Search

Despite advances in software development, symmetry-related topics are among the most important yet confusing concepts in crystallography training for chemistry students who routinely use small-molecule crystallography in their scientific study. The case-based learning approach is very effective in stimulating students' interests in self-exploring the course material and critically processing information to arrive at the most reasonable result. Learning modules such as applying concepts of the 17 two-dimensional space groups in Escher drawings and critically judging crystallography misconceptions can engage chemistry students and invoke their confidence in handling the crystal structures encountered in their research.

Potassium tris(oxalato)ferrate(III) trihydrate is a commonly prepared coordination compound in general or upper-level chemistry laboratories and can be recycled to grow large single crystals that instructors may display when introducing the experiment to classes. Showing the crystal's shape can also be used to briefly introduce students to X-ray crystallography, symmetry, and unit cell dimensions.

In the United States, research on beginning science teachers provides little guidance regarding empirical minimum levels of discipline-specific science coursework for sufficient subject matter knowledge to teach science. Accordingly, in this study we analyzed secondary physical science teachers' science coursework for subject matter knowledge (SMK) and resulting misconceptions of chemistry and physics concepts. Findings were compared with state-level science teacher certification policies. Participants had either: (a) completed a master's level teacher preparation program with an undergraduate degree in science, (b) completed an undergraduate teacher preparation program with a minor degree or more in science, or (c) were undergraduate students enrolled in science courses required for chemistry and physics teacher certification. We analyzed participants' transcripts for discipline-specific science coursework credit hours and GPAs and identified possible predictors of SMK predictors of the likelihood of passing chemistry and physics misconceptions tests. We categorized teachers' level of SMK and used multiple variable and logistic regressions (n = 212 participants; n = 109 chemistry and n = 103 physics). To identify teacher candidates' possible misconceptions, we analyzed chemistry (n = 97) and physics (n = 91) participants' item responses with the corresponding science credit hours and GPAs. With increasing numbers of credit hours teachers held fewer misconceptions. However, even with medium to high SMK levels, teachers still held misconceptions about chemical bonding, electromagnetism, and Newton's laws until they reached critical credit hour and GPA thresholds. Lastly, we provide recommendations for physical science teachers' programs of study and state-level teaching certification policies, using empirical minimum quantity and quality of chemistry, physics, and mathematics coursework.

Despite growing consensus regarding the value of inquiry-based teaching and learning, the implementation of such a pedagogical practice continues to be a challenge for many South African teachers, especially at rural schools. The research reported in this article concerns the interaction between Grade 10 Physical Sciences teachers' beliefs about inquiry-based learning, and their practice of inquiry in their classrooms. This research adopted a mixed methods design. In the first phase of the research, quantitative data were collected by distributing a validated questionnaire to Physical Sciences teachers in an education circuit in rural Mpumalanga, South Africa. The next phase of the research involving teacher interviews, provided a more in-depth explanation of some of the findings, which emerged from the questionnaire survey. It was found that sampled teachers from the rural district have a positive attitude towards inquiry in the teaching and learning of Physical Sciences, and recognise the benefits of inquiry, such as addressing learner motivation and supporting learners in the understanding of abstract science concepts. However, despite this positive belief towards inquiry-based learning, teachers are less inclined to enact inquiry-based learning in their lessons. Teachers claim that the implementation of inquiry-based learning is fraught with difficulty, such as availability of laboratory facilities, teaching materials, time to complete the curriculum, and large classes, which creates tension in their willingness to implement it.

The purpose of this study was to examine scale adaptation studies in the field of science education in terms of content, method as well as to determine the general guidelines used in the scale adaptation process. The population of this study included a total of 145 journals published in the field of science education in Turkey. A total of 46 adaptation studies which were published in 25 journals were selected from this population by using the purposive sampling methods comprise of the study sample. Meta-synthesis method was used for the data analysis in this study. Results of the study showed that adaptation studies in Turkey were mostly conducted in the self-efficacy area. It was determined that all studies calculated the internal consistency coefficient and that likert-type scales were commonly used. This study also determined that the language validity stage was not sufficiently discussed and was only briefly mentioned in the examined adaptation studies. It was found that none of the studies translated original test guidelines to target language. This study concluded that all of the adapted studies did not get official permissions for the pilot study. In addition, it was found that the researchers preferred to use CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) and EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) methods together for the construct validity.

