Science education has a central role to play in preparing a scientifically literate citizenry that is capable of understanding complex environmental challenges facing human societies and making well-informed and evidence-based decisions that help resolve these challenges. However, evidence suggests that most Americans are poorly equipped with the…

Culturally sustaining and science education theorists advocate that children need to have opportunities to use personal experiences and background knowledge in dialog with peers as they make sense of phenomena in the natural world. Practically, this is a challenge to orchestrate -- both in classrooms and in out-of-school learning spaces -- as…