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Plate tectonics is the organizing paradigm of geosciences, but it is also conceptually complex, and students often struggle with developing a system level understanding of the earth. This article reports on research designed to create a characterization of the different levels of sophistication around plate tectonics in the form of a learning progression for middle grades (grades 6--9). A learning progression is an educational research construct that can guide curriculum, assessment, and instruction by creating a description not just of students' misunderstandings but of a sequential pattern of increasingly sophisticated and productive student conceptions. This article reports on research findings from a 7-year National Science Foundation-funded project focused on the teaching and learning of earth and space science, which engaged in hundreds of conceptual interviews with students in diverse contexts across the state of Pennsylvania. This article focuses on the implications for higher education faculty in geosciences with regard to the preparation of students, the likely alternative conceptions they may hold, and hence instructional approaches to help their ideas mature toward a normative scientific understanding.

This study addresses the measurement of high school students' epistemic knowledge associated with scientific experimentation (EKSE) which concerns how scientific experimentation generates knowledge and why that knowledge is justified. Based on philosophical, educational standards, and literature analyses, an EKSE construct is characterized as (1) underlying students' decisions and reasoning elicited during experiment design, data collection/measurement, and data analysis/interpretation and (2) progressing in five levels of sophistication: no information, nascent, dogmatic, contextualized, and reflective. This study psychometrically examined the structure of the EKSE construct using the construct modeling approach. An instrument was designed to ask students decisions and reasoning encountered while carrying out the activities embedded in experimental inquiry. High school students took the instrument as a pretest and a posttest to a physics curriculum where they learned to carry out independent scientific experiments. Results indicate that (1) all decisions and reasoning taking place during experiment design, data collection/measurement, and data analysis/interpretation contribute to the EKSE construct, (2) epistemic knowledge develops in the hypothesized order, (3) scientifically aligned decisions are likely to occur when students' epistemic knowledge is at or higher than the dogmatic level, and (4) students' EKSE can improve after engaging in a curriculum that encourages independent scientific experimentation with materials. Implications of these results and further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to explore a new computer-based interactive learning approach to assess the impact on student learning and attitudes toward science in a large university ecology classroom. A comparison was done with an established program to measure the relative impact of the new approach. The first inquiry project, BearCam, gives learners the freedom to navigate bear images and videos online to complete a scientific report. The new program, Virtual Ecological Inquiry (VEI), is based in the Second-Life platform and allows students to create an avatar and explore the Wolong Nature Reserve, collecting plant and environmental data in virtual form. Both inquiry projects show potential to engage learners and promote the acquisition of investigative practices and processes within inquiry. Inquiry assessment methods and changes to the VEI program are shared.

Background and Purpose: Universal design (UD) teaching approaches provide access to learning environments for diverse postsecondary students; however, UD practices in healthcare education have rarely been examined. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the revised Universal Design in Healthcare Education (UDinHE) instrument. Methods: The exploratory structural equation model (ESEM). Results: The ESEM revealed an acceptable model with good internal consistency for the subscales, except trialability (α =.59). All scales had a Cronbach's alpha >.70, except social system support. In the final CFA without trialabiity, the model showed good adjustment to the data Χ²(334, n = 222) = 651.188, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.91, Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.90, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.06, 0.07]). Conclusion: This instrument performs similarly with a broader population of healthcare educators as with nurse educators; however, future instrument refinement is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on the world of higher education dramatically changed as over 1,300 colleges and universities across the U.S. suddenly closed their campus doors and switched to online formats. Topics include the rapid transition from the traditional classroom setting to a virtual environment in a short time was challenging for educators, and the healthcare education programs requiring clinical hours were in crisis mode as clinical agencies were not allowing students at their facility.