This paper deals with the use of metadiscourse by Italian university lecturers who teach through the medium of English (EMI, English-Medium Instruction). The objective is to verify whether, irrespective of possible shortcomings in their mastery of the language, lecturers demonstrate sensitivity to the situational demands of the EMI classroom, paying attention to the needs of the audience. A small, specialised corpus of undergraduate university lectures in the fields of Physical Sciences and Technology will be analysed. In particular, the focus will be on references to the discourse, the code, the lecturer as speaker and the students as listeners. I will investigate what discourse functions metadiscourse markers perform, what form-function associations can be identified, and whether signs of dysfluency and non-standard forms can be found in relation to metadiscourse. The pedagogical implications of the findings will be considered and suggestions provided on how to incorporate metadiscourse in teacher training programmes. The paper will conclude with some methodological reflections on how to investigate metadiscourse in university lectures.

The present study investigated the effectiveness of constructivist approach on academic achievement in science at secondary level using pre-test, post-test, experimental and control group design, with 58 samples grouped as experimental group (29) and control group (29) on the basis of matching by intelligence test. The investigators conducted this experiment over three weeks by using both traditional and constructivist 7E-model. The self-developed achievement test covering Class IX Textbook of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, India was used as tool. The study found that the students exposed to the constructivist 7E-model significantly achieved better than traditional method. In addition, students exposed to the 7E-model performed significantly higher than those exposed to the traditional teaching method in respect of their gained scores at every intelligence levels. The constructivist approach strategy is capable of improving student's mastery of content at the higher order levels of cognition. It is therefore recommended that constructivist 7E-model strategy be used in science teaching for the development of student's higher achievement in science at secondary level.

Textbooks remain an important resource in the hands of science teachers in ensuring that curricular aims and educational reforms are realised in school science. In a publication of the National Research Council (NRC) entitled "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," emphasis is placed on students experiencing inquiry-based practices and not merely learning about them. These "practices" of science describe the behaviour in which real-life scientists engage while they investigate and construct model and theories about the natural and human world. The research reported in this article explored the extent to which these science practices are represented in South African Grade 12 Physical Sciences textbooks using qualitative content analysis. The analysis applied an adapted validated conceptual framework of the eight science practices that have been identified by the National Research Council. A Science Practice Continuum Rubric (SPCR) was developed for the coding of the textbooks. The analysis revealed that the science practices reflected in the textbooks were predominantly teacher-directed with only limited opportunity for student-engagement in the science practices. The findings of this analysis suggest that textbooks should be modified to sufficiently reflect practices at a higher level of student autonomy in order to improve the 21st-century learners' scientific literacy in South African high school science.

A lack of familiarity with the lexical, grammatical, and discursive features associated with academic language presents comprehension challenges for many adolescent readers, especially those with still-developing English language skills. Although many studies focused on reading comprehension in content areas, the prevalent use of standardized tests combining narrative and expository readings across academic domains undermines our understandings of the specialized language and skills required for comprehension in each particular discipline. In this study, we examined contributions of domain-general and domain-specific language skills needed for reading in science, a linguistically and cognitively demanding subject area. The sample included 241 Grade 8 students, 64 of whom were emergent English speakers (current ELs). Proficient English speakers included 118 former ELs. Our statistical modeling results explained 80% of the variance in students' science reading comprehension and science vocabulary scores. Mediated effects of morphosyntactic awareness and a direct effect of science vocabulary on reading comprehension of physical sciences texts were supported. Support is also offered for an appropriate measurement specification for the construct of morphosyntactic awareness and the appropriateness of using definition (breadth) and picture (depth) match tasks for assessing science vocabulary. Less variance was explained in students' morphosyntactic awareness, a variable that needs further examination.

Utilizing the High School Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students, this study investigates the factors that predict different beliefs about gendered math ability and the potential consequences for students' choices to enter gender-segregated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors in college. Among other results, analyses reveal that while about 25 percent of students report a traditionally stereotypical belief in male superiority, about 20 percent report a counter-stereotypical belief in female superiority; among female students, such beliefs are more common among black students. Further, models reveal a robust association between holding counter-stereotypical beliefs and the likelihood that women choose biological science majors, which are female dominated, compared to non-STEM fields. Among men, holding counter-stereotypical beliefs is associated with a lower likelihood of majoring in physical science, computer science, math, and engineering fields, which are strongly male dominated, versus non-STEM fields. Implications for gender inequality in STEM fields are discussed.

