The purpose of this study was to reconstruct writers' reasoning process as reflected in their written texts. The codes resulting from the text analysis were related to cognitive operations, ranging from simple to more sophisticated ones. The sequence of the cognitive operations as the text unfolded represents the writer's cognitive pathway at the time the text was produced. This type of analysis was used to study the impact that three different types of inquiries had on the reasoning process of low‐achieving and high‐achieving students when performing their laboratory activity using the Science Writing Heuristic. The researchers found that the reasoning pathways for both low‐achieving and high‐achieving students were similar for each type of inquiry, characterized as being decision‐making, descriptive/speculative, and application. The reasoning pathways for the decision‐making and application inquiries appear to be more structured than the pathways for the descriptive/speculative activity. The dependence between students' achievement levels and the type of inquiry in relation to specific use of thinking operations was tested using a chi‐square analysis, with the results indicating that the reasoning operations performed by the students are independent of their achievement level and dependent on the inquiry type. Higher‐order operations were extensively used in the decision‐making inquiry and less used in the application activity. Low‐order cognitive operations, such as observations and comparisons, were extensively used in the descriptive/speculative inquiry while being less used in the decision‐making inquiry activity.

This study explored whether Montana agricultural stakeholders’ perceptions and observations of climate change vary according to four socio-ecological variables: income, political view, agricultural occupation, and production region. A survey including 27 questions was developed into five sections: (1) agricultural background information; (2) perceptions about climate change; (3) observed changes in climate-related variables; (4) adaptation practices and strategies; and (5) demographic information. The survey included Likert-scored responses and multiple-choice questions, and was completed by 452 participants, including conventional and organic farmers and ranchers, extension agents, crop consultants, and researchers. The results indicate that while a notable fraction of agricultural stakeholders are alarmed about climate change and optimistic about the human capacity to reduce climate change, the degree of concern and optimism significantly varies depending on the stakeholder’s political views, production region, and agricultural occupation group. We found that observations of changes in climate, perceptions about climate change, and potential risks to agricultural production are driven mainly by political views. Both perceptions and observations drive the choice of adaptation and mitigation practices. It is thus essential to understand farmers’ socio-ecological characteristics when designing agricultural outreach programs in order to reduce barriers for the adoption of climate-resilient agriculture.

The recent discovery and ongoing detection of Einstein's predicted gravitational waves offers an exciting opportunity for engaging the general public in science. In order to reach a wide range of people with different science-art identities, levels of physics expertise, age, and gender, the Celebrating Einstein festival merges science, dance, and music. Festival components include: (1) a danced lecture with choreography inspired by representations of black holes and gravitational waves, and (2) live interviews with physicists that address issues of science, philosophy, religion, art, and education. We assessed the impact of this festival by deploying a pre- and post-event survey at three Celebrating Einstein festivals hosted in different sites in the United States (Northern, Southern, and Central), and by interviewing a subset of attendees at one location. This study focuses on participants’ knowledge gain, interest in science, and emotional reactions towards this science-art event. We explored how knowledge gain varies by participant demographics, how it correlates with an increased interest in science and intention to attend future science-art events, and how participants engaged emotionally. Results indicate that the science-art format effectively reached a wide range of demographic groups, significantly increased participants’ knowledge, interest in science and science-art events, and broadened their perception of scientists.