Science is, at its core, an empirical discipline: Theories must coordinate with evidence obtained through systematic, scientific investigations. Learning science involves learning how science is done, not just what science has found, and so nearly every introductory college science course has an associated laboratory component. The value of these labs, however, has often been called into question, particularly when considering concerns about the associated space, time, equipment, and personnel needs.

The newly developed Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) framework, produced by the Ecological Society of America, provides updated guidance for undergraduate instruction. To help instructors align their courses to this framework and assess student progress toward its goals, we have recoded the comprehensive programmatic assessment Ecology and Evolution-Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science (EcoEvo-MAPS) and reanalyzed a national dataset of over 2000 undergraduate student responses.

In terrestrial instruments for X-ray emission analysis (e.g. X-ray fluorescence, electron microprobe) the angle of excitation and the angle of characteristic X-ray emission by samples are typically well-defined. This is not the case for the Mars rovers’ alpha particle X-ray spectrometers, necessitating use of “effective” angles in any fundamental parameters approach to spectrum fitting and derivation of element concentrations.

Calls for reform to instructional labs mean many instructors and departments are facing the daunting task of identifying goals for their introductory lab courses. Fortunately, the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) released a set of recommendations for learning goals for the lab to support lab redevelopment. Here we outline the process we have undergone to identify a set of learning goals for the labs that operationalize those provided by the AAPT.

Assessing learning across a biology major can help departments monitor achievement of broader program-level goals and identify opportunities for curricular improvement. However, biology departments have lacked suitable tools to measure learning at the program scale. To address this need, we developed four freely available assessments called Biology-Measuring Achievement and Progression in Science or Bio-MAPS for general biology, molecular biology, ecology/evolution, and physiology programs.

Despite the significant amount of time undergraduate students spend in introductory physics labs, there is little consensus on instructional goals and accepted diagnostic assessments for these labs. In response to these issues, we have developed the Physics Lab Inventory of Critical thinking (PLIC) to assess students' proficiency with critical thinking in a physics lab context. Specifically, the PLIC aims to evaluate students' skills in making sense of data, variability, models, and experimental methods and to assess the effectiveness of lab courses at developing these skills.

Many institutions are changing the focus of their introductory physics labs from verifying physics content towards teaching students about the skills and nature of science. As instruction shifts, so too will the ways students approach and behave in the labs. In this study, we evaluated students' lab notes from an early activity in an experimentation-focused lab course.

As educational technologies become increasingly important in K-12 physics education, it is important to understand why and how teachers choose to adopt certain technologies. We examined 2000 responses from a survey of high school teachers on how they used PhET interactive simulations (mostly in physics) and what value they felt it provided their students. The analysis helps inform what aspects of an educational technology support or hinder its adoption. First, the teachers valued flexibility.

Students' expectations about a class (their 'frames') affect how they interpret, approach, and accomplish tasks. However, little is known about students' framing of lab activities. During the first lab of a sequence designed to teach students about modeling and critical thinking with data, students test a simple model of a pendulum that breaks down with improved measurements. Using in-lab video and follow-up interviews, we identified students' frequent use of a model-verifying frame that substantially interferes with the instructional goals.

A ball on a stick is a common and simple activity for teaching the phases of the Moon. This activity, like many others in physics and astronomy, gives students a perspective they otherwise could only imagine. For Moon phases, a third person view and control over time allows students to rapidly build a mental model that connects all the moving parts. Computer simulations of many traditional physics and astronomy activities provide new features, controls, or vantage points to enhance learning beyond a hands-on activity.