In many countries, including South Africa, the underperformance of Physical Sciences learner's is a great concern. The purpose of this study was to find out how the academic achievement of science learners can be addressed through implementing a parental involvement policy. The policy on parental involvement can only be successful if there is an effort to ensure effective participation of parents in school activities, which includes helping learners with homework, discussing learners' behaviour with teachers, motivating learners and communicating about and participating in science activities. This was a qualitative research study and the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) acted as a lens and offered a broad approach to analysing a parental involvement policy and the contexts of science learning. The research was conducted in rural public secondary schools and data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews. The study recommends that parents need training and development to perform their functions optimally in science activities. Effective communication between parents and the school and providing assistance to child-headed families are imperative.

This is the second of two papers on a novel physical science course for student teachers that develops and uses an imaginative approach to Primary Physical Science Education. General philosophical, cognitive, developmental, and scientific issues have been presented in the first paper; here, we briefly recapitulate the most important aspects. In the main part of the current paper, we present in some detail concrete elements of the implementation of the course at three Italian universities where Primary Physical Science Education has been taught for more than 6 years. After a brief description of the course structure, we discuss which parts of macroscopic physics are taught, and how this is done in lectures and labs. Most importantly, we show how the science is entwined with methods related to pedagogy and didactics that (1) help our students approach the science and (2) can be transferred quite readily to teaching children in kindergarten and primary school. These methods include the design of direct physical experience of forces of nature, embodied simulations, writing and telling of stories of forces of nature, and design and performance of Forces-of-Nature Theater plays. The paper continues with a brief description of feedback from former students who have been teaching for some time, and an in-depth analysis of the research and teaching done by one of the students for her master thesis. We conclude the paper by summarizing aspects of both the philosophy and the design of the course that we believe to be of particular value. [For "Primary Physical Science for Student Teachers at Kindergarten and Primary School Levels: Part I--Foundations of an Imaginative Approach to Physical Science," see EJ1260267.]

In many countries, including South Africa, the underperformance of Physical Sciences learners is a great concern. The purpose of this study was to find out how the academic achievement of science learners can be addressed through implementing a parental involvement policy. The policy on parental involvement can only be successful if there is an effort to ensure effective participation of parents in school activities, which includes helping learners with homework, discussing learners' behaviour with teachers, motivating learners and communicating about and participating in science activities. This was a qualitative research study and the cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) acted as a lens and offered a broad approach to analysing a parental involvement policy and the contexts of science learning. The research was conducted in rural public secondary schools and data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews. The study recommends that parents need training and development to perform their functions optimally in science activities. Effective communication between parents and the school and providing assistance to child-headed families are imperative.

National Research Council polices (NRC, 2012a, 2012b) and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 (Pub. L. No. 114-145) call for educators to have active roles in teaching to achieve new goals and purposes for education. A high priority is teaching content knowledge and information fluency skills that will result in deep learning, higher order thinking, and college and career readiness. Information fluency involves abilities to find, evaluate and use print and digital information effectively, efficiently and ethically to create knowledge useful in solving real-world problems. This action research (Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight, 2010) investigates co-teaching in a college, undergraduate physical sciences course. Information and technology literacy skills (ACRL, 2016) were taught in the context of a 12-week unit about the design of control variable experiments. Co-teaching was done by a professor of physical sciences and a professor of library and information science. Assignment learning objectives provided a framework for analysis of 24 students' scores that tells a story of the process of co-teaching through articulation of two professors' engagement in instructional interactions, creation of materials and strategies to increase information fluency as well as descriptions of students' completion of assignments. It was concluded that co-teaching effectiveness involves intensity of effort in shared planning, organization, delivery and assessment of instruction; shared physical and/or virtual space of instruction; and in the combining two areas of academic expertise in delivery of cross-curricular instruction.

