Are well‐designed computer simulations an effective tool to support student understanding of complex concepts in chemistry when integrated into high school science classrooms? We investigated scaling up the use of a sequence of simulations of kinetic molecular theory and associated topics of diffusion, gas laws, and phase change, which we designed and experimentally tested. In the two effectiveness studies reported, one in a rural and the other in an urban context, chemistry teachers implemented two alternate versions of a curricular unit—an experimental version, incorporating simulations, and a control version, using text‐based materials covering the same content. Participants were 718 high school students (357 rural and 361 urban), in a total of 25 classrooms. The implementation of the simulations was explored using criteria associated with fidelity of implementation (FOI). Each context provided insights into the role of FOI in affecting the effectiveness of the interventions when working with groups of teachers. Results supported the effectiveness of this sequence of simulations as a teaching tool in a classroom context, and confirmed the importance of FOI factors such as adherence and exposure in determining the specific environments in which these materials were most effective. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 49: 394–419, 2012

Highlights• Electroencephalogram (EEG) was concurrently recorded in a simulated classroom from groups of four students and a teacher.• Alpha-band (8-12Hz) brain-to-brain synchrony predicted students' performance in a delayed post-test.• Moment-to-moment variation in alpha-band brain-to-brain synchrony indicated what specific information was retained by students.• Whereas student-to-student brain synchrony best predicted learning at a zero time lag, student-to-teacher brain synchrony best predicted learning when adjusting for a ~200 millisecond lag in the students' brain activity relative to the teacher's brain activity. SummaryLittle is known about the brain mechanisms that underpin how humans learn while interacting with one another in ecologically-valid environments (1-3). This is because cognitive neuroscientists typically measure one participant at a time in a highly constrained environment (e.g., inside a brain scanner). In the past few years, researchers have begun comparing brain responses across individuals (4-6) demonstrating that brain-to-brain synchrony can predict subsequent memory retention (7-9). Yet previous research has been constrained to noninteracting individuals. Surprisingly, the one study that was conducted in a group setting found that brain synchrony between students in a classroom predicted how engaged the students were, but not how much information they retained (10). This is unexpected because brain-to-brain synchrony is hypothesized to be driven, at least partially, by shared attention (11,12), and shared attention has been shown to affect subsequent memory (13). Here we used EEG to 3 simultaneously record brain activity from groups of four students and a teacher in a simulated classroom to investigate whether brain-to-brain synchrony, both between students and between the students and the teacher, can predict learning outcomes (Fig. 1A). We found that brain-tobrain synchrony in the Alpha band (8-12Hz) predicted students' delayed memory retention.Further, moment-to-moment variation in alpha-band brain-to-brain synchrony discriminated between content that was retained or forgotten. Whereas student-to-student brain synchrony best predicted delayed memory retention at a zero time lag, student-to-teacher brain synchrony best predicted memory retention when adjusting for a ~200 millisecond lag in the students' brain activity relative to the teacher's brain activity. These findings provide key new evidence for the importance of brain data collected simultaneously from groups of individuals in ecologicallyvalid settings. Results and DiscussionBehavioral results. Students' content knowledge was assessed a week before the EEG session, immediately following each one of four mini-lectures, and one week later ( Fig. 1B; See Methods). As expected, students' content knowledge significantly increased from the pre-test (0.43±0.02; mean ± standard deviation of the mean) to the immediate post-test (0.73±0.02; F(1,30)=210.76; p<10 -13 ), and from the pre-test to the delayed post-test (0.64±0.02; F(1,30)=...

A for Injection (1), and the most promising approaches for their validation. Experts from industry, regulatory authorities, German ministries, academia, research, national and international validation centres, and animal welfare organisations, were invited to actively participate in the meeting. The objective of the Expert Meeting was to review available alternative methods for BoNT potency testing, and to formulate recommendations for making progress toward implementing the Three Rs, i.e. Refinement, Reduction, and Replacement, in BoNT potency testing. In addition, ways in which communication on BoNT issues between manufacturers, researchers and regulators could be encouraged, and how improvements in regulatory harmonisation between different countries and continents could be achieved, were discussed. The meeting started with presentations by the individual participants, giving an overview on the regulatory and scientific status of alternative methods to the LD50 test for BoNT potency testing. Afterwards, the participants were divided into two separate break-out groups. Break-out Group 1 discussed the regulatory requirements for BoNT potency testing and the validation and implementation of alternative methods. Break-out Group 2 discussed the developed and available alternative methods and their suitability for reducing, refining or replacing the LD50 potency test.

Although beloved of some chemists and physicists, science demonstrations have been criticized for stifling inquiry and assisting teachers to maintain a power differential between themselves and students in the classroom. This interpretive study reports the unexpected positive learning outcomes for urban science students in two chemistry classes that resulted from the use of science demonstrations during a unit on gas laws. Beginning with an examination of science demonstrations as sites of interactions, researchers observed greater student engagement and positive emotional energy, more sophisticated use by students of symbol systems associated with chemistry, and a greater willingness of students to move between description of the phenomena and submicroscopic explanations. Applying sociology of emotions to analysis of classroom conversations and actions, we examine the nature of engagement and propose explanations for the positive effect of science demonstrations on the engagement, emotional energy, and learning of students.

Some people think that science is a set of facts that can be presented in plain and unadorned language. This fosters a belief that science has few stories. Actually, stories are very important in school science. In an examination of science textbooks, I have identified four different types of science stories which I call (a) heroic, (b) discovery, (c) declarative, and (d) politically correct. Each of these types of story promotes a particular set of philosophical assumptions about science. These assumptions are presented implicitly within the framework of the story as truths of science. This article specifically examines the philosophical assumptions that underpin heroic science stories and the implications of these stories in the discursive practices of the school science classroom. As teachers, we need to be critically aware of these assumptions, since they may be at odds with our beliefs about knowledge and our preferred teaching practices.