This critical historical narrative sought to understand how secondary and postsecondary educators can best engage community partners in providing access to a college education--and the opportunities associated with it--for students who have been systemically excluded. Based on extensive archival research and 21 oral history interviews with Upward…

Museum educators are well versed in employing multiple techniques for engaging museum visitors. Many use these skills and approaches to support marginalized and vulnerable populations, such as families with an incarcerated adult, families with food insecurity, or unhoused families. Determining how to carry out these beneficial intentions, however,…

Outdoor education programs have been shown to have a positive effect on the educational, physical and emotional development of youth. They are increasingly being used to foster a sense of community in schools and to provide students with learning opportunities related to the environment. This article describes an integrated outdoor education…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of university-level research scientists toward educational and outreach activities that aim to help the general public understand more about their scientific endeavors. Interviews, observations, and survey results from 12 university research scientists, their colleagues, students, and the…

State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Such an effort at the state level requires extensive support, planning, and resources. Implementing new state standards also requires the support of multiple education leaders--governors, legislators, state departments of education,…

Many arts-focused colleges and universities in the United States offer their undergraduate students coursework in science. To better understand the delivery of science education at this type of institution, this article surveys the science programs of forty-one arts-oriented schools. The findings suggest that most science programs are located in…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education curriculum is designed to strengthen students' science and math achievement through project based learning activities. As part of a STEM initiative, SeaPerch was developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. SeaPerch is an innovative underwater robotics program that instructs…

The combination of pedagogy and political aims, a constant theme in the progressive school education literature, is reflected as well in the history of museum education. Museum educators, following the lead of John Dewey, advocated for experiential pedagogy, a natural course for museums since they emphasize learning from objects and experiences…

A pressing problem facing regulatory agencies, academia, and the food industry is a shortage of qualified food science graduates, particularly those with advanced degrees (that is, M.S. or Ph.D.). In 2000, the Cornell Institute of Food Science established the annual Food Science Summer Scholars Program as an experiential summer research program…

Recycling has been around for a long time--people have reused materials and refashioned them into needed items for thousands of years. More recently, war efforts encouraged conservation and reuse of materials, and in the 1970s recycling got its official start when recycling centers were created. Now, curbside recycling programs and recycling…

Engineering has gained considerable traction in many K-12 schools. However, there are several obstacles or challenges to an effective approach that leads to student learning. Questions such as where engineering best fits in the curriculum; how to include it authentically and appropriately; toward what educational end; and how best to prepare…

Stan Metzenberg offers a critical analysis of the draft "Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Standards," which are for pre-Kindergarten to Grade 8 and introductory high school courses. Metzenberg claims that the document reveals significant, unacceptable gaps in science content, as well as some notable errors and…

Augmented Reality (AR) simulations superimpose a virtual overlay of data and interactions onto a real-world context. The simulation engine at the heart of this technology is built to afford elements of game play that support explorations and learning in students' natural context--their own community and surroundings. In one of the more recent…

During a five-year period the authors taught over 100 students in a graduate course (The Nature of Science) counting toward teacher certification at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Despite the fact that students had undergraduate degrees in the sciences, most of them found the application of models in science challenging and the…

Over the past three years, the authors' team at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has been researching a professional development program in science, "Foundations of Science Literacy" ("FSL"), for preschool lead and assistant Head Start teachers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Year 1 was a pilot year, so it is the…