Black girls represent a unique subpopulation of science learners. Black girls are unique because they consistently outperform Black boys in science. Despite this trend, Black girls often face dual marginalization in STEM classrooms and professions. Racial and gender marginalization can inhibit the success of Black girls in science if researchers, teachers and parents do not address the most salient factors. This exploratory analysis investigates how the specialized science content knowledge of Black girls is differentiated on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and how the dispositions, opportunities to learn, and parental involvement mechanisms are characterized by the NAEP assessment data. This within-group, content-specific analysis identifies teaching and learning strengths and weaknesses for Black girls that are difficult to assess using between-group designs. This study offers educators, researchers, and parents a holistic view of the performance profile of Black girls, as learners and doers of science. The results indicate that Black girls possess a basic understanding in life and physical sciences, however earth science remains the greatest challenge. Overall, the data shows that Black girls have a positive academic disposition towards science, yet are not engaged with the content. Recommendations for researchers, teachers, parents and other educational stakeholders to further meet the needs of Black girls in science are provided.

Physics and physical science content are essential for many professional fields, and they are an important component of scientific literacy. Yet, students are commonly less engaged in physics learning at all levels. Funds of knowledge approaches to science instruction build upon learners' real-world experiences and interests in order to make science learning more relevant and engaging. This study investigates how college undergraduates' football experiences elicit physical science content knowledge with a larger goal of developing physical science instruction that better connects to learners. This exploratory interpretive study utilized individual interviews and a focus groups with 22 college students to elicit their ideas about a variety of common football contexts: kicking, pursuit, throwing, and football deflation. The analysis identified several physical science concepts elicited by particular football scenarios, particular football experiences that could be utilized in science instruction, and some misconceptions or points of confusion about physical science concepts. Implications for curricular development, teacher education, and research are provided.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the validity of multiple-choice questions in measuring fourth grade students' ability to interpret graphs related to physical science topics such as motion and temperature. We administered a test including 6 multiple-choice questions to 28 fourth grade students. Students were asked to explain their thinking in writing for each question. In addition, we interviewed all 28 students and asked them to justify their answer for each question by thinking out loud. We found that a significant number of students were not able to provide appropriate explanations for their correct answers. Interestingly, however, a significant number of students were able to provide appropriate explanations even though they initially selected an incorrect response. As a result of this study, we suggest caution in using multiple-choice questions as a single data source to assign grades or to make other important decisions about student achievement.

This article presents a single case study of an experienced physical science teacher (Janet) integrating engineering practices into her urban science classroom over a two-year time frame. The article traces how Janet's understanding of the role engineering in her teaching expanded beyond engineering as an application of science and mathematics to engineering as a humanistic and socially-just activity with the potential to empower her students. The data for this qualitative case were gathered over a two-year period during which the teacher participated in an engineering professional development program. The data were gathered from five interviews, observations of implementation, student artifacts, lesson plans, and Janet's journal reflections. Three primary themes arose around the role of engineering in her urban classroom: real-world problems and applications, student engagement and learning, and solving complex problems. These themes each contributed to Janet's expanded understanding of engineering from a focus on engineering as a general STEM career to engineering as problem solving strategies which empowers students to be active participants in their urban community

The present study is a descriptive research in the scanning model. In the present study is research conducted to determine five to six-year-old children's knowledge of science content, study group constitutes of 360 children attending preschool educational institutions in Burdur city center and their parents and teachers. In the study, Science Content Standards Scale (SCSS) Trial Form developed by Tastepe (2012) was used. SCSS consists of a total 31 items and three subscales including Life Science, Physical Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences processing areas. SCSS-Trial Form was filled at the end of May 2015 by group teachers giving children training throughout the whole academic year. Group score differences were analyzed with one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. Difference among groups is tested using Scheffe and Tamhane techniques. While statistically significant differences are observed among children's scores obtained from SCSS total and sub-dimensions according to age and duration of preschool education, and all sub-dimensions as per number of siblings, there are not any statistically significant differences among children's scores total and sub-dimension according to gender and mothers' and fathers' age. While difference among children's scores obtained from physical sciences, earth and space sciences is observed in favor of firstborn, no differences in life sciences and total score are not determined. There is a statistically significant difference between children's scores in physical and life sciences sub-dimensions as per mothers' and fathers' status of education, and physical sciences sub-dimensions as per mothers' occupational group but there are not any significant differences determined in as per fathers' occupational group.

Socio-scientific issues (SSI) are recommended by many science educators worldwide for learners to acquire first hand experience to apply what they learned in class. This investigated experiences of teacher-researcher and students in using SSI in Physical Science, Second Semester, School Year 2012-2013. Latest and controversial news articles on sources of energy were chosen for analysis. Based on the findings, the teacher-researcher was able to choose issues based on a set of criteria and students related what they learned inside the classroom with real life situations and its positive and negative impact to people and environment. A model of learning approach for teaching SSI in Physical Science was proposed.

