Curriculum

Science instruction should involve learners in generating and warranting ideas, what we call epistemic generation. In modeling instruction, epistemic generation should be achieved by coordinating a model structure with the experienced world in reciprocal directions denoted as developing models and using models. In the former, a model structure is shaped from experience. In the latter, experience is shaped by a model structure. Focusing on this latter direction, the present study combats the perception that using models is not a generative practice but merely the dutiful application of others' ideas.

Science instruction should involve learners in generating and warranting ideas, what we call epistemic generation. In modeling instruction, epistemic generation should be achieved by coordinating a model structure with the experienced world in reciprocal directions denoted as developing models and using models. In the former, a model structure is shaped from experience. In the latter, experience is shaped by a model structure. Focusing on this latter direction, the present study combats the perception that using models is not a generative practice but merely the dutiful application of others' ideas.

We examine the meanings students give to points when they are graphing relationships between quantities in dynamic, experiential contexts. Using data from teaching experiments with middle-grades students, we illustrate two main categories of meanings: iconic and quantitative.

This study was designed to examine how three undergraduate students enrolled in a developmental mathematics course interpreted and engaged with problem-posing tasks, the problems they posed and the knowledge the posed problems could invoke.

Curriculum design experts from the Center for Technology and School Change propose a process for teachers to design STEM curriculum that prioritizes inquiry rooted in the community that empowers students to be active participants in a democratic society.

Curriculum materials can play an essential role to help teachers shift their instruction. However, curricular enactment does not look identical in every classroom, because teachers need to be responsive to their students. In this study, we investigated the customizations teachers made while enacting storyline science curriculum.

Innovative science curricula aim to transform classroom instruction by emphasizing socio-scientific issues (SSI), student-centered inquiry, and culturally relevant pedagogy. Engaging with new and innovative curricula has the potential to stretch teachers’ instructional practices when they fully commit to implementation, challenging them to navigate tensions between their existing approaches and reform-oriented teaching methods. The Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) and the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (IMPG) provide a lens for understanding the motivations behind teacher decisions when implementing such curricula and whether these decisions lead to professional learning. This study applies these frameworks to examine how two middle school science teachers, Andrew and Abby, navigated the implementation of the Grand Challenges (GC) curriculum, balancing the perceived costs, values, and challenges of integrating SSI into their instruction.

Since the release of A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), there has been an urgent need for teacher professional development (PD) programs that support the implementation of NGSS-aligned curriculum materials and address the unique strengths and needs of diverse student groups, including multilingual learners (MLs). The purpose of this study is to describe how teacher feedback guided the design and refinement of our curriculum-based PD program integrating science and language with MLs through a 2-year field trial.

Engineering design has been widely implemented in K-12 curricula to cultivate future workforce. In this study, seventh-grade students participated in the Solarizing Your School curriculum, an action-oriented program where they engaged in engineering design processes to tackle a real-world problem related to renewable energy adoption. The study sought to explore how students balanced constraints and criteria in engineering design.

Engineering design has been widely implemented in K-12 curricula to cultivate future workforce. In this study, seventh-grade students participated in the Solarizing Your School curriculum, an action-oriented program where they engaged in engineering design processes to tackle a real-world problem related to renewable energy adoption. The study sought to explore how students balanced constraints and criteria in engineering design.