This study examined the impact of knowledge-building curricula on raising reading achievement for students from high-poverty backgrounds. The overall purpose of the study was to contribute to our understanding of curricula that may be effective in closing achievement gaps for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds compared to…

As elementary schools across the U.S. continue to adopt new science education reform, attention is needed to understand how teachers make sense of using engineering design to teach science in their classroom settings. This study examined fourth-grade teachers' sense-making with learning to integrate engineering design-based science instruction and…

Recent calls for reform in K-12 science education and the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century emphasize improving science teaching, students' engagement, and learning. In this study, we designed and implemented a curriculum unit for sixth-grade students (i = 1305). The curriculum unit integrated…

Background: Most children do not eat enough fruits and vegetables (FV). Schools are a critical setting for supporting children to consume FV. To fill a gap in available materials, a classroom curriculum was developed and evaluated to determine impacts on student FV-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Methods: A pre-/post-intervention…

Due to the limitation of social economic conditions, the teaching effect of science in rural elementary schools remains unsatisfactory and poorly studied. This research integrates STEM education into rural elementary school science courses to explore whether STEM courses are effective in improving students' knowledge and ability, asking: Are STEM…

The focus of this research project was to examine how problem- based learning (PBL) impacts students' interest and knowledge in computer science (CS) at the elementary level. By focusing on a problem that emphasizes social activism, we hypothesized that PBL CS could increase interest for students. We employed an iterative design-based research…