Explicit instruction lays a set of instructional steps and cognitive strategies that proceed to teach in small steps, checking for understanding, and seeking active student participation. The challenge of teaching electrochemistry explains why misconceptions and misunderstandings are rife in the field of electrochemistry . In science education, every new concept is buried within an architectural foundation of prior knowledge that needs to be taught alongside core concepts and procedures . Thus, unlike unambiguous educator instruction delivered in isolation, effective teaching practices (like the gradual release of responsibility and explicit instruction) find use in science education because they share the fact that an educator teaches academic content in a systematic and explicit way. The gradual release of responsibility aspect of explicit instruction mirrors the intersection of several theories, such as Thorndike's law of readiness, Piaget's cognitive schemata, and Vygotsky's zones of proximal development. Importantly, the interruption of explicit instruction requires student removal from a classroom for disciplinary reasons (i.e. internal exclusion) (Supplementary Note 3). Also, retrieval practice, at the start of explicit instruction, is best implemented through a routine of short answer questions that activates learning by allowing students to construct knowledge . Embedding questions aimed at student misconceptions into retrieval practice addresses the frequent resurfacing of misconceptions while enabling knowledge transfer to a new context.