Science

Although science is increasingly recognized as a key dimension of early learning, findings to date indicate that young children, especially those enrolled in public preschool programs serving historically excluded communities, have limited opportunities to engage in high quality science investigations. This four-year design and development project brings together public preschool teachers, families from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, early learning and STEM researchers, and designers of media to co-design a Professional Learning Hub for Early Science.

The goal of the actLocal project is to develop and test iPlan 2.0, an online platform for K–12 teachers, students, and the public to easily create localized climate change adaptation simulations for any location in the contiguous United States. These simulations will enable high school students and others to implement and evaluate strategies to address the impacts of climate change in their own communities.

We are investigating factors that influence elementary teachers’ professional learning (PL) in science and engineering. The intervention and ongoing supports are offered at a distance to participants teaching grades 3-5 in rural school districts. Overarching research objectives include examining: (1) the impacts of online science and engineering PL; (2) the effectiveness of modest supports on the sustainability of PL outcomes; and (3) the changes to teachers’ engineering instructional practices.

Data science is transforming science and industry, with a strong demand for skilled professionals. The LogicDataScience (LogicDS) curriculum at Florida Virtual Schools (FLVS) introduces high school students to this field and related careers, aiming to overcome educational barriers, particularly for rural students lacking access to STEM courses and qualified teachers.

Data science is transforming science and industry, with a strong demand for skilled professionals. The LogicDataScience (LogicDS) curriculum at Florida Virtual Schools (FLVS) introduces high school students to this field and related careers, aiming to overcome educational barriers, particularly for rural students lacking access to STEM courses and qualified teachers.

We examine the effect of an AI-based assessment system that provides individualized feedback to students’ open-ended assessment responses, like explanation and scientific models in high school physical sciences. The curriculum, assessments and feedback are consistent with a previously developed three-dimensional learning progression that describes successively more complex understandings students develop about electrical interactions. We examine the effects and interpretation of this cognitive supportive, formative feedback aligned with a learning progression.

Aligning the Science Teacher Education Pathway (ASTEP) functions as a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to bridge gaps across steps along the science teacher training and development pathways. This NIC has co-created a shared vision and co-defined research agenda between university researchers, science educators and school district practitioners working together to reform teacher education across a variety of local contexts to create and implement a NGSS Toolkit for phenomenon-based lessons/ units or unpacking existing NGSS curriculum.

This project contributes to advancing knowledge on STEM education focusing on societal challenges by harnessing the convergence of STEM subjects, including data science and computer science, to empower all students, especially multilingual learners (MLs). The research seeks to make two significant contributions. First, the project will develop a conceptual framework for multi-disciplinary STEM education with MLs to address pressing societal challenges. Second, the project will translate this conceptual framework into practical implementation in classrooms.

This project investigated the development of middle-school students’ understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. The project studied how and to what extent students’ participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations.

This project investigated the development of middle-school students’ understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. The project studied how and to what extent students’ participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations.