The focus of this research was to test the impact of an authentic science experience on preservice teachers' self-efficacy and their beliefs about their perceived outcomes with middle level students. Data show that there was a statistically significant decrease in the levels of self-efficacy towards teaching science and no significant change in…

"Scientific argumentation," defined as the ability to develop and analyze scientific claims, support claims with evidence from investigations of the natural world, and explain and evaluate the reasoning that connects the evidence to the claim, is a critical component of current science standards and is consistent with "Common Core…

The purpose of this three-year study was to examine secondary school students' attitudes about science in classrooms with "resident scientists" who had been trained in inquiry science teaching. The study was based upon a National Science Foundation (NSF) program called Project Flowing Waters, a five-year NSF Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12…

Research Goes to School (RGS) is a professional development program that focuses on high school teachers of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects. This collective case study examines RGS participants and their use of project-based learning (PBL) as they implemented curricular units that they developed at the RGS summer…

Environmental education authors have argued for cultivating a relationship with nature and the outdoors, and have urged parents to "unplug" their children from technology. In this perspective, technology is seen as curtailing ties to the environment and its use needs to be limited. In this paper, we consider the idea that while…

An early childhood education teacher's beliefs and attitudes about science will influence how he/she teaches science and will also have an impact on his/her own self-efficacy as well as on his/her students' attitudes toward science (Christidou, 2011; Lunn, 2002; Ramey-Gassert, Shrover, & Staver, 1996). It is, therefore, important to ascertain…

This study investigated the effectiveness of using metacognitive prompts during testing for improving results in a Genetics Problem Solving Test (GPST). The study, a pre-test post-test, control group quasi-experimental design involving 2x2x2 analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) also investigated the moderating effects of gender and school type. A total…

The purpose of this research was to determine whether videoconferencing combined with face-to-face instruction, as used in the delivery of the NASA Digital Learning Network "Can A Shoebox Fly? Challenge" module, was a feasible instructional method to increase positive student attitudes towards science. Overall, the data indicated that…

The overall purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the effectiveness of a science method course in training pre service teachers to teach science. This effectiveness was measured by examining changes in pre-service teachers' science teaching confidence level as reflected in their ability to implement different instructional…

There is limited research to suggest the student-based and school-wide impacts of school gardens, and even less research regarding the teaching practices that are necessary to encourage the success of an outdoor classroom. Despite the lack of research, teachers are successfully integrating their outdoor classrooms into their students' learning…

Though inquiry-based teaching has long been touted as an effective pedagogy, its application by elementary classroom teachers has been problematic. Two case studies were used to investigate effective professional learning experiences for teachers and the concomitant development of scientific proficiency in children. Both case studies used a newly…

This investigation explored the experiences of a cohort of preservice science teachers learning to teach science in their student teaching placements. Specifically, this investigation explored using inquiry instruction from the perspective of the preservice teacher. Participants included seven preservice biology teachers enrolled in a one-year…