematics subjects offered in the final year of secondary schooling. Using data from the most populous Australian state of New South Wales, we examine whether stratification occurs in access to science and mathematics curricula. We find that the opportunity to study these subjects differs by key school characteristics, including location, socioeconomic composition and school sector. We find that while some science subjects and entry level mathematics are offered in most schools, substantial inequalities exist in access to the most advanced level of mathematics and chemistry. School location, socioeconomic composition, enrolment size and the availability of teachers predict the probability of whether a school offers the least and most advanced science and mathematics subjects. The findings highlight that stratification in curricula offerings occurs systemically and may intensify educational inequalities.

All learners have a contribution to make to the development of the Chemical Sciences, be that in novel ways to teach, and their perspectives and contexts, but also in research, both in chemical education and the wider Chemical Sciences. Through four case studies, this paper explores interactions with diverse groups and how this has altered perspectives on both teaching and research. The case studies include work with visually impaired adults, a project bringing together First Peoples in Australia with academics to explore old ways (traditional science) and new ways (modern approaches), primary (elementary) school perspectives on teaching science, and a project in South Africa to connect university and township communities. Not only do these case studies demonstrate the immense value these diverse groups bring to our understanding about how to learn, but they also bring new perspectives on how to view and solve chemical problems.

The present study aimed to reveal science education research (SER) general trends via VOSviewer version 1.6.17 software program. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis of 13,242 articles in the Education and Educational Research (E&ER) category of Web of Science (WoS) was performed. It was found that there was a significant increase in article counts since 2007, and that the most articles were published in 2020. The first conclusion of the current research was that funding support is an important factor in SER article counts published in WoS. The bibliometric analysis results showed that the most frequently used keywords in SER articles were science education, STEM/STEM education, nature of science, assessment, professional development, science, scientific literacy, argumentation, gender, and conceptual change. Another conclusion of this study was that science education researchers' interest varied according to certain year intervals. The study revealed that the most preferred topics were nature of science and professional development during 2007-2021. Additionally, research interest in the topics of conceptual change, scientific literacy, chemistry education, and attitudes during 2007-2016 declined during 2017-2021. The top four research topics in recent years were STEM, argumentation, self-efficacy, and motivation. The countries where most publications came from were the USA, UK, Australia, Turkey, and Canada. The results of this study showed that science education researchers' interest varied according to countries. The results of the study revealed that STEM/STEM education is mostly referred to in articles from the USA, Australia, UK, Taiwan, and Canada. Additionally, while there was more interest in the nature of science in the USA, Turkey, UK, and Canada there was more interest in argumentation in the USA, Turkey, UK, and Taiwan. Additionally, this study revealed the most cited SER articles' distinctive features and strength collaborations between countries and between authors. The results provided a comprehensive review to understand the recent developments in the SER.

Students' level of engagement and approach to learning can significantly impact their overall success in a course. This study used the student course engagement questionnaire (SCEQ) to assess the engagement levels of first-year undergraduate students studying three different introductory units (chemistry, biology and nursing) at a regional Australian university. No significant differences in engagement were found between genders, or for students studying different units. One of the most notable factors influencing engagement was student age, with students under 20 years of age scoring significantly less than mature age students across nearly all measures of engagement. Tertiary educators could use several complementary approaches to improve engagement in younger students, including the use of interactive multimedia and social media to connect with students, making the unit content relatable and relevant to students' lives, providing authentic and engaging assessment items, and pursuing interactive approaches to lectures and tutorials. Given that many university students take an introductory science course during their first year, these results are likely to be relevant across a range of disciplines.

Despite problem solving being a core skill in chemistry, students often struggle to solve chemistry problems. This difficulty may arise from students trying to solve problems through memorising algorithms. Goldilocks Help serves as a problem-solving scaffold that supports students through structured problem solving and its elements, such as planning and evaluation. In this study, we investigated how first-year chemistry students solved problems, when taught with Goldilocks Help, and whether their problem-solving success and approaches changed over the course of one semester. The data comprised of student written problem-solving work, and was analysed using frequency analysis and grouped based on the problem-solving success and the extent of the demonstrated problem-solving elements. Throughout the course of semester, students exhibited increasingly consistent demonstration of structured problem solving. Nonetheless, they encountered difficulties in fully demonstrating such aspects of problem solving as understanding and evaluating concepts, which demand critical thinking and a firm grasp of chemistry principles. Overall, the study indicated progress in successful and structured problem solving, with a growing proportion of students demonstrating an exploratory approach as time progressed. These findings imply the need for incorporation of metacognitive problem-solving scaffolding, exposure to expert solutions, reflective assignments, and rubric-based feedback into wide teaching practice. Further research is required to extend the exploration of the effectiveness of metacognitive scaffolding, in particular "via" think-aloud interviews, which should help identify productive and unproductive uses of the problem-solving elements.

