Modeling and systems thinking skills, as well as scientific understanding, are necessary for comprehending complex, food-related processes. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of food-related learning units on graduate students’ systems thinking and modeling skills, as well as on their understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) issues. In this research, six STEM experts constructed a conceptual model of the codfish tracking process using Object-Process Methodology. Next, 15 STEM graduate students, who are prospective teachers, participated in a graduate course, which includes four online units on food production processes based on their respective models. Research tools included an expert focus group, student assignments, and questionnaires. Modeling and scientific understanding rubrics were adapted and validated for analysis of the assignments. We found a significant difference in the scores of systems thinking and modeling skills between students with modeling background and those without. Based of students’ feedback along the course, learning in context of food and sustainability also contributed to developing these skills. The contribution is the combination of food production and conceptual models for developing STEM teachers’ systems thinking and modeling skills, and their scientific understanding of food processes and sustainability issues.

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Systems thinking and modeling are two critical 21st-century skills that teachers and educators are expected to impart to students, and students are expected to acquire and master them as part of their preparation to become literate citizens of a society and environment that is becoming ever more complex. Systems thinking is a thought process in which assumptions about interactions among interconnected elements of a system or a phenomenon can help predict the system’s behavior, outcomes, and in the case of human-made artifacts, the value to its beneficiaries. Conceptual modeling involves the simultaneous visual and textual representation of one’s ideas about a phenomenon or system in science or engineering. The qualitative study described here aimed to examine the effect of an online interdisciplinary asynchronous course on the development of systems thinking and conceptual modeling skills among pre- and in-service science and engineering teachers. Engaging in a qualitative case study with an exploratory orientation, we investigated how science and engineering teachers and teacher educators coped with (a) online learning of conceptual modeling and systems thinking using Object-Process Methodology in a food and sustainability context, and (b) developing an online assignment for teaching those skills to their students and assessing them. Research tools included the online assignment that the participants developed, dedicated rubrics for analyzing their assignments, accounting for use of modeling, media, visualization, micro–macro-process scientific understanding levels, and a mix of closed- and open-ended questions. Additionally, the participants’ reflections were analyzed to characterize their sense of self-efficacy and academic progression. We characterize five teacher-developed assignment cases along with the related teachers’ reflections, which exposed the benefits they had gained from the online course, as well as the systems thinking and modeling challenges they had faced. Analysis of the effect of the course with emphasis on the final task reveals that this approach is effective for developing the systems thinking and modeling skills of the teachers and serves as a catalyst for their professional development. The study offers a methodological contribution by providing a basis for evaluating teachers’ assessment knowledge and skills using a six attributes rubric.

We investigated the competence of in- and pre-service chemistry teachers and teacher mentors in designing sustainability- and systems-oriented online tasks for their students. Using a dedicated rubric, we evaluated their assessment knowledge (AK) as reflected in the tasks they had developed. The rubric is based on four attributes: integration of sustainability and chemistry, diversity of thinking skills, the variety of system aspects, and diversity of visual representations. Implementing a qualitative case study approach, we tracked the professional development of three purposefully sampled teachers in addition to using the rubric to score their tasks. Combining the rubric scorings and the qualitative investigation via feedback questionnaire revealed new insights. Besides the teachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge, the case studies’ context and relevance to the teachers were found central to their ability to assess learning. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of AK of teachers with different backgrounds and professional experiences. The methodological contribution stems from the analysis of self-developed tasks based on a designated rubric, which should be further validated.

Researchers and teachers worldwide seek creative and efficient ways to move from teacher- to student-centred classrooms, as well as to switch the mostly summative, assessment of learning, to a more formative, assessment for learning. This is especially necessary for online and digital learning environments in chemistry. This book provides high-school teachers, and university lecturers and instructors with theory and practice to support their pedagogical decisions regarding engaging in online, or virtual, teaching, learning, and assessment methods for chemistry courses. Technology has been integrated into classrooms with varying degrees of success, and the COVID-19 pandemic has forced educators to turn to digital learning to support their students. This book is motivated by a desire to collect and share effective and cutting-edge practices in teaching chemistry digitally. Furthermore, teaching chemistry digitally has the potential to bring greater equity to the field of chemistry education and foster access to quality learning, and this book will contribute to that goal. With more than 70 authors from nine countries, our book presents the ways digital learning and teaching of chemistry are being implemented around the world. At the same time, because of the universal nature of technology, the topics shared in this book will apply to chemistry teachers, researchers, and learners globally.