Science

Center for Advancing Elementary Science Through Assessment, Research, and Technology (CAESART)

Principal Investigator:
Megan Silander

The Center for Advancing Elementary Science through Assessment, Research, and Technology (CAESART) is a national R&D center lead by EDC with University of Miami, CRESST-UCLA, and Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. CAESART aims to improve high-quality science instruction and assessment for early elementary learners. Activities include:

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Discipline/Topic:
Science
Target Audience:
Elementary School

Building Insights Through Observation: Researching Arts-based Methods for Teaching and Learning with Data

Principal Investigator:
Kathryn Semmens

Building Insights Through Observation is a project designed to advance our understanding of how science teachers can learn to incorporate arts-based teaching methods and visualizations of authentic science data into their pedagogical practices in order to improve students’ data literacy and critical thinking skills. This project uses geospatial visualizations along with arts-based pedagogies for observing visual features of data visualizations to develop critical thinking skills and practices required to effectively make meaning from scientific data.

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Discipline/Topic:
Science
Technology
Target Audience:
Middle School

Building Capacity in a Rural School District to Support Teacher Development in STEM Areas Through Cycles of Continuous Improvement

Principal Investigator:
Rodolfo Rincones

Our poster addresses the focal area of Building Partnerships and Collaborating, by examining how the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Fabens Independent School District (FISD) partnership was created and how collaboration developed among the partners. We examine the implementation of Liberating Structures to develop authentic relationships, establish interaction norms, and open and transparent communication. These three elements of our partnership development resulted in flattening the traditional hierarchy often present in research-practice partnerships.

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Discipline/Topic:
Engineering
Mathematics
Science
Technology
Target Audience:
Elementary School
Middle School
High School
Post-secondary

Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes Within and Across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts

Principal Investigator:
Diane Jass Ketelhut
Brian Nelson

This research project aims to enhance elementary teacher education in science and computational thinking pedagogy through the use of Culturally Relevant Teaching, i.e. teaching in ways that are relevant to students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The project will support 60 elementary teachers in summer professional development and consistent learning opportunities during the school year to learn about and enact culturally relevant computational thinking into their science instruction.

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Discipline/Topic:
Science
Technology
Target Audience:
Elementary School

Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes Within and Across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts

Principal Investigator:
Diane Jass Ketelhut
Brian Nelson

This research project aims to enhance elementary teacher education in science and computational thinking pedagogy through the use of Culturally Relevant Teaching, i.e. teaching in ways that are relevant to students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The project will support 60 elementary teachers in summer professional development and consistent learning opportunities during the school year to learn about and enact culturally relevant computational thinking into their science instruction.

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Discipline/Topic:
Science
Technology
Target Audience:
Elementary School

Understanding and Managing the Complexities in Situated Learning in Immersive Virtual Environments

Science
Curriculum
Middle

Situated learning has been widely promoted in educational practice, where students are encouraged to learn by exploring real-world problems in authentic contexts. To expand the opportunities for situated learning, immersive virtual environments have been explored by presenting problem contexts in vivid and interactive formats and enabling a variety of exploration activities. However, there are multiple challenges surrounding situated learning.

Access Link
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-025-10519-5
Author/Presenter

Minhong Wang

Chris Dede

Tina A. Grotzer

Juanjuan Chen

Lead Organization(s)
Harvard University
Year
2025
Short Description

Situated learning has been widely promoted in educational practice, where students are encouraged to learn by exploring real-world problems in authentic contexts. To expand the opportunities for situated learning, immersive virtual environments have been explored by presenting problem contexts in vivid and interactive formats and enabling a variety of exploration activities. However, there are multiple challenges surrounding situated learning. The challenges can be caused by the complexities of real-world problems, the complexities in exploring real-world problems, and the complexities in reflecting on the exploration experience. This paper presents a conceptual framework outlining three types of complexities surrounding situated learning and six strategies for coping with these complexities.

