DRK-12 Research and Products
Publication | This study examined parents’ and teachers’ perspectives about the barriers and pathways to the development of home–school mathematics partnerships and how to move from barriers to pathways.
Publication | 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…
Publication | General educators rarely receive adequate training for supporting students with disabilities (SWDs). We suggest a key contributing factor is the longstanding gap between special and general education researchers, which is especially pronounced…
Publication | The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide guidance for climate education and scientific epistemology in secondary schools. This includes tools like climate models and observational data to help students understand global…
Publication | 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…
Publication | 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…
Publication | Research has affirmed the importance of asset-based family partnerships, yet it does not often recognize the complementary roles of multilingual caregivers and teachers to enact culturally sustaining mathematics education. Our theoretical…
Publication | Engineering has emerged as a promising context for STEM integration in K-12 schools. In the previous decade, the field has seen an increase in curricular resources and pedagogical approaches that invite students to utilize mathematics and…
Publication | Our study investigates the first year of a two-year place-based education (PBE) professional development model that focuses on career development in rural middle schools through project-based learning (PBL) units. Rural science, technology,…
Publication | We describe the development of a visual model to represent the implementation of an ambitious mathematics program, which serves as an example of a complex educational reform.
Publication | There is a need for research on effective classroom strategies available for teachers that promote equitable school-family collaborations. Such effective strategies are needed in general but also specifically in the area of content, skill…
Publication | In the United States, reforms put forth by Next Generation Science Standards have increased the demand for K-12 teacher professional development in science instruction. This study investigates a new professional development model, entitled…
Publication | Testing is a part of education around the world; however, there are concerns that consequences of testing is underexplored within current educational scholarship. Moreover, usability studies are rare within education. One aim of the present…
Publication | Research has shown that teaching mathematics through problem posing, or problem-posing based learning (P-PBL), is a student-centered instructional approach that can improve students’ cognitive and affective aspects of learning. However, since…
Publication | Grand Challenges (GCs) are complex, global, and multifaceted science and societal problems such as climate change, viral pandemics, loss of biodiversity, and quests for new energy sources. In this article, we advance a position, based on current…
Publication | Science and engineering offer ways to maintain the thermal comfort of our homes while minimizing impacts on the environment. This article introduces the Energy-Plus House Design Project, an NGSS-aligned curriculum unit developed to inspire and…
Publication | Efforts towards providing inclusive science and mathematics education for marginalized students are increasingly found in literature advocating for equity-oriented instruction through supporting students’ critical consciousness. Despite a…
Publication | A teacher’s working context is an important factor in how they make sense of and enact curriculum. Understanding how external factors (e.g. state and/or district policies, school cultural norms) interplay with teachers’ personal resources (e.g.…
Publication | There are few guidelines related to how to implement integrated STEM education in the K-12 science classroom. It is important that teachers have opportunities to reflect on integrated STEM instruction when implemented so that they may further…
Publication | Learning science in the context of local phenomena and problems can be powerful for young people. Yet, designing place-based instructional materials is resource intensive, limiting broad access. This study investigates how instructional…
Publication | This study examines the demographics, qualifications, and turnover of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri—two contiguous, predominantly rural states in the Midwestern region of the United States. The existing literature lacks detailed insights…
Publication | Research on teachers’ noticing of student mathematical thinking has typically focused on how a teacher attends to, interprets, and determines a response to an individual student contribution in isolation from the broader mathematical classroom…
Publication | In response to the growing emphasis on addressing global socio-scientific issues like climate change and viral pandemics in K-12 education, we designed three socio-scientific units for middle school science. We call this curriculum Grand…
Publication | This study explored secondary science teachers’ attending and interpretation of three science and engineering practices (SEPs) occurring in a classroom setting. This data were further examined to see if teaching experience and disciplinary area…
Publication | Controversial topics that arise in science classrooms, especially those of social relevance (e.g., the climate crisis), provide opportunities to help students learn about and discuss contradictory ideas they may encounter in their everyday…