Professional learning about an innovative teaching method is a demonstrated way to improve teacher practices, and ultimately impact student learning. One way to scale up professional learning is a facilitator development model, in which professional learning and development (PLD) designers prepare facilitators to understand the innovation and they…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) claim to be an evolution of previous work. Yet prominent voices in the science education community argue that they are a revolution. This study sought to examine these competing claims by analyzing an older middle school science curriculum through the lens of the NGSS. This analysis demonstrates that…

Plant blindness is defined as the inability to notice plants in one's own environment, recognize their importance for the environment and human beings, appreciate their aesthetic and unique biological features, and the tendency to rank plants as inferior to animals. Many people exhibit symptoms of plant blindness (Wandersee & Schussler, 1999).…

This exploratory study examines how a team of three seventh grade teachers from a rural/suburban middle school in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States adapted the WATERS curriculum for asynchronous online delivery. The study shows that many hurdles can be mitigated with intentional planning, dedicated resources, and professional…

Research shows that English learners (ELs) are not pursuing STEM majors after high school at the same rate as their White peers. In this study, an exploratory design approach was utilized to determine the sources of messaging for ELs about STEM that impact their STEM self-efficacy and STEM career self-efficacy. The participant students attend a…

The current mixed method study examined a Teacher Leadership Program (TLP) to determine to what extent participating teachers had changes in content knowledge (CK), practices, leadership skills, and leadership knowledge. The purpose was to determine if this program could be utilized to suggest a sustainable model for improving science education by…

In this paper, we take a longitudinal case study approach to explore changes in two middle school teachers' beliefs and their self-reported changes in practice, as they implemented a cognitive apprenticeship intervention focused on teaching written scientific explanations. We collected interview data as the primary data source and triangulated it…

Out-of-school time (OST) science research can be an important part of a student's decision to pursue a career in STEM. This article reports on the findings from a transformative phenomenological study of what secondary students experience while completing OST scientific research. The purpose of this study was to use an emic research lens to better…

This article examines the ways in which four focal English Learners (ELs) in an eighth-grade sheltered science classroom used visual and written resources in a unit on watersheds. The students first recorded their observations about stream tables through open-ended drawing and writing. Their own ideas were evident in these responses, but…

Youth often fail to see themselves in the role of a scientist or engineer and they may lack the confidence to believe they can be successful in STEM courses and careers. This study investigated students wearing lab coats as one strategy to build science academic self-concept and self-efficacy in science. Teachers in four elementary schools had…

Although policy makers have made gains in getting students to consider future careers in science, women and many minorities are still underrepresented in science fields. Here we describe research conducted with fifth grade students in a rural area of the southeastern U.S. that examined students' concepts of scientists' characteristics. The results…

In the United States, reform movements have been a part of the science education community for decades. Inquiry-based instruction has a long history in reform documents and while it is not explicitly used in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), the underlying tenants of this instructional strategy are still evident. Thus, inquiry-based…

Research suggests that elementary school is a crucial period for sparking students' long-term interest in science and consideration of a STEM career. Teachers influence students' dispositions towards science; therefore, it is important to consider elementary teachers' identity development, a preservice teacher's own voice and self-image, with…

Broad scientific concepts are vital to individual wellbeing as a function of daily living skills. Science connects how individuals interact with the environment and how they interpret those interactions (Browder et al, 2007). According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, students with disabilities score significantly lower than…

Interest driven learning has the potential to enhance the inquiry based learning process by contextualizing curriculum as students investigate scientific questions, collecting and analyzing data, and construct reasonable conclusions relative to their interests. This paper presents a project and its findings that involved preservice elementary…