Pumping Up Curiosity: How Child-Led Play Fuels Early Science Learning

Science
Pre-K
Elementary

This article emphasizes the critical role of play in early childhood science education, arguing that natural, child-led play fosters important opportunities for children to explore scientific ideas and practices. Drawing on Vygotsky’s theories and recent studies, the authors advocate for environments that encourage exploratory play to develop children’s scientific skills. The article presents a detailed vignette from Inch By Inch Preschool, showcasing how children engaged with air pumps to explore scientific phenomena.

Access Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00368148.2025.2482267
Author/Presenter

Katahdin Cook Whitt

Aaron Beaumont

Jessica Lewis

Lead Organization(s)
Bowdoin College
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA)
Year
2025
Short Description

This article emphasizes the critical role of play in early childhood science education, arguing that natural, child-led play fosters important opportunities for children to explore scientific ideas and practices. Drawing on Vygotsky’s theories and recent studies, the authors advocate for environments that encourage exploratory play to develop children’s scientific skills.

Pumping Up Curiosity: How Child-Led Play Fuels Early Science Learning

Science
Pre-K
Elementary

This article emphasizes the critical role of play in early childhood science education, arguing that natural, child-led play fosters important opportunities for children to explore scientific ideas and practices. Drawing on Vygotsky’s theories and recent studies, the authors advocate for environments that encourage exploratory play to develop children’s scientific skills. The article presents a detailed vignette from Inch By Inch Preschool, showcasing how children engaged with air pumps to explore scientific phenomena.

Access Link
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00368148.2025.2482267
Author/Presenter

Katahdin Cook Whitt

Aaron Beaumont

Jessica Lewis

Lead Organization(s)
Bowdoin College
Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA)
Year
2025
Short Description

This article emphasizes the critical role of play in early childhood science education, arguing that natural, child-led play fosters important opportunities for children to explore scientific ideas and practices. Drawing on Vygotsky’s theories and recent studies, the authors advocate for environments that encourage exploratory play to develop children’s scientific skills.

NLP-Enabled Automated Assessment of Scientific Explanations: Towards Eliminating Linguistic Discrimination

Science
Assessment
Educational Technology
Equity
Middle

As use of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased, concerns about AI bias and discrimination have been growing. This paper discusses an application called PyrEval in which natural language processing (NLP) was used to automate assessment and provide feedback on middle school science writing without linguistic discrimination. Linguistic discrimination in this study was operationalized as unfair assessment of scientific essays based on writing features that are not considered normative such as subject-verb disagreement.

Access Link
https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.13596
Author/Presenter

ChanMin Kim

Rebecca J. Passonneau

Eunseo Lee

Mahsa Sheikhi Karizaki

Dana Gnesdilow

Sadhana Puntambekar

Lead Organization(s)
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison)
Year
2025
Short Description

As use of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased, concerns about AI bias and discrimination have been growing. This paper discusses an application called PyrEval in which natural language processing (NLP) was used to automate assessment and provide feedback on middle school science writing without linguistic discrimination.

NLP-Enabled Automated Assessment of Scientific Explanations: Towards Eliminating Linguistic Discrimination

Science
Assessment
Educational Technology
Equity
Middle

As use of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased, concerns about AI bias and discrimination have been growing. This paper discusses an application called PyrEval in which natural language processing (NLP) was used to automate assessment and provide feedback on middle school science writing without linguistic discrimination. Linguistic discrimination in this study was operationalized as unfair assessment of scientific essays based on writing features that are not considered normative such as subject-verb disagreement.

Access Link
https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjet.13596
Author/Presenter

ChanMin Kim

Rebecca J. Passonneau

Eunseo Lee

Mahsa Sheikhi Karizaki

Dana Gnesdilow

Sadhana Puntambekar

Lead Organization(s)
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison)
Year
2025
Short Description

As use of artificial intelligence (AI) has increased, concerns about AI bias and discrimination have been growing. This paper discusses an application called PyrEval in which natural language processing (NLP) was used to automate assessment and provide feedback on middle school science writing without linguistic discrimination.

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