The authors focused on using antiques to learn how to teach elementary children about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in a historical context; they refer to the historical objects as "antique artifacts." By studying antiques, students get a real-world opportunity to learn how people in their local area and beyond…

Background: Limited research examines the effects of integrated science and engineering (SE) instruction emphasizing disciplinary literacy and language activities on engineering identity and content understanding. Far fewer studies target English learners (ELs). Purpose: The impact of an SE intervention on the development of science, engineering,…

In this article, Kimi Waite and Jennifer Burgin describe a three-step interdisciplinary framework for learning partnerships between TK-2 students and scientists that covers the NCSS themes SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY and PEOPLE, PLACES, AND ENVIRONMENTS. The authors showcase standards-aligned learning activities and resources to help practicing…

In 2004, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act outlined specific considerations for students with individual education programs in relation to their needs and application of assistive technology (AT) devices and services used to access school curriculum. Teachers will interact with a variety of assistive technologies during their career…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning have increasingly become a part of educational practice and pedagogy. Educators, business leaders, and policy-makers seek to get involved with funding and making decisions for STEM initiatives. Stakeholders include those looking forward to preparing students for future…

Most studies have concentrated in assessing students' overall attitudes towards science, mathematics, and engineering/technology or the attitude towards individual STEM domain. The present research aims to explore primary students' gender and grade differences of their STEM domain-specific attitudes including self-efficacy and expectancy-value…

The consistent prevalence of computer science in our society and the urgent need for STEM professionals in the U.S. raised the need for computer science education at the K-8 level. Researchers have examined the challenges, possible approaches, and contents of teaching computer science. However, there has been limited research on teachers'…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a better understanding of how induction programs might effectively support STEM K-8 teacher preparation. American schools are not producing competent STEM graduates prepared to meet employment demands. Over the next decade, STEM employment opportunities are expected to increase twice as fast…

Men continue to outnumber women in many Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields, particularly technical fields such as engineering and computer science. Educational interventions aimed at addressing the gender disparity between men and women have generally focused on increasing the interest of girls and women during high school…

There's a lot to love about this newly expanded book in the Picture-Perfect Science series: You can combine STEM and reading through appealing lessons that are just right for your second-grade students. Also, reading comprehension strategies are embedded in all 12 of the ready-to-teach lessons, 11 of which are updated and one brand-new. The goal…

Mathematics interventions aimed at accelerating the learning of students with mathematics difficulties (MD) should be developed through a design science approach such as the Curriculum Research Framework (CRF). Precision Mathematics is a National Science Foundation-funded DRK-12 Design and Development project focused on building mathematical…

In this article, second graders learn the basics of engineering through an exploration of magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. The author designed and taught the lessons to a class of 26 students enrolled in a month-long summer science program. The maglev lessons took place over three mornings (15 minutes for the first lesson and 40 minutes…

Computational thinking can provide a basis for problem solving, for making evidence-based decisions, and for learning to code or create programs. Therefore, it is critical that all students across the K-12 continuum--including students in the early grades--have opportunities to begin developing problem solving and computational thinking skills.…

This 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) learning cycle integrating science and mathematics challenges and engages second-grade students in designing sail cars to solve an engineering problem. Students create and use line plots to organize their data to evaluate the strengths and weakness of their design solutions. Three…

Children may not be aware of the origin of much of their food, especially if they eat mostly processed foods. Schools that operate a garden are able to teach children how common foods are parts of plants. This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. In this month's issue students focus on…