The significance of the role of students' interpretation and creation of multiple forms of representation in science learning has long been established and advocated, but there is a paucity of research into the extent to which this emphasis in science education is reflected in high stakes final year high school science examinations. This study investigated the inclusion of visualizations in the questions within such examinations that require students to construct a response, and also the extent to which such questions required students to create or modify diagrams or graphs within their responses. Examinations in physics, biology and chemistry from the Cambridge International Examination, New Zealand, Singapore and the States of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia over a six-year period (2014-2019) were analysed. The results indicate that less than one third of constructed response item (CRI)questions include visualisations, with most occurring in physics, then biology and then chemistry. An infinitesimally small percentage of questions across all subjects and in all butone of the jurisdictions required the creation or augmentation of visualisations. The misalignment between the integral role of visualizations in science pedagogy and the paucity of visualizations in CRIs in final year high school examinations as well as implications for examination re-design and associated further research are discussed.

In recent years, chemistry educators are increasingly adopting immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology to help learners visualise molecular interactions. However, educational studies on IVR mostly investigated its usability and user perceptions leaving out its impact on improving conceptual understanding. If they evaluated students' knowledge gains, they tended to use information recall tests to assess knowledge gains. Employing interviews and diagram-drawing tasks, this study explored how students' conceptual understanding of the nature of hydrogen bonds and the shape of snowflakes changed through a collaborative IVR experience on snowflakes. Participants were 68 undergraduate chemistry students. Videos of pre-/post-interviews and student-generated diagrams were analysed. The results indicated a marked improvement in students' conceptual understanding of the nature of hydrogen bonds among water molecules in snowflakes. After IVR, 57 students provided scientifically acceptable explanations of the nature of hydrogen bonds. Improvements in students' understanding were related to the intermolecular nature of hydrogen bonds, the role of lone pairs of electrons in forming hydrogen bonds, and molecular interactions in 3D space. This study suggests that collaborative IVR could be a powerful way for students to visualise molecular interactions, examine their alternative conceptions, and build more coherent understanding. Implications for the design and implementation of IVR activities for science learning are discussed.

Both attitude and previous experiences play a large role in shaping a student's approach to and achievement in a given subject. Similarly, students' enjoyment of their learning experiences is an important factor in determining their retention in their course of choice. Here, we explore the attitudes toward the study of chemistry amongst a cohort of first-year undergraduate students at a regional Australian university, including assessing these parameters at the beginning of their first term, the end of the first term and the end of their second term. In addition, metrics on the students' experiences of studying chemistry were collected at the latter two timepoints. Generally, student attitudes toward chemistry were positive, as were student learning experiences in most instances. Two-step cluster analysis revealed the presence of two distinct clusters of students within the data, differing significantly in their overall attitude toward the study of chemistry. Students who had studied chemistry in Year 12 did not show any significant differences in their attitudes toward chemistry, when compared to students who had not studied Year 12 chemistry; however, their learning experiences in first-year chemistry were rated as being significantly more positive. We attribute this to their increased ability to engage with and successfully learn from the topic material presented in lectures and tutorials, as their previous exposure to the 'language' of chemistry may provide them with an advantage over chemistry-naïve students.

Production of high-quality multiple-choice questions (MCQs) for both formative and summative assessments is a time-consuming task requiring great skill, creativity and insight. The transition to online examinations, with the concomitant exposure of previously tried-and-tested MCQs, exacerbates the challenges of question production and highlights the need for innovative solutions. Several groups have shown that it is practical to leverage the student cohort to produce a very large number of syllabus-aligned MCQs for study banks. Although student-generated questions are well suited for formative feedback and practice activities, they are generally not thought to be suitable for high-stakes assessments. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate that training can be provided to students in a scalable fashion to generate questions of similar quality to those produced by experts and that identification of suitable questions can be achieved with minimal academic review and editing. Second-year biochemistry and molecular biology students were assigned a series of activities designed to coach them in the art of writing and critiquing MCQs. This training resulted in the production of over 1000 MCQs that were then gauged for potential by either expert academic judgement or via a data-driven approach in which the questions were trialled objectively in a low-stakes test. Questions selected by either method were then deployed in a high-stakes in-semester assessment alongside questions from two academically authored sources: textbook-derived MCQs and past paper questions. A total of 120 MCQs from these four sources were deployed in assessments attempted by over 600 students. Each question was subjected to rigorous performance analysis, including the calculation of standard metrics from classical test theory and more sophisticated item response theory (IRT) measures. The results showed that MCQs authored by students, and selected at low cost, performed as well as questions authored by academics, illustrating the potential of this strategy for the efficient creation of large numbers of high-quality MCQs for summative assessment.

