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This report describes initial findings from a study of middle school science curriculum materials that were designed to promote learning as called for by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).…
Examining the Responding Component of Teacher Noticing: A Case of One Teacher’s Pedagogical Responses to Students’ Thinking in Classroom Artifacts
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In this study, we investigated how an experienced fourth-grade teacher responded to her students’ thinking as part of her teacher noticing practice in a formative assessment context. Our primary purpose in doing this work…
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Drawing from published literature, as well as the experiences of a co-design team of motivation and science education researchers and middle school science teachers, we address the landscape of decision points for…
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We explored the COVID-19 pandemic as a context for learning about the role of science in a global health crisis. In spring 2020, at the beginning of the first pandemic-related lockdown, we worked with a high school teacher…
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School-based science inquiry tends to focus on already answered questions. We describe how we used the COVID-19 pandemic in a high school citizen science unit for students to witness and engage in real-time science. High…
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We describe an online citizen science platform for human brain and behavior research that uses a participatory science learning approach to engage learners in the full spectrum of scientific inquiry.
We…
Using Online Simulations to Promote Elementary Preservice Teachers’ Facilitation of Argumentation-Focused Discussions in Mathematics and Science
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In this study, our team developed and is studying the use of an Online Practice Suite (OPS) composed of a coordinated and scaffolded collection of three practice-based online simulations designed to support the development…
Pushing the Boundaries: Exploring the Potential of an Online Practice Suite to Support Elementary ScieTeachers in Learning How to Engage Students in Argumentation
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Slides from a pre-conference workshop at the 2021 National Association for Research in Science Teaching Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL.
Slides from a pre-conference workshop at the 2021 National…
PST Learning to Facilitate Argumentation Via Simulation: Exploring the Role of Understanding and Emotion
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The present study focuses on examining transitions in elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs)’ understanding of, and skills in, leading argumentation-focused discussions in mathematics during participation in a sequence of…
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This article describes a free online plate tectonics curriculum module (PT module), which offers a unique approach with two innovative tools that allow students to make connections between real-world data and plate…
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The goal of our National Science Foundation-funded Geological Models for Exploration of Dynamic Earth (GEODE) project is to help students use plate tectonics as an explanation for the landforms and geological phenomena…
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This article introduces a new online curriculum module called “What will Earth look like in 500 million years?” Using two web-based tools, middle and high school students develop understandings of (1) how collective…
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Climate change, and the rise of the natural hazards that climate change brings, has been at the top of news feeds every week over the past year. Extreme events such as floods, droughts, and wildfires are expected to…
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Today’s students are exposed to news about wildfires on an all-too-regular basis. An increasingly larger portion of those students live in areas where wildfire risks are high or where smoke has reduced the air quality. The…
Beyond Content: The Role of STEM Disciplines, Real-World Problems, 21st Century Skills, and STEM Careers within Science Teachers’ Conceptions of Integrated STEM Education
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This study used an exploratory case study design to investigate conceptions of 19 K-12 science teachers after participating in an integrated STEM-focused professional development and implementing integrated STEM lessons…
Eliciting and Refining Conceptions of STEM Education: A Series of Activities for Professional Development
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Integrated STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is becoming increasingly common in K–12 classrooms. However, various definitions of STEM education exist that make it challenging for teachers…
Improving Integrated STEM Education: The Design and Development of a K-12 STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) (RTP)
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The work presented here describes in detail the development of an integrated STEM observation instrument - the STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) - that can be used for both research and practice. Over a period of…
Classroom Orchestration of Computer Simulations for Science and Engineering Learning: A Multiple-Case Study Approach
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This multiple case study focused on the implementation of a computer-aided design (CAD) simulation to help students engage in engineering design to learn science concepts. Our findings describe three case studies that…
Examining Temporal Dynamics of Self-Regulated Learning Behaviors in STEM Learning: A Network Approach
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From a network perspective, self-regulated learning (SRL) can be conceptualized as networks of mutually interacting self-regulatory learning behaviors. Nevertheless, the research on how SRL behaviors dynamically interact…
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It is vital to develop an understanding of students' self-regulatory processes in the domains of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) for the quality delivery of STEM education. However, most studies…
Training a New Generation of Problem Solvers: How Can Education Programs Develop the Problem-Solving Skills of Today's Schoolchildren and Tomorrow's STEM Workforce?
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This article addresses the need and potential for students to develop problem-solving skills as part of STEM learning.
Songer, N.B. (2022 April) Training a new generation of problem solvers: How can…
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Humankind faces unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges. There is a critical need for STEM education to foster both science learning and the application of learning to problem solving. At the…
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This study explored how engaging in critical inquiry through Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global fostered social action with high school students. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from critical inquiry and social action…
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This week is Global Goals week — an annual week of action, awareness, and accountability for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, which are aimed at addressing global challenges like poverty and hunger. In…
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In a project designed to help create the next generation of problem-solvers, North Carolina State University researchers challenged a group of 11th graders to investigate and find solutions to a global problem: that…
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Globally relevant, action-oriented learning, like Project-Based Inquiry (PBI) Global, is a powerful tool to increase classroom engagement and help students understand the world in which they live. Today, Person Early…
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Achieving data literacy is challenging when schools narrowly focus on statistical reasoning rather than on meaning- and inference-making. Without attention to the social contexts of data, learners can fail to develop a…
Building Teacher Leadership for Equitably Accessible Distance Science Learning in a School District During COVID-19
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AERA symposium presentation on accessible distance learning in science during COVID.