This study investigated the belief that student attention declines after the first 10 to 15 min of class by analyzing vigilance decrement in a guided inquiry physical science course. We used Tobii Glasses, a portable eye tracker, to record student gaze during class sessions. Undergraduate students (n = 17) representative of course demographics (14 female, 3 male) wore the eye tracker during 70-min classes (n = 84) or 50-min classes (n = 26). From the gaze point and fixation data, we coded participant attention as either on-task or off-task for every second of data. This analysis resulted in a percentage of vigilance time on task for each minute as well as the amount of time that participants spent looking in various locations during the class sessions. Participants exhibited on-task vigilance percentages starting with 67% at the start of class and rising to an average of above 90% on-task vigilance at the 7 to 9-min mark with minor fluctuation. Contrary to the belief that attention declines rapidly during a class, the participants on-task spans were larger and more numerous than their off-task spans. These results seem to support the conclusion that well-structured classes punctuated by student-student and instructor-student interactions can be an effective method of maintaining student attention vigilance for entire class sessions, not just the first 10 min.

Powder diffraction is one of the most widely used analytical techniques for characterizing solid state materials. It can be used for phase or polymorph identification, quantitative analysis, cell parameter determination, or even full crystal structure analysis using the powerful Rietveld refinement method. As with much of modern crystallography, the software used for Rietveld refinement is frequently treated as a "black box" that produces often poorly understood outputs. This paper shows how it is possible for students to perform a full Rietveld refinement against experimental powder diffraction data from scratch using a simple spreadsheet like Excel. It starts by reviewing the basic ideas of least-squares fitting a straight line, develops these into fitting simple functions to peaks in simulated experimental data, and then combines these ideas with crystallographic equations to enable Rietveld refinement of the structure of an inorganic material (rutile, TiO2). At each stage, students can self-learn different fundamental aspects and pitfalls of data analysis that are widely reapplicable. The ideas can be taught as an online learning exercise or could be incorporated in a laboratory class where students collect and analyze their own experimental data.

Purpose: This study aims to advance the proposal to use immersive virtual learning environments to stimulate and reveal deep-seated knowledge about science, giving instructors and researchers unique possibilities for assessing and identifying intuitive physical science knowledge. Aside from the ability to present rich and dynamic stimuli, these environments afford bodily enactment of people's understanding, which draws less from declarative knowledge stores and more from everyday experiences with the physical world. Design/methodology/approach: The authors ground their proposal in a critical review of the impact of stimulus and task characteristics of traditional physics inventories. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors present classifications and interpretations of observed bodily enactments of physics understandings in a study where participants enacted their understanding of force and motion of space in an immersive, interactive mixed reality (MR) environment. Findings: The authors find that instances of these action categories can be interpreted as relating to underlying knowledge, often identified by other studies. The authors thus replicate a number of prior findings, which provide evidence to establish validation for using MR simulation as a tool for identifying people's physical intuitions. Research limitations/implications: This study targeted only a few specific physical science scenarios. Further, while a number of key insights about student knowledge came from the analysis, many of the observations are mere leads in need of further investigation and interpretation rather than core findings. Originality/value: Immersive digital learning environments are primarily used for instruction. The authors propose to use and design them for assessment as well. This paper should prompt more research and development in this direction.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is considered to be an effective teaching and learning strategy as it leads to longer retention of concepts learnt, improves problem-solving skills and enhances critical thinking. However, teachers often find it difficult to implement as they do not receive guidance during their initial training. A professional development intervention lasting four weekends was organised on developing rural science teachers' knowledge and skills in the use of PBL strategies for teaching circuit electricity. The aim of the study was firstly to explore how rural science teachers' knowledge and classroom activity change after the intervention and secondly to establish these teachers' experiences when implementing the strategy in rural schools. Three different instruments, i.e. open-ended questionnaires, interview schedules and a lesson observation protocol, were used to obtain qualitative data from 16 teachers in a total of eight purposively selected schools. The theoretical framework used was the social constructivist theory as it embeds the PBL strategy. Findings indicate that teachers indeed changed their teaching as learners made predictions, formulated hypotheses and were involved in thought-provoking activities. Rural teachers' experiences were similar to previous findings. However, these rural teachers had to additionally deal with the challenge of large classes and a lack of information technology support in the use of a PBL strategy. The divergence of the language of learning and teaching from the learners' home language was not found to be problematic. Not all teachers were qualified but according to the classroom observations they all displayed good content knowledge in circuit electricity, even when using PBL strategies.

