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An essay detailing the purposes, functions and benefits of academically productive talk including the Talk Goals and Moves chart.
Science
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Climate Education in Secondary Science: Comparison of Model-based and Non-Model-based Investigations of Earth’s Climate
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In this mixed method study, we analyse the effectiveness of two pedagogical approaches – one model-based and another non-model-based – for developing secondary students’ understanding of the phenomenon of increase in Earth…
Motivational pathways to STEM career choices: Using expectancy-value perspective to understand individual and gender differences in STEM fields
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In this article, we conduct a literature review of the current knowledge surrounding individual and gender differences in STEM educational and career choices, using expectancy–value theory as a guiding framework…
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This section presents an overview of critical developments in technology-driven, classroom-based innovative assessment practices. It uses a framework organized around cognitive constructs, assessment functionality, and…
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Seasons is a free and innovative 8-day unit that provides interactive videos, hands-on activities, lesson plans, and student worksheets to explore the causes behind Earth’s seasons.
Seasons is a free…
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STEM education-related publications that may be of interest to DRK-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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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…
Secondary Science Teaching for English Learners: Developing Supportive and Responsive Learning Contexts for Sense-Making and Language Development
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This book focuses on the preparation of secondary science teachers to teach science to English Learners (EL) and is based on the SSTELLA (Secondary Science Education with English Language and Literacy Acquisition) project…
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Online plotter for historical data and student data collected using the Emery Method for beach profiling.
Online plotter for historical data and student data collected using the Emery Method for beach…
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SOLID Start (Science Oral Language and Literacy Development from the Start of School) curricula are guided by a driving question and puzzling phenomena that engage young students and elicit their natural curiosities. The…
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).…
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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This tool is designed to help teachers reflect on a lesson they observed and guide effective, learning-focused mentoring conversations.
Science
Professional Development…
Learning About Science Topics of Social Relevance Using Lower and Higher Autonomy-Supportive Scaffolds
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Evaluation of plausible alternative explanations of scientific phenomena is an authentic scientific activity. Instructional scaffolding can facilitate students’ engagement in such evaluations by facilitating their…
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This paper explores the theoretical connection between STEM and emergent technologies, with a focus on learner behaviors and the potential of technology-mediated experiences with computational participation (CP) in shaping…
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-…
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This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering.
This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering. Noting the importance of infiltration in the water cycle and in…
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On February 10th, 2012, five Fellows presented on the work of their projects. Many thanks to the presenters and to the audience of Fellows who followed up each presentation with great questions and discussion.
Due to…
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Echoing calls to expand environmental education research through design, this study explores the role of design in garden-based education and illustrate its contributions towards practical impact and theoretical insight…
Increasing Student Confidence in Writing: Integrating Authentic Manuscript Writing into an Online 8-Week Research Program
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In various formats, students at the secondary and postsecondary levels participate in multiweek authentic science research projects. There have been many papers explaining the operations of such programs, but few have…
Integrating STEM into Preschool Education: Designing a Professional Development Model in Diverse Settings
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In this article, the authors outline the main components and the iterative design process we undertook to ensure that the professional supports are relevant and effective for teachers and children.
High…
Development of Illustrations as Image Supports for English Language Learners in Large-Scale Testing: A Report on the Procedure for Designing Vignette Illustrations
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This paper presents a framework and a procedure for developing vignette illustrations as a form of testing accommodation for English language learners (ELLs). Vignette illustrations are defined as illustrations added to…
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Three short (4-5 session) curriculum units and an engineering design challenge include firsthand, guided explorations of energy in everyday phenomena. Beginning with easily observable phenomena, such as ball collisions,…
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Mastery goal structures, which communicate value for developing deeper understanding, are an important classroom support for student motivation and engagement, especially in the context of science learning aligned with the…
The Role of Simulation-Enabled Design Learning Experiences on Middle School Students’ Self-generated Inherence Heuristics
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This article describes the effect of simulation-enabled Learning by Design learning experiences on student-generated heuristics that can lead to solutions to problems.
