This study, which was reviewed through the Registered Report process, examined the initial efficacy of the Scientific Explorers program (Sci2) on second-grade students' science achievement. Sci2 is grounded in the growing body of empirical research on science instruction, embedding principles of explicit instruction within a guided inquiry-based…

We examine the promise, usability, and feasibility of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) to improve the vocabulary and language proficiency in science and social studies of Latinx second grade English learners (ELs). Participants were 217 ELs attending English only programs or bilingual programs. Findings from the clustered randomized control…

Background: To succeed in school, young children must acquire the domain and vocabulary knowledge needed to read complex texts. Despite the growing literacy demands in the 21 century, fewer than 5% of US school children in the early elementary grades can evaluate complex nonfiction texts and there are larger gaps based on family income and student…

Indigenous educators desire to use culturally restorative and decolonized pedagogies reflective of their own cultural values and beliefs in their science programs but have lacked models for how to start. They also often lack confidence in their ability to teach the sciences. This three-year qualitative case study used grounded theory methodology…

School closures because of natural phenomena, such as COVID-19, underscore the importance of effective distance learning strategies when there are no in-school alternatives. Our study describes the implementation of a multimedia science program before and after school closure due to COVID-19 in a variety of ways depending on schools'…

In this year-long randomized control trial (RCT), we evaluated the effectiveness of a year-long, intensive, and structured virtual professional development (VPD) accompanying science-integrated English-as-second-language (ESL) instructional intervention on 187 second grade English learners' English language and literacy development in suburban…

At the intersection of biology and computer science is the growing field of bioinformatics--the analysis of complex datasets of biological relevance. Despite the increasing importance of bioinformatics and associated practical applications, these are not standard topics in elementary and middle school classrooms. We report on a pilot project and…

While the United States' National Research Council (NRC 2012) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS 2013) advocate children's engagement in active science learning, elementary school teachers in the US indicate lack of time to teach science regularly because of (1) school and district pressure to focus on English language arts and…

This longitudinal study examined the extent to which teachers' participation in a 3-year professional development program enhanced their self-efficacy and prompted changes in science instruction in the early elementary grades. The study used a mixed-methods design, and included 39 teachers who taught in kindergarten, first grade, or second…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how multimodal assessment tools enabled Grade 2 students to show knowledge and understanding of wolves. The research design was a case study across three years employing descriptive statistics to portray student knowledge and understanding associated with the use of each tool. The findings indicate that…

This paper describes a comprehensive set of studies designed to assess the potential for commercial reading programs to teach reading in science. Specific questions focus on the proportion of selections in the programs that contain science and the amount of science that is in those selections, on the genres in which the science is portrayed, on…