Tertiary institutions are experiencing an increased number of enrolments, with students varying in their demographics, previous education, and academic achievement. This relative increase in undergraduate enrolments in Australia has not translated to an increase in student retention or graduate numbers. This prompts the need to explore predictors of academic performance for tertiary students to identify those most at risk of underperforming. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between secondary school subject completion and undergraduate grade point average (GPA). A cohort of 709 secondary school students entering undergraduate health science courses between 2012 and 2015 at an Australian university were investigated. Completion of Mathematics 3C3D, Physics, Chemistry and Physical Education Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) subjects were significantly associated with GPA. In a subset of 458 students, longitudinal analysis revealed completion of secondary school Mathematics 3C3D was a significant predictor of academic performance over the duration of the tertiary health science courses. The results suggest that completion of advanced secondary school mathematics, but not physical sciences, is predictive of student achievement. This outcome further supports the need for improved uptake and completion of advanced mathematics in secondary school.

This article describes a program that was developed to introduce senior high school students in Melbourne, Australia to the technique of X-ray crystallography within the context of chemistry research. Students had an opportunity for original experimentation, performing reactions and attempting to grow crystals of reaction products in a school laboratory. The program was remarkably successful, based on student feedback and scientific outcomes. In most cases, the compounds generated by students had not been synthesized before and their structures were previously unknown. X-ray diffraction data were collected on these crystalline products, and the students participated in data analysis and structure determination. New crystal structures were submitted to the international Cambridge Structural Database, with appropriate recognition of the students involved. Two peer-reviewed reports have been accepted for publication in the research literature with the students listed as coauthors. The experiences of the authors in developing this program should be of particular interest to science educators designing outreach activities for high school students.

During COVID-19 lockdowns, online learning activities had to be developed for the Undergraduate and Masters by Coursework Bioinformatics students at RMIT University. Therefore, we designed an integrative, industry-based research assignment, which guided the students through a drug discovery project from target identification to lead optimization. The students were able to utilize this real-life scenario to apply multiple diverse but complementary bioinformatic principles to analyze biological and chemical data leading to meaningful predictions. This activity was utilized as a final assessment of the students' knowledge.

This study aimed to adapt the Get Set2 quiz and design a diagnostic quiz for implementation under assumed knowledge admissions into university science degrees. The GetReady Quiz that was designed, comprised five modules benchmarked against the high school curriculum in Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology. The significance of this study stems from the development of an alternate approach to support students, with deficiencies in mathematical skills, who enter university STEM programmes with recommended foundational knowledge in mathematics and science. A mixed-mode research methodology was employed in which quiz design was coupled with implementation and evaluation with a pilot study. The GetReady Quiz design featured five discipline modules in Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology, with progression of question difficulty. Knowledge gaps and apparent difficulties for some students with conceptual understanding were evident. Students displayed a realization of their lack of knowledge by reporting that completion of the GetReady Quiz helped them identify areas for revision. The findings indicated that the GetReady quiz was appropriate for assumed knowledge self-diagnosis for commencing students. Approaches to diagnostic testing, such as the GetReady Quiz, should be recommended, if not compulsory, for university students who commence study with STEM assumed knowledge admission.

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias will contribute to the continuing low engagement of women in scientific fields. We outline possible solutions to address this issue, including the accreditation of scientific discoveries to include female scientists and explicit discussion of structural barriers preventing the participation and progression of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

There is a long history of philosophical inquiry into the concept of explanation in science, and this work has some implications for the ways in which science teachers, particularly in the physical sciences (physics and chemistry), explain ideas to students. Recent work has outlined a constructivist approach to developing, delivering, and refining explanations focused on enhancing student's understanding of the powerful concepts of science. This paper reviews the history of concepts of explanation in science and in science teaching, and reports research findings that describe some ways in which science teachers have been observed to explain ideas in Year 11 Physics classrooms in Australia and Canada.

We reviewed 48 articles related to the engineering design process in science education published from 2010 to 2020. There are several previous literature review studies that analyzed the engineering design process in science education. However, we have not found any that investigates projects, discussed topics, as well as the benefits of the implementation of the engineering design process in science education. The research method used was a systematic literature review. This study analyzed the characteristics of the content based on year of publication, type of publications, countries that implement it, research approach, educational stage, and science content. The findings show that the projects used in the implementation of the engineering design processes in science education varied according to the discussed topics. The benefits of the implementation of the engineering design process in science education include cognitive benefits, procedural (skills) benefits, attitudinal benefits, and a combination of the three benefits.