Delhaye, C., Borko, H., Wilsey, M., Reigh, E., & Osborne, J. (2021). Building teacher leadership for equitably…
Changes in Elementary Teachers' Perceptions and Facilitation of Argumentation Throughout Year-Long Participation in Professional Learning
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AERA presentation on elementary teachers’ perceptions and facilitation of argumentation in the context of professional learning.
Wilsey, M., Delhaye, C., Collins, M., Allan, S., Reigh, E., Borko, H.,…
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NARST presentation on instructional decision making to improve argumentation in science.
Osborne, J. & Reigh, E. (2021). Towards improving science discussions: A framework to guide instructional…
What's In a Wave? Using Modeling and Computational Thinking to Enhance Students' Understanding of Waves
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Teaching about wave structure and function is a critical element of any physical science curriculum and supported by Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for…
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We explored how preservice teachers in a middle school science methods course learned and applied computational thinking (CT) concepts and activities during a month-long
intervention.
We explored how…
Theoretical Diversity and Inclusivity in Science and Environmental Education Research: A Way Forward
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As distinct communities of practice (COP), science education research (SER) and environmental education research (EER) have both matured a great deal in recent decades, coming to include a greater diversity of theoretical…
We Strive: Initial Explorations of STEM Teachers' Successes and Challenges in Implementing Socioscientific Issues
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This study explores two teachers participating in professional development workshops implementing SocioScientific Issues (SSI) into STEM classrooms. Two research questions were investigated: (a) To what extent did teachers…
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The tasks described in this chapter are intended to build connections between these real-world dangers of viral spread and some relevant topics from the secondary mathematics curriculum. We also explore a link between…
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In this chapter, we argue that the learning sciences and science education have coevolved, a co-evolution that began with the emergence of the learning sciences in the 1990s and that continues today.
In…
Eco-Solutioning: The Design and Evaluation of a Curricular Unit to Foster Students’ Creation of Solutions to Address Local Socio-Scientific Issues
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The global pandemic and climate change have led to unprecedented environmental, social, and economic challenges with interdisciplinary STEM foundations. Even as STEM learning has never been more important, very few pre-…
Understanding Students' Sense-Making Processes When Faced with Unexpected Data: A Case Study in High School Biology
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Examining a lesson in a high school biology unit that utilized noisy sensor data, we sought to understand the ways students engaged in active reasoning about the data and the factors that influenced this process. Video…
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The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Development Team is working with the Northwest Arctic Borough School District to develop STEM lessons utilizing Iñupiaq knowledge systems and university research for middle school-…
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In this article, we—a team of science teachers and a university researcher—present the processes of adapting existing curricular resources to promote equitable learning experiences for diverse learners. Using a middle…
Beginning School-University Partnerships for Transformative Social Change in Science Education: Narratives From The Field
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These narratives explore what it might entail to begin school–university partnerships towards the goal of transformative social changes through the voices of two women scholars of color. Using two school–university…
Improving Prekindergarten and Elementary Science Teaching: A Synthesis of Recent DRK-12 Program Investment in This Field
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This review synthesized insights from 25 NSF DRK-12 projects that studied prekindergarten (PreK) and elementary science teaching. This review covered 25 of the 27 projects funded between 2011 and 2015. We synthesized the…
The Role of Inclusion, Discrimination, and Belonging for Adolescent Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Engagement In and Out of School
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Women and ethnic minoritized individuals are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains in postsecondary education and in the workforce. The aim of the current study was to examine…
Examining Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Answer Changing Behavior on a Content Knowledge for Teaching Science Assessment
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We use an online Content Knowledge for Teaching (CKT) assessment that measures PSTs’ CKT in one science area: matter and its interactions. In this study, we analyzed process data from administering the online CKT matter…
Students Do Not Always Mean What We Think They Mean: A Questioning Strategy to Elicit the Reasoning Behind Unexpected Causal Patterns in Student System Models
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An ability to engage in system thinking is necessary to understand complex problems. While many pre-college students use system modeling tools, there is limited evidence of student reasoning about causal relationships that…
Invisible Multilingual Black and Brown Girls: Raciolinguistic Narratives of Identity in Science Education
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Black and Brown girls are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. Although studies have examined the reasons for this by exploring Black and Brown girls' experiences based on culture,…
Transforming Science Learning Framework: Translating an Equity Commitment into Action through Co-Design
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In this study, we present a conceptual tool for guiding teachers’ principled pedagogical actions toward equitable instruction, referred to as the Transforming Science Learning (TSL) framework. The TSL framework was…
Legitimation Code Theory as an Analytical Framework for Integrated STEM Curriculum and Its Enactment
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In this paper, we describe Legitimation Code Theory as an analytical framework and provide an analysis of semantic patterns of an integrated STEM unit (written discourse) and a middle school teacher’s …
Direct and Transfer Effects of an Interdisciplinary Model Integrating Science and Reading in Grades 1–3: Results and Policy Implications
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Implemented was a 45-minute per day Primary Science IDEAS intervention in grades 1–2 integrating reading and writing within science instruction in a multi-year study conducted in 8 experimental and 9 control schools.…
Engagement and Science Achievement in the Context of Integrated STEM Education: A Longitudinal Study
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A growing number of studies have shown the benefits of K-12 integrated science and engineering education. With this study, we add to the literature by documenting the relationship between STEM learning and engagement, and…