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In this study, we examine how a professional science news editor and high school teachers respond to student writing in order to understand the values and priorities each bring to bear on student work. These questions…
Envisioning Scientifically Literate Students Fifteen Years after Graduation: The Promise of Educative Science Journalism
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The “Science Literacy Through Science Journalism” (SciJourn) project explores how the practices of good science journalism can inform high school science education. As high school students report science news, they learn…
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In this short text, the power of formative assessment as a teaching tool is detailed, and examples of opportunities for formative assessment within Foundation Science Biology proposed, for Learning Experiences (LE) 2, 3…
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Every Learning Experience in Foundation Science Begins with a brainstorming activity. This six minute video explains how brainstorming can be used to determine prior knowledge of your students, introduce new content, and…
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A brief overview of teacher tools that promote student discourse in the classroom. A summary of why spend your time on talk in the science classroom and its functions.
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An essay detailing the purposes, functions and benefits of academically productive talk including the Talk Goals and Moves chart.
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Students put their knowledge to work: every student must take a stand on whether to serve genetically modified potatoes in their school cafeteria – and to give evidence for their reasoning.…
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As the students grapple with the question of whether to serve genetically modified potatoes in the school cafeteria, the teacher uses strategies that encourage all students to voice their ideas and questions, to…
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In this discussion, students try to clarify areas of confusion among themselves. They puzzle through complicated scientific ideas and ask their peers for help. They wrestle with questions ranging from the definitional --…
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Learn more about the Plan, Teach and Reflect features of the electronic teacher guide.
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“Recent research emphasizes that teacher quality alone cannot improve student achievement at scale. School leadership, staff collaboration, and a positive climate are among essential organizational elements that contribute…
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“Specialized schools still represent a tiny fraction of U.S. public education. However, they may not only produce better results than traditional programs; they also can serve as models for schools seeking to improve.”…
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“When students from non-mainstream backgrounds receive equitable learning opportunities, they are capable of attaining science outcomes comparable to their mainstream peers. The same is true for mathematics and, presumably…
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“Providing a richness of resources unavailable in any classroom, informal science institutions across the country have developed exemplary partnerships with public schools—and have room for more.” Read this brief to…
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In this conceptual paper, we propose an heuristic to balance context-specific and generic scaffolding, as well as computer-based and teacher scaffolding, during instruction centered on authentic, scientific problems. This…
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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) give equal importance to Earth and space science, physical science, life science and engineering. It’s likely that the 26 Lead State Partners that helped develop the standards…
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This article describes how the NSF funded High-Adventure Science: Earth’s Systems and Sustainability (HAS:ESS) project is developing online curriculum modules for middle school and high school classroom use. The curricula…
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Create an immersive virtual environment to engage students in problem solving.
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Current science assessments typically present a series of isolated fact-based questions, poorly representing the complexity of how real-world science is constructed. The National Research Council asserts that this needs to…
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Though many national and international science organizations stress the importance of integrating scientific inquiry into classroom instruction, this is often difficult for teachers. Moreover, assessing and scaffolding…
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Inquiry-based learning is a part of modern science education at all levels. The new science education standards framework has both emphasized the central role of inquiry and further defined the core competencies, such as…
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STEM education-related publications that may be of interest to DR K-12 grantees.
This list contains STEM education-related publications that may be of interest to DRK-12 grantees for the purposes of (1…
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A PPT presentation on Articulating the Components of Inclusive STEM High Schools. Presented at STEMx Conference.
A PPT presentation on Articulating the Components of Inclusive STEM High Schools.…
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The NSF’s Discovery Research K-12 (DR K-12) program is one potential source of funding for the needed research on the educational effectiveness of gaming and simulations. The DR K-12 program seeks to enhance the teaching…
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This paper summarizes how Collaborative Online Projects (COPs) are used to facilitate science content-area learning for English Learners of Hispanic origin. This is a Mexico-USA partnership project funded by the National…
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Current data on school readiness and early math and science achievement indicate we are not giving young children the support they need to be “STEM Smart”. Read this brief on nurturing STEM skills in young learners…
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"The majority of U.S. students, particularly low-income and minority youth, lacks foundational skills and knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics." Read the brief to learn more about preparing…
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A 2-page summary of the ASPECT project, including project goals, approach, year one accomplishments, early findings, current efforts, and early impacts.