Learning objectives outline the knowledge and skills to be taught in a subject, thus signaling what is worth learning and what type of thinking is valued. The aim of this syllabus analysis is to determine the cognitive demand of learning objectives in the recently reformed Queensland physics, chemistry and biology syllabus and to analyse whether the development of students' metacognitive and self-system thinking is embedded in the curriculum. Marzano and Kendall's (2007) New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives was used as a theoretical framework for the analysis. Results show that cognitive levels of learning objectives are skewed towards the lower order thinking skills retrieval and comprehension in all three sciences, with less than 50% of learning objectives at analysis or knowledge utilisation level. Teaching metacognitive and self-system thinking were found to be implicit rather than explicit objectives of the new syllabi. There may be a mismatch between the policy goals of science education in Australia and the cognitive demands emphasised in the new syllabi, fuelling the debate about the right balance of lower order and higher order cognitive skills in secondary science. Implications for pedagogy and stakeholders in science education are discussed.

Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) have afforded numerous variations to traditional chemistry curricula where pedagogical strategies that have been employed have assumed "one-size-fits-all". The translation of print-based instructional resources into multimodal online and digital forms enables greater accessibility, flexibility, and usability to support students in their understanding of complex chemistry concepts. To ideally offer an online learning environment that is accessible by all students to the greatest extent possible, this study employed the principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to analyse the design of online instructional resources for topics in first-year chemistry courses. Through application of UDL principles, students were provided with multiple means of representation of concepts, options for action and expression, and various avenues for engagement within the learning management system (LMS). This paper describes how the UDL framework was used to evaluate three separate independent Cases of tertiary first-year chemistry courses, including one university in the Philippines and two universities in Australia. Evaluation through surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews revealed students' perceptions of the usefulness of the UDL-based features. Students cited benefit from multiple forms of content delivery, animations, interactive simulations, and video recordings because they facilitated processing of information, provided alternative ways of presenting the information, allowed for varying methods for response, navigation, and flexibility, and allowed for self-evaluation of their progress. These results suggest that applying the principles of the UDL framework in instructional design of an online environment in first-year chemistry courses can support and further enhance students' learning irrespective of their individual contexts.

Representations constitute an important part of chemistry knowledge. This paper revisits the notion of the term, symbolic, in the chemistry triangle proposed by Johnstone using the theoretical lens of social semiotics. In doing so, this paper proposes a framework of chemistry learning that highlights representational re-description and coordination as key mechanisms for facilitating connections among the three domains of knowledge: chemical phenomenon (perceptual-experiential level), macroscopic (theoretical-descriptive level) and submicroscopic (theoretical-explanatory level). This paper illustrates how this framework can be used to explore student meaning making of changes of state by examining students' interactions with the phenomena of melting and boiling and with the multiple representations of the phases of matter introduced in the classroom. The findings revealed the opportunities and challenges which emerged from student meaning making with multiple representations in the process of developing an understanding of the submicroscopic view of phase change. It also highlighted the support needed to facilitate such meaning making through representational re-description and coordination in order for students to develop a deep understanding of the logical connections between the particular model and the macroscopic patterns of the observed phenomena.

Restrictions on movement during the COVID-19 pandemic led to assessment being conducted online, which gave students opportunities to use internet search engines during examinations. We found that in some cases internet searches resulted in characteristic incorrect responses, and around one third of students entered these answers to examination questions in a foundation chemistry unit. Classification of those students allowed us to analyse their performance on other assessment tasks and we found that students who used an internet search and input incorrect results performed worse across all assessment tasks. Use of online proctoring and an academic honesty module in subsequent semesters reduced the percentage of students entering incorrect answers found though internet searches. We explored the relationship between students' prior knowledge, investment in content and self-efficacy with the use of internet searches during their examination. We found significant correlations with prior knowledge and investment, but not with self-efficacy. Our data calls for better authentication of online assessment, because in most cases internet searches give correct responses and so it is impossible to be sure that a student has generated the response. We propose guidelines to reduce the use of search engines during examinations.

This study aimed to compare the objectives of environmental education topics in various countries. The present study is a qualitative study and content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the categories of the objectives regarding the environment topic in the primary education were found to be higher in Turkey compared to other countries. The concept of the ozone layer in chemistry curricula and the concept of biodiversity in biology curricula were intensively included. No country had objectives regarding all subcategories in primary education. There are no objectives regarding field trip in physics subject in all countries. Objectives regarding the category of identifying issues and research question were included only in Australia. However, the activities for environmental education were determined to be at a low level in all the countries.

Few would argue the value of learning progressions in providing useful structures for selecting and sequencing in a developmental manner the key components of an 'intended curriculum'. Yet, there are pervading issues around what is meant by a developmental sequence, along with how they are used to assess what learners know, understand and can do. One key oversight in Science is recognising the role of technical and non-technical language in student conceptual development. This article reports on the construction of a hypothesised learning progression that identifies students' progress in understanding essential concepts in the Chemical Sciences from Foundation to Year 6. It is based upon an extensive analysis of the technical and non-technical language of the Australian Curriculum: Science. The progression was constructed by focusing upon learner-appropriate language and scientific understanding with the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome model (Pegg, 2018) providing the theoretical basis for ensuring systematic and objective rigour in the resultant developmental progression.

