Molecular animations in genomics education: designing for whom?

Molecular animations can be beneficial as teaching tools for genomics education; however, barriers to their effective implementation remain. This article proposes informed design guidelines from the perspective of the animator that may assist others to effectively communicate scientific concepts to their respective audiences and communities.

An Applied Research-Based Approach to Support Chemistry Teachers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

In this Communication paper we describe how a research-based approach was applied in Israel to support high-school chemistry teachers, who continued to teach using technology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the TPACK (technological pedagogical content knowledge) framework for teachers' knowledge in technological environments, we developed a questionnaire for chemistry teachers, with the goal to reveal the difficulties they encountered, their needs, and their means for sharing their knowledge, materials, and teaching strategies for online teaching. On the basis of the analysis of the collected data, we provided a research-based response that focused on the teachers' needs when using technology to teach chemistry. Teachers' needs, in terms of their knowledge, skills, and means of support, which were identified in the research and the activities that were developed in order to address them, are presented. We emphasized the research-based process that was applied to address teachers' needs during the pandemic.

What can be learned from lecturers' knowledge and self-efficacy for online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic to promote online teaching in higher education.

The experience of graduate degree lecturers in the natural sciences when they switched to online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic is described. The shift to online teaching throughout the pandemic provided an opportunity to evaluate how lecturers integrate technology into their teaching and what they need to improve their remote teaching. This study used a twofold perspective of TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and self-efficacy in online education. Its data were derived from pre-and post-questionnaires, comprising closed and open-ended questions, given at the start and end of the semester. We found that lecturers focused on learning and applying technological and techno-pedagogical knowledge but paid less attention to the integration of three components: technology, pedagogy, and scientific content. Although no statistically significant differences in lecturers' perceived self-efficacy was found between the start and the end of the semester, at the end of the semester we found a statistically significant correlation between the variables involved in building self-efficacy in online teaching: (1) satisfaction with online teaching and the belief that (2) technology promotes teaching, student interactions, participation, and engagement. Our results enabled us to identify the knowledge aspects that lecturers implemented initiatively and to better understand what aspects required more professional development training. In addition, the results emphasized the importance of developing the lecturers' self-efficacy for online teaching. These insights can help to improve and enhance online teaching in higher education.