In science and engineering…
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In this pdf are STEM education networks and social media sources that may be of interest to DR-K12 grantees for the purposes of (1) disseminating knowledge and products and (2) developing partnerships with…
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The Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry (ITSI) project is a learning portal with hundreds of free, customizable science, math, and engineering activities funded by the National Science Foundation…
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This report takes stock of what we currently know as well as what we need to know to make classroom assessment maximally beneficial for the teaching and learning of STEM subject matter in K–12 classrooms…
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In this Journal of Science Teacher Education article, Jarod Kawasaki and William Sandoval report on one teachers’ efforts to re-design an entire instructional unit as a coherent storyline about forces and motion as a part…
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This is the final poster that was presented at the PI conference in Washington, DC. it was part of the DRK 12 Sims & Games session proposal of 12 posters.
Assessment
Gaming/…
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This brief explores factors that contribute to opportunity gaps in STEM education based on race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and socioeconomic status. It showcases the work of several DR K-12 projects and describes…
Understanding the Effect of Differences in Prior Knowledge on Middle School Students’ Collaborative Interactions and Learning
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We investigated how the level of variance in students’ prior knowledge may have influenced their collaborative interactions and science learning in small groups. We examined learning outcomes from 102 groups from seven…
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This paper will describe the process and result of developing a LEGO robotics, NGSS, and 5E aligned middle school curriculum during a three-week summer PD program for teachers who teach urban students-of-color…
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Research in student knowledge and learning of science has typically focused on explaining conceptual change. Recent research, however, documents the great degree to which student thinking is dynamic and context-sensitive,…
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When asked what plants need for photosynthesis, many students can correctly recall the reaction equation and state that plants require CO2, H2O, and light. Many students, however, do not understand that these reactants are…
Designing Educative Curriculum Materials for Teacher Educators: Supporting Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Content Knowledge for Teaching About Matter and Its Interactions
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Research on teacher educators’ professional learning has gained increasing interest within science education. Curriculum materials have been suggested as a means of supporting teacher learning for several decades but have…
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In this article, authors propose a framework that centers the investigation as a key locus for constructing alignments among phenomena, data, and explanatory models and makes visible the work that scientists engage in as…
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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…
Rethinking Online Science Learning: Creating Virtual Research Experiences using Digitized Museum Specimens
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This article focused on creating virtual research experiences using digitized museum specimens.
Butcher, K. R., Larson, M., Lane, M., & Power, M. (2022). Rethinking Online Science Learning: Creating…
Beyond the controversy: Instructional scaffolds to promote critical evaluation and understanding of Earth science
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Our project team has been developing and testing four MELs about socio-scientific issues (climate change, wetlands and land use, fracking and earthquakes) and abstract ideas (formation of Earth’s Moon) for use in high…
Characterizing Adaptive Expertise: Teacher Profiles Based on Epistemic Orientation and Knowledge of Epistemic Tools
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With an ultimate goal of characterizing teachers' movement toward understanding the epistemic complexity of generative learning environments, this study refers to adaptive teaching expertise (AdTex) as a…
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The context for this study was an intervention that provided professional development (PD) for preschool (pre-K) and kindergarten (K) teachers and science engagement activities for families. The research sought to…
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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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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…
Co-Constructing Models in High School Physics: Comparing Degrees of Teacher and Student Participation in Whole Class Discussions
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In this study, we analyzed the participation of teachers and students during their co-construction of explanatory models for concepts in circuit electricity in two high school physics classes.
In this…
Schoolyard SITES: School-Community Partnership to Learn About Teaching Locally-Relevant Citizen Science
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Our research study examines the community-based partnership PD model and its impact on school teachers’ self-efficacy and their success in engaging students in the NGSS science practices through citizen science projects…
Making Critical Thinking Visible for Student Analysis and Reflection: Using Structured Documentation to Enhance Effective Reasoning and Communication
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This Science Scope article discusses how to foster critical-thinking skills in middle school science.
Butcher, K. R., Runburg-Larson, M., & Lane, M. (2019). Making critical thinking visible for…
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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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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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Ambitious Science Teaching outlines a powerful framework for science teaching to ensure that instruction is rigorous and equitable for students from all backgrounds. The practices presented in the book are being used in…