Student preparedness is an essential component of transition to university influenced by a broad suite of attributes including academic aptitude, prior knowledge, self-efficacy, self-confidence and a complex assortment of study and life skills. In the case of chemistry education, students' self-perceptions of preparedness are intrinsically linked to prior learning of both theory and hands on laboratory experiences, and interwoven with intricacies such as science identity, gender, and secondary school background. Accordingly, this study sought to establish a deeper understanding of learners' and educators' perceptions of student preparedness upon commencing tertiary studies in chemistry. The research used a mixed methods approach including questionnaires, focus groups, and interviews to capture the breadth and depth of these perceptions. 924 students from the first year chemistry cohort completed either one or two surveys designed to capture their prospective and retrospective self-perceptions of how well prepared they were for the course. Nine of these students also participated in focus groups. Secondary educators' views were captured "via" a qualitative online survey to conveniently enable a broad cohort to be sampled, while tertiary educators from the institution where this study was conducted were interviewed in person. Key findings from students include: a strong correlation between self-perception of preparedness and academic performance, those with negative perceptions of preparedness are genuinely an at-risk category, an overall positive shift for perceptions of preparedness for students as they get to the end of the semester (which is more pronounced for students who attended private secondary schools), and a significant disparity between genders at the start of the semester that was no longer present by the end. Additional key findings include the disparity between secondary and tertiary educators' perspectives of how well prepared students are for the transition to tertiary level chemistry studies. While the former have a favourable view, the latter consider many students to be quite poorly prepared, with each cohort ultimately focusing on different attributes. We suggest the implications for these findings include the importance of emphasising expectations of students as they commence their courses, and that work still needs to be done to align the perspectives of educators at all levels when it comes to preparing and supporting students as they transition to higher education.

Recently, the chemistry education community has focused considerable effort on incorporating systems thinking into chemistry education as a means to address global challenges such as sustainability. In this project, a series of exploratory workshops was held with secondary educators (N = 12) and tertiary educators and researchers (N = 16), introducing the participants to systems thinking in chemistry education (STICE). Following the workshops, small group semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain deeper insight into how participants perceived systems thinking in relation to their teaching and research practice. Inductive analysis identified five major themes shared across both cohorts, relating to the perceived affordances and challenges of implementing systems thinking in chemistry education. The paper discusses these themes in relation to curriculum reform efforts, specifically with respect to pre-conditions needed for successful implementation in order to achieve the benefits of systems thinking in the classroom. We propose a possible pathway to realise these advantages.

For many years, a key driver for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has been ensuring that students are prepared for employment post-graduation. This has often resulted in HEIs providing specific modules of study focussing on employability and soft skills. The existing research literature presents a variety of strategies for embedding employability within curricula, often focusing on frameworks to review the provision of employability opportunities within a degree programme. The authors have previously investigated an employability module within an Undergraduate Chemistry Programme at their UK HEI, particularly focusing on students' perceptions -- these coalesced around the themes of personal progression, relevance of the module and interactions. However, before using these findings to further develop the module, it was deemed necessary to investigate the module in a different context. This study investigates the employability module in an Australian HEI and its delivery to undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of different disciplines. Free text comments from questionnaires answered by 85 participants were subjected to thematic analysis in order to understand students' perceptions of the module in this new context. The new thematic map was compared to that from the original study to reveal several key similarities and differences between students' perceptions. However, the most important finding is thast employability modules should be tailored to a specific cohort to ensure they are aligned with their needs. This suggests that Central University employability module providers should work closely with individual departments to maximise the impact of these for students.

A practical for students to experience a process plant is presented, based on operating a solvent absorption plant for carbon dioxide capture. The student must operate the plant in assigned roles that closely identify with a chemical plant environment, to achieve specific performance targets. Students must overcome technical challenges that require them to translate their theoretical understanding into practical outcomes. This ensures students take ownership of the class and act semi-independently of the demonstrators.

The present article analyses the changes in practices, ideas, and attitudes proposed by a group of novice science teachers during a further education teacher training program. The research on which it is based is focused on monitoring the training program and its impact on the participating teachers. The training program has as its starting point the practical problems teachers encounter, and is developed fundamentally through team work, debates, and reflection. The study demonstrates the suitability of these procedures to facilitate change and influence the professional development of these teachers.

This paper is the outcome of a collaborative endeavour between mathematics and science educators where the insight from each field mutually informed one another. Specifically, building on the knowledge base from mathematics education research, this study analyses the ways in which percent is interpreted by first year university students in general chemistry. The content analysis of the chemistry problems reveals six categories of situations where percent is distinctly used. Within each category, we unfold the mathematical structure of the chemistry problems to feature the inherent complexity in setting the functional relationship among quantities. Our analysis also highlights how percent is used as an intensive quantity involving an implicit referent that conceals its interpretation. The strategies used by the students included the unitary analysis method, the equation method and the proportion method. Furthermore, percent was commonly interpreted as a fraction, ratio and operator. Although inadequate conceptual knowledge of chemistry explained some of the errors observed in the percent problems, the procedural meaning attached to percent in terms of its operator interpretation tend to be equally influential. Importantly, our study highlights how the knowledge base from mathematics and chemistry education can productively be used to further our understanding of the mathematical knowledge for learning chemistry.