Given the strong relationships found between high-level learning strategies such as drawing and summarising, and student comprehension and performance, we have seen an increase in drawing-to-learn strategy research. Despite the trend and promise of drawing-to-learn, many of the studies have been limited to high school and undergraduate chemistry and physics. Our aim was to explore a single understudied setting through multiple "cases" for drawing-to-learn, as a means of exploring the boundary conditions of when drawing-to-learn is an effective "during-learning" and "post-learning" strategy. Twenty-seven 7th grade students from an early secondary participated. Students received four lessons of physical science content, randomised to either a drawing or summarising condition. Students read a passage "whilst" drawing or summarising, then completed a post-test using their summary/drawing as a learning aid. Results from a series of analyses for non-normal data distribution and smaller sample size suggest the same discipline affects the learning process and the outcomes of learning differently. In addition, drawing-to-learn appears to be slightly less effective in early secondary than in the bulk of the literature. Results highlight how the different affordances of each specific topic, such as more emphasis on concepts/elements over relationships between those concepts, may contribute to these differences.

We show how learning can be improved, beyond that shown in actively taught classrooms, by also transforming the homework using the principles of deliberate practice. We measure the impact of transforming the homework on student learning in a course that had already implemented an active approach to teaching in class. We compare performance on the same final exam in equivalent cohorts of students over three semesters of an introductory physics course: the first taught with traditional lectures and traditional homework, the second taught with active instruction coupled with traditional homework, and the last taught with both active instruction and transformed homework. We find students in the semester where both active teaching and transformed homework are used scored significantly higher on the final exam than the students taught actively but with traditional homework. This learning gain achieved by transforming the homework is comparable to that achieved by replacing traditional lectures with active teaching strategies in class. We further show the positive effects of transforming the homework on student learning through a shorter, controlled experiment. When everything but the homework implementation is controlled, students scored 5%-10% higher on a test of learning following transformed homework compared with traditional homework. This significant improvement to learning occurs despite students spending a similar amount of time on task. This study represents an initial step towards understanding how deliberate practice can be extended to improve pedagogy beyond what happens in the classroom to the out-of-class homework.

Background: While many research-based instructional strategies in STEM have been developed, faculty need support in implementing and sustaining use of these strategies. A number of STEM faculty professional development programs aim to provide such pedagogical support, and it is necessary to understand the activity and learning process for faculty in these settings. In this paper, a taxonomy for describing the learning opportunities in faculty (online) learning community meetings is presented. Faculty learning communities, meeting either in-person or (increasingly) online, are a common form of professional development. They aim to develop the pedagogical and reflective skills of participants through regular meetings centered on conversations about teaching and learning. Results: The tool presented in this paper, the Taxonomy of Opportunities to Learn (TxOTL), provides a structured approach to making sense of the dynamic interactions that occur during faculty learning community meetings. The origins and development of the TxOTL are described, followed by a detailed presentation of the constructs that make up the TxOTL: communicative approach used in a conversation, the concepts developed, and the meeting segment category. The TxOTL characterizes the learning opportunities presented by a faculty learning community conversation through describing the content of the conversation as well as how participants engage in the conversation. Examples of the tool in use are provided through an application to a faculty online learning community serving instructors of a physical science curriculum. A visual representation used to compactly display the results of applying the taxonomy to a meeting is detailed as well. These examples serve to illustrate the types of claims the TxOTL facilitates. Conclusions: The TxOTL allows one to examine learning opportunities available to a faculty learning community group, analyze concept development present in their conversations, track change over time in a given group, and identify patterns between meeting segment categories and communicative approaches. It is useful for researchers as well as facilitators of these STEM faculty professional development groups. The taxonomy is most applicable to faculty (online) learning communities, with limited use for workshops and K-12 professional development contexts.