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Professional Development Aligned with AP Chemistry Curriculum: Promoting Science Practices and Facilitating Enduring Conceptual Understanding
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The recent revisions to the advanced placement (AP) chemistry curriculum promote deep conceptual understanding of chemistry content over more rote memorization of facts and algorithmic problem solving. For many teachers,…
Sticky Ions: A Student-Centered Activity Using Magnetic Models to Explore the Dissolving of Ionic Compounds
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Understanding what happens at the particulate level when ionic compounds dissolve in water is difficult for many students, yet this understanding is critical in explaining many macroscopic observations. This article…
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Understanding how games create a sense of flow and engagement can help teachers make better choices about their instructional use of games.
Ault, M., (2014). How games can engage students and improve…
The effectiveness of Reason Racer, a game designed to engage middle school students in scientific argumentation
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Reason Racer is an online, rate-based, multiplayer game that applies specific game features inorder to engage middle school students in introductory knowledge of and thinking related toscientific argumentation. Game…
Effective, Sustained Inquiry-Based Instruction Promotes Higher Science Proficiency Among All Groups: A 5-Year Analysis
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Student’s performance in science classrooms has continued to languish throughout the USA. Even though proficiency rates on national tests such as National Assessment of Educational Progress are higher for Caucasian…
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The Next Generation Science Standards can transform how teaching and learning unfold in the classroom. Here's what they look like —and how you can get started.
Whether your state has adopted the Next…
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Thinking critically. Communicating effectively. Collaborating productively. Students need to develop proficiencies while mastering the practices, concepts, and ideas associated with mathematics and science. Successful…
Professional Development to Enhance Teachers' Practices in Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as Cognitive Tools: Lessons Learned from a Design-Based Research Study
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Technology integration in K-12 classrooms is usually overly teacher-centered and has insufficient impact on students' learning, especially in enhancing students' higher-order cognitive skills. The purpose of this project…
Technologies and Reformed-Based Science Instruction: The Examination of a Professional Development Model Focused on Supporting Science Teaching and Learning with Technologies
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While access to computers, other technologies, and cyber-enabled resources that could be leveraged for enhancing student learning in science is increasing, generally it has been found that teachers use technology more for…
Use of Google Earth, Cyber Databases, and Geotagged Photos to Enhance Students’ Scientific Practices and Understanding
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Using Google Earth, Cyber Databases, and Geotagged Photos to Enhance Students’ Scientific Practices and Understanding of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Wang, S.-K. Hsu, H.-Y. & Jean Posada. (2014).…
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Many national initiatives in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have emphasized the connections between teachers and improved student learning. Much of the discussion surrounding these…
Exploring Ecosystems from the Inside: How Immersive Multi-user Virtual Environments Can Support Development of Epistemologically Grounded Modeling Practices in Ecosystem Science Instruction
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Recent reform efforts and the next generation science standards emphasize the importance of incorporating authentic scientific practices into science instruction. Modeling can be a particularly challenging practice to…
A Blended Professional Development Program to Help a Teacher Learn to Provide One-to-One Scaffolding
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Argumentation is central to instruction centered on socio-scientific issues (Sadler & Donnelly in International Journal of Science Education, 28(12), 1463–1488, 2006. doi:10.1080/09500690600708717). Teachers can play a…
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This paper employs meta-analysis to determine the influence of computer-based scaffolding characteristics and study and test scorequality on cognitive outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education…
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In this mixed method study, we examined the use and impact of computer based scaffolding to support middle school students’ creation of evidence-based arguments during a 3-week problem-based learning unit focused on the…
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This paper introduces SketchMiner, which uses drawing topologies to automatically interpret learner-generated sketches.
Mining learner generated sketches holds significant potential for acquiring deep…
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This paper presents WriteEval, a hybrid text analytics method for analyzing student-constructed responses.
Real-time formative assessment of student learning has become the subject of increasing…
Towards Domain-Independent Assessment of Elementary Students’ Science Competency using Soft Cardinality
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This paper presents a novel application of the soft cardinality text analytics method to support assessment of text.
Automated assessment of student learning has become the subject of increasing…
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The STEM School Study (S3) team sat down with inclusive STEM school leaders from over 25 inclusive STEM schools and asked them to describe the parts of their schools that are essential to their school models. We found that…
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A strategy that helps students develop a fuller view of energy's role in a variety of phenomena.
Crissman, S., Lacy, S., Nordine, J., and Tobin, R. (2015). Looking Through the Energy Lens. Science and…