Students commencing tertiary education enter through a number of traditional and alternative academic pathways. As a result, tertiary institutions encounter a broad range of students, varying in demographic, previous education, characteristics and academic achievement. In recent years, the relatively constant increase in tertiary applications in Australia has not translated to an increase in student retention or graduate numbers. The Health Sciences discipline typically falls within this paradigm, prompting various approaches to promote academic success and overall student retention. In this study, the demographic and previous education of health science students at an Australian University, were analysed along with first year science grades from a core first year anatomy and physiology unit. A generalized linear model (GLM) demonstrated statistically significant relationships between performance in the unit (measured by grade point average) and year 12 Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) subjects (human biology and chemistry; p<0.001) and gender (p<0.001). No significant performance correlation was observed with household socioeconomic status, as measured by socio-economic indexes for areas. Taken together, the results from this study facilitate estimation of academic success by some parameters prior to their commencement at University.

Recently, students' interest in science has been conceptualized as a network model: the science interest network model (SINM) in which affective, behavioural and cognitive components interact together; building on science interest being a dynamic relational construct. In the current study, we combine the Australian Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 and Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth 2008 data (N = 4758) to investigate relationships between the network characteristics of Year 10 students with their decision to enrol in a science course in Year 12. Specifically, we identified indicators central to the SINM and tested whether they predicted chemistry, physics and biology course enrolment. Students' intentions to pursue a science-related study or career (future intentions in science) and their enjoyment of science (science enjoyment) were the most central indicators for all three science courses. Centrality was strongly related to course enrolment (r = 0.36-0.74), lending support to the validity of network theory in the context of science interest, as central indicators may play an influential role within the network.

An augmented reality (AR) application that complements a DNA precipitation experiment has been developed for use on mobile devices. The AR experience provides atomistic detail on the reasoning behind the experimental observations. The development of the application is described, as are the download data. In a pilot survey, the students were asked about their use or intended use of the application. More students used the application after the laboratory compared with before or during the laboratory. These results suggest that students prefer to use this type of technology as a reflective tool to consolidate their laboratory experience.

Since the sudden emergence of COVID-19 global pandemic, all educational institutions have looked to move resources and delivery online. Some institutions had already embraced delivering instruction in this way; however, broader adaptation to this teaching style is new to many educators. While the teaching of theoretical concepts is more easily transferred to a blended learning environment, the teaching of practical chemistry poses significant challenges, yet it is crucial to the chemist's identity. Here we describe the establishment of a new, international, network to consider how practical chemistry can be taught outside of the traditional laboratory environment and invite readers of this special edition of the journal to join. Meeting fortnightly and maintaining links through a shared networked drive between meetings, the network has been accessed by over 100 delegates in the U.K., mainland Europe, North America, and Australasia. The traditional siloes of chemistry have not defined the discussions, which have instead focused on logistical aspects such as social distancing and the pastoral role of the laboratory environment. Initial evaluation shows the network is valued by its members and is making progress toward its aims.

Educators around the world have been challenged to adapt their teaching and pastoral care rapidly in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In this article, we, the academic members of the Chemistry Education and Communication Research Theme (CECR) from the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, reflect on the challenges and successes over the course of this most unusual semester. We have included discussions on the specific tools and techniques we employed, in light of the available literature, across the range of modes in which we teach, including lectures, tutorials, and laboratories. As many of us prepare to begin or continue teaching, we hope the experiences and lessons we have learned can offer some assistance to our disciplinary colleagues around the world.

As the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, universities around the world reacted quickly by shifting classes online. To varying extents, this rapid change required chemistry teacher educators to rethink and redesign their units and delivery. Some teacher educators may have perceived this shift as a timely opportunity to reflect on their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and on how to model TPACK through chemistry preservice teacher education classes. This paper presents reflections from three chemistry teacher educators from different universities in Victoria, Australia. The reflections are offered in the form of vignettes that illustrate how these teacher educators modeled the use of digital technologies to meaningfully support preservice teachers' learning in chemistry education. After the teachers independently wrote the vignettes, they were analyzed for common themes which have been used to develop recommendations for other chemistry teacher educators who may also find themselves reflecting on their TPACK as they support preservice teachers in an online environment.