This study explored the potential impact of teaching outside of one's field of expertise. This longitudinal cross-case study examined the development of enacted pedagogical content knowledge (ePCK) among a group of in-field and out-of-field (OOF) physical science teachers during their first 3 years of teaching. The components of ePCK investigated included the knowledge and skills related to conceptual teaching strategies and student understanding of science. Seventeen newly hired teachers teaching in and outside their field of expertise participated in the study. The data collected included semi-structured interviews and classroom observations of the teachers. The study's findings showed that early career OOF physical science teachers exhibited less developed ePCK and showed more inconsistencies in their ePCK compared to their in-field counterparts. The findings also revealed that ePCK fluctuated for most teachers, representing the tentative nature of emerging ePCK. This study has implications for those who prepare and support newly hired teachers.

The continued underserving of Maori and Pasifika communities by New Zealand universities has resulted in the need to hold universities and the wider tertiary education system to account through widespread data analysis. This paper analyses Maori and Pasifika enrolment in the Society and Culture and Natural and Physical Sciences fields of Aotearoa New Zealand. The data indicate further targeted investment is needed in both fields, however, areas of investment differ between and within the fields. This paper also argues that the increasing use of Ministry of Education data to analyse current and past Maori and Pasifika inclusion in Aotearoa New Zealand universities means that this data needs to be transparent and reliable.

When a pandemic outbreak occurs, it seems logical that related scientific production should increase substantially; however, it is important to recognize its interdisciplinary usefulness to find a solution to the problem. The main aim of this research is to analyse the main keywords of the scientific research about COVID-19, by subject area. To discover the influence of certain terms and their transferability, synergies, and future trends, a cluster analysis of the keywords was performed. The results show that Health Sciences dominate the publications with 88.23% of the total volume. As expected, the largest volume of research was dedicated to medical aspects of the disease, like experimental treatments, its physiopathology, or its respiratory syndrome. However, other fields, like Social Sciences (6.07%), Technology (2.68%), Physical Sciences (1.95%), and Arts and Humanities (1.08%), also played an important role in research on COVID-19.

My first year teaching physical science I (LB) had a young man whom we shall call John in class. He had been sitting silently, doing nothing most of the first quarter of school. I had seen little in the way of written work from him. John's daily grades were continually zero after zero and his assessment grades were equally abysmal. Calls to mom and dad had been fruitless, with them explaining that he struggled with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and had a hard time writing because of that. I puzzled over what to do with this student. I asked his parents if I could get him to come in early one Thursday. When he arrived I asked him to copy a text for me, read it to me aloud, and discuss it with me one to one. He sat there with a blank stare. I asked him what was wrong and all he responded with was "I can't write!" I told him he could write and to try it, to rest assured that it wasn't being graded. He began and within a few moments I knew. He could not write because he had dysgraphia. His attempt at writing was chaotic. Words were scattered about the page haphazardly, their placement had no logical sequence, and made no sense in light of the content he had read. According to the Learning Disabilities Association of America, "A person with this specific learning disability may have problems including illegible handwriting, inconsistent spacing, poor spatial planning on paper, poor spelling, and difficulty composing writing as well as thinking and writing at the same time."

Text recycling (hereafter TR), sometimes problematically called "self-plagiarism," involves the verbatim reuse of text from one's own existing documents in a newly created text -- such as the duplication of a paragraph or section from a published article in a new article. Although plagiarism is widely eschewed across academia and the publishing industry, the ethics of TR are not agreed upon and are currently being vigorously debated. As part of a federally funded (US) National Science Foundation grant, we have been studying TR patterns using several methodologies, including interviews with editors about TR values and practices (Pemberton, Hall, Moskovitz, & Anson, 2019) and digitally mediated text-analytic processes to determine the extent of TR in academic publications in the biological sciences, engineering, mathematical and physical sciences, and social, behavioral, and economic sciences (Anson, Moskovitz, & Anson, 2019). In this article, we first describe and illustrate TR in the context of academic writing. We then explain and document several themes that emerged from interviews with publishers of peer-reviewed academic journals. These themes demonstrate the vexed and unsettled nature of TR as a discursive phenomenon in academic writing and publishing. In doing so, we focus on the complex relationships between personal (role-based) and social (norm-based) aspects of scientific publication, complicating conventional models of the writing process that have inadequately accounted for authorial decisions about accuracy, efficiency, self-representation, adherence to existing or imagined rules and norms, perceptions of ownership and copyright, and fears of impropriety.

This research was embarked on to explore the underperformance of Physical Sciences learners and the subsequent increasing unpopularity of the subject in South African rural schools. As poor academic achievement in science is a concern in many countries and not only in South Africa, qualitative research was undertaken to determine whether assessment can contribute to the improvement of learners' academic achievement in this particular school subject. The research uses the Cultural and Historical Activity Theory as theoretical lens to analyse how assessment can improve the academic achievement of learners. Data were collected by means of face-to-face interviews with teachers, school principals and subject advisers, the "community" as advocated by the Activity Theory, while focus-group interviews were held with the learners who are the "subjects" in the Activity Theory. Verbatim findings highlight the views of participants and reveal that though efforts are made to incorporate a variety of informal assessment methods, key issues such as poor formulation of questions, weak comprehension skills and unsatisfactory interpretation of questions, remain a problem. Based on these findings, recommendations for improvement are proposed.

The study investigated the effect of problem-based learning (PBL) on students' achievement in chemistry. Learners' low achievement in Science in South Africa has been a concern to government, stakeholders, school principals and parents over the years as a result of poor teaching techniques, students' attitudes, lack of teaching and learning materials, teachers' pedagogical skills, etc. Several studies, for instance the Monitoring Learner Achievement (MLA) project conducted by UNESCO and UNICEF have shown no improvement in the performance of South African students in Mathematics and Science. Quasi-experimental design was employed for the study. 101 equivalent students were selected for the study using pre-test. The control group was taught with the traditional lecture method whiles the experimental group received instruction with PBL. Independent t-test was used for the analysis. Results showed that there was significant difference (p < 0.05) in chemistry achievement of students between control and the experimental group while there was no significant differences in the before the study. The results show that PBL is an effective way for to teach chemistry so as to improve students' critical thinking and problem solving skills.

In this study the authors set out to better understand the relationship between teacher knowledge of science and student learning. The authors administered identical multiple-choice assessment items both to teachers of middle school physical science and to their students throughout the school year. The authors found that teachers who have strong content knowledge and can identify students' most common misconceptions in science are more likely to increase their students' science knowledge than teachers who do not.

The dominance of syntactic studies in linguistics has caused lexis and grammar to be perceived as two distinct categories. With introduction of the paradigm of cognitive linguistics, the studies in syntax have been replaced by those in lexis and concepts. Semantics has come to the fore through the studies in cognitive linguistics, and there has been a trend from syntactic studies to lexical ones. In addition to research in cognitive linguistics, construction grammar has also emphasized the continuum between lexis and grammar. With the emergence of corpus linguistics, the studies regarding the continuum between lexis and grammar have gained momentum, and thus studies of collocations have been theorized. Early studies of collocations have focused on only lexis and disregarded grammar. However, in the process, the studies have also incorporated grammar as well, and this view supports the idea that each word has its own grammatical properties. Therefore, lexis and grammar should be studied on the same continuum because there is a continuum between these two categories rather than a discontinuum. Within the framework of this paradigm, this study focused on verb+noun lexical collocations across the health, physical and social sciences in the written academic genre and analyzed these lexical collocations through the frequency and chi-square analysis. The study aimed to search for commonalities and differences between the verbs with their collocations. The results showed that there were more similarities and relationship between the health and physical sciences, while the social sciences indicated a significant difference compared to the other two. The study found 165 common verbs used across the three sciences. 12 verbs among the 165 verbs were found to be candidate's verb+noun lexical collocations as prototypes.

The National Academy of Science has published studies showing strong scientific evidence that global warming is caused by human consumption of fossil fuels, yet recent surveys have shown young adults in the U.S. are disengaged or disagree with this fact. Accordingly, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published learning objectives to educate the world population on global warming and renewable energy by 2030. In this paper, we introduce a reflective writing activity physics educators can employ to foster a deeper understanding of global warming in introductory college physics and physical science courses, without overloading their teaching time.

This communication describes the actions undertaken to translate the chemical crystallography course at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, from face-to-face to online instruction, as well as the emerging challenges encountered during this unprecedented time. As part of the global efforts to respond to the recent disruptions to teaching, our purpose in this paper was to provide insights about useful methods that can be used in chemical crystallography courses to alleviate the concerns resulting from this shift in modality and to point out to some aspects of teaching that did not work as expected, despite the optimum efforts.