Science and science education are recognised internationally as essential for ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future. At the same time, significant equity issues are apparent in science education. This study used enrolment and academic result data, routinely collected from government schools in Victoria, Australia, to examine the impact of socioeconomic status and school location on patterns of participation and achievement in senior school Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Physics and Psychology. This research shows that though non-metropolitan students are less likely to have the sciences provided by their school, where they are provided they enrol in similar proportions to metropolitan students. In line with other research, it shows that high SES students are more likely than other students to study senior secondary Chemistry and Physics, and outperform low SES students in all senior sciences. While the findings of this study suggest that non-metropolitan students underperform their metropolitan counterparts in senior sciences, they suggest the gap in performance is not dramatic. More promising, the variation in school performance revealed in this study suggests that non-metropolitan schools can achieve just as well as metropolitan schools in the sciences. The study also suggests location has a moderating effect on SES not noted in the current literature, where science achievement in non-metropolitan schools appears less impacted upon by SES than similar schools in urban environments. This provides impetus for further research into high science performing non-metropolitan schools as a step towards addressing some of the equity concerns in science education.

We present ideas about concepts underlying climate change, held by students in years 9 and 10. Misconceptions about climate change are common among students, and may be due to misconceptions about underlying concepts. To investigate this, we developed the Climate Change Concept Inventory (CCCI), and trialed it with 229 students; corroborating findings through focus group interviews. Our interview method and data analysis methods are described. Findings included overestimation of human contributions to atmospheric carbon inputs, ultra violet radiation in sunlight, and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Students were unaware that CO2 dissolves in water, and of the role of oceans in the carbon cycle. Greenhouse gases other than CO2 were rarely known. Earth's energy balance and black body radiation were not well understood. There were misconceptions about interactions between electromagnetic radiation and atmospheric gases; and limited understanding of carbon chemistry. The CCCI is available from the corresponding author.

Previous work at Monash University has shown that students recognise that inquiry-, problem-, context- and industry-based experiments were better contextualised, more open to decision making and aided in the development of scientific and transferable skills. This study investigated whether these gains persisted over a longer time scale, rather than just after the completion of a given experiment. Student focus groups were conducted at the completion of units (sometimes known as a course) in which more than half of the laboratory experiments were redesigned. Annual surveys were distributed to monitor students' perceptions of the aims of teaching laboratories, and their expectations of their own behaviour. The findings indicated that the previously noted positive outcomes were still evident at the end of a semester. The annual survey showed that whilst 2nd year students were able to appreciate the real world context of the experiments, 3rd year students did not. Overall, the large-scale changes away from expository experiments had a positive impact on student enjoyment and perceived skill development but only when meaningful proportions of the experiments were redesigned. It would appear that the continuing existence of many expository experiments undermined the students' perceptions of the benefits gained by the new laboratory experiments.

The importance of developing and assessing student critical thinking at university can be seen through its inclusion as a graduate attribute for universities and from research highlighting the value employers, educators and students place on demonstrating critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are seldom explicitly assessed at universities. Commercial critical thinking assessments, which are often generic in context, are available. However, literature suggests that assessments that use a context relevant to the students more accurately reflect their critical thinking skills. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a chemistry critical thinking test (the Danczak--Overton--Thompson Chemistry Critical Thinking Test or DOT test), set in a chemistry context, and designed to be administered to undergraduate chemistry students at any level of study. Development and evaluation occurred over three versions of the DOT test through a variety of quantitative and qualitative reliability and validity testing phases. The studies suggest that the final version of the DOT test has good internal reliability, strong test-retest reliability, moderate convergent validity relative to a commercially available test and is independent of previous academic achievement and university of study. Criterion validity testing revealed that third year students performed statistically significantly better on the DOT test relative to first year students, and postgraduates and academics performed statistically significantly better than third year students. The statistical and qualitative analysis indicates that the DOT test is a suitable instrument for the chemistry education community to use to measure the development of undergraduate chemistry students' critical thinking skills.

Adding to concerns about falling participation rates in science education, the profile of certain student groups who go on to study decreases, particularly as the year level increases. The aim of this paper is to examine if, and in what ways, demographic factors predict students' post-16 participation in biology, physics, chemistry and earth/space sciences. The study was conducted in Australia, drawing on data from over 4,300 students. Characteristics of focus include students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds, indigeneity and gender. Outcomes of this study indicate that SES predicts participation in post-16 science subjects in each science domain. Indigenous status was a negative predictor of student participation in biology, physics and chemistry, but not earth/space sciences, where there were no significant differences in participation. Gender is a significant predictor in biology and physics participation, but not chemistry or earth/space sciences. Drawing on Bourdieusian perspectives, the authors discuss associations between participation and access to cultural, social and science capitals. Implications for the ways in which students' capital may impact their subject choices and how capital may be enhanced, are explored.

There appears to be no published knowledge regarding how humans use unit conversions. Until very recently, acquiring such data would be essentially impossible, but mobile devices have now enabled many questions to be answered through passive "crowdsourcing" of big data sets. This work details the analysis of five years of anonymous user data collected from a unit converter mobile application utilized by nearly 50,000 users in 210 countries to perform ~870,000 calculations over that period.

Research has shown that achieving gender equality in science goes beyond equal gender ratios in the classroom. Female students in science disciplines with relatively higher female participation rates (e.g. biology and chemistry) still experience similar gender issues as students in male-dominated science disciplines (e.g. physics and mathematics). Yet, when studying gender inequality in science, these so-called 'gender-balanced' disciplines are frequently ignored. This study aimed to investigate gender issues for students in biology and chemistry and explore how these experiences were impacting their persistence in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational and career pipeline. Findings showed that both male and female students commonly believed that issues of gender were restricted to the male-dominated science disciplines. However, female students still reported experiences of gender bias, commonly through the form of implicit discrimination. The importance of the affective domains was also highlighted, with science identity and belonging impacting the female student experience and their intentions to persist in the sciences. Results from this study suggest further work is needed in 'gender-balanced' science disciplines, specifically in the emotional domains of science identity and belonging. This research may help educators develop more effective intervention programmes for increasing women's persistence in the STEM pipeline.

Various international perspectives from selected regions where substantial work is being done on green and sustainable chemistry education emphasize a systems thinking framework. Common to most of the perspectives is the inclusion of more global paradigms involving economic, environmental, political, and social aspects as fundamental issues in the formerly merely technical and scientific discussions, as well as the development of laboratory experiences, training sessions, written materials, discussion meetings, and conferences. We include bird's eye views from Europe (the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence at the University of York, United Kingdom; the University of Cordoba, Spain; and the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Latin America (the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina, and the Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico), Africa (the University of Venda, South Africa), and Australia (Monash University).

We report here a teacher action research project in which a Systems Thinking approach was implemented into a 15 h Depth Study for students in their final year of secondary chemistry. Students were introduced to the concept of Systems Thinking and the use of systems maps, along with the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development (SDGs). Integrating these ideas, students created their own systems maps for specific chemical processes. Specifically, they represented their chemistry curriculum content knowledge in the context of the SDGs, by considering whether the impact of each aspect of the chemical process is positive, negative, or neutral for each SDG. The purpose of the approach was to give students the opportunity to situate their knowledge of sustainability in the context of the sourcing, uses, and other intended and unintended consequences of a variety of chemical processes, and how these processes impact the wider global community. The teacher action research was conducted through the development and testing of the teaching materials as part of an iterative cycle of improvement. The teaching and assessment approach was evaluated utilizing reflections of the teacher in an action research cycle. The project is described in the context of how Systems Thinking influenced the inclusion of sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority in Australia. This report gives secondary teachers tools to implement Systems Thinking in their own classrooms in a way that integrates it within the chemistry curriculum without requiring additional time or resources.

Promoting student engagement and academic achievement in first-year anatomy and physiology courses. "Adv Physiol Educ" 43: 443-450, 2019; doi:10.1152/advan.00205.2018. Students from three undergraduate programs at James Cook University, Queensland, Australia, studying combined first-year anatomy and physiology courses, showed different academic achievement in physiology. Physiotherapy students were more active and social when completing learning tasks and achieved significantly higher grades in physiology compared with students enrolled in Sport and Exercise Science and Occupational Therapy programs. To promote academic engagement and achievement by all three groups, discussion questions, case studies, and study guides were included. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of using these modified resources to promote active learning, enhance academic social interactions, and provide a supportive learning environment. The occupational therapy students showed increased academic achievement (from 57.9 to 66.5%) following implementation of the new resources, but there was no change in the already high-performing physiotherapy students (73.1%) and, more concerningly, the sport and exercise science students (from 54.6 to 56.7%). Fewer sport and exercise science students had prior learning in chemistry (30.4% of participants) and also spent little time outside class studying (8 h/wk), compared with the physiotherapy cohort (70.0% chemistry; 13 h/wk studying). Findings of this research demonstrate that creating a supportive and active learning environment are important factors in promoting the learning of physiology for some cohorts. Background knowledge, academic self-regulatory skills, and the experience of teaching staff are factors that must be considered when endeavoring to increase student academic achievement. Future studies should examine the effect of students' academic self-regulation and the use of remedial chemistry classes when learning physiology.

This paper describes a study aimed at assessing the ability of report templates to help students learn key concepts during undergraduate laboratory classes. The report templates were designed so that a set of assessment questions led the students through the logical steps required to perform the laboratory exercise and to calculate the required quantitative results. Additional questions probed the students' understanding of the key concepts covered. The study assessed the efficacy of the report templates in achieving these goals over a 3 year period via the use of a questionnaire, laboratory marks and marks awarded for examination questions that tested one of the key learning outcomes. The report templates were found to save time for students and academics alike without any negative (or positive) effect on learning outcomes.