There is a disparity in the number of adults from minority populations employed in STEM careers. In order to increase the interest of at-risk high school students in the STEM field in Queens, NY, an immersive summer biotechnology boot camp was developed. Fifty-five predominantly minority and female students completed the summer boot camp over a…

The preparation of early childhood educators in Tunisia has become part of the mainstream pre-service teacher education programmes. Nonetheless, this field has not yet reached the expected maturity as evidenced by the lack of a guiding vision. A case in point that attests to this state of opacity is the example of foreign language (FL) education.…

Informal learning settings such as museums have been identified as opportunities to enhance students' knowledge and motivation in science and to optimize the connection between science and everyday life. The present study assessed the role of a self-paced science education program (situated in a medical science museum) in enhancing students'…

In this study, the authors examined juvenile offender experiences in Project Tech, a research-based educational pilot program to teach socially responsible serious game development at a major Midwest university's Games Lab. Using open-ended interviews, learner feedback surveys, and learner journaling during the program, the researchers examined…

We explore how small-format laptops ("netbooks") have been used within evidence-based investigations undertaken by secondary school students, to what extent these are suitable for effectively supporting learners across different locations and contexts, and their implications for open learning. Over the course of seven trials with 300…

Growing science apathy at the K-12 education level represents an alarming development with potentially devastating consequences at individual, societal and economic levels. Technology has been incorporated in science education without fundamentally improving test scores or student attitudes. We claim the core of the problem is how technology is…

Describes a museum experience for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders designed in the form of a treasure hunt/questionnaire. This tour format, which does not require the presence of an art specialist, was used at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. (SJL)

Described is a project in which third graders create their own corporation--a cupcake factory--and learn first-hand about economic principles and the decisions that businesses must make in the market economy. The cupcake factory is one example of how enterprising educators can make economics comprehensible and captivating. (RM)

Dialog from a filmed lesson that uses graphing to explain positive and negative numbers is presented. The material highlights the responses of children. The work was also presented to a class of low, mixed-ability pupils since the filming, and the work of two pupils from this group is noted. (MP)

For the past five years, Andover, Kansas middle-schoolers in an amateur radio club and class have sent and received Morse code messages, assembled and soldered circuit boards, designed and built antenna systems, and used computer programs to analyze radio communications problems. A successful bond issue financed a ham shack enabling students to…

Research shows that when students learn in outdoor settings (compared to classrooms), they learn more quickly, appreciate the experience more, and retain skills longer. This article describes the University of Georgia's School Design and Planning Laboratory, a Georgia middle school's living history/wetlands project, and two other outdoor-learning…

Three companies (Voyager Expanded Learning, Mindsurf, and EXPLORE) have introduced after-school programs that emphasize stress-free academic enrichment activities. The companies differ, but share a fun-learning concept, maintain low staff-child ratios of about 1:8, and serve grades K-8. The operative words are flexibility and affordability. Some…

Fourth-graders in Oklahoma City used the Internet to find an expert to identify a 75-pound Pleistocene-Era mammoth femur they found in a nearby river. A superintendent explains how his technologically backward district wired its schools for Internet learning and facilitated genuine instructional improvement. (MLH)

Southeastern New Hampshire schoolchildren are involved in three network science projects for grades 2-8: Batnet, Birdnet, and Treenet. The listserv projects were developed by a group of teachers interested in using the computer-Internet connection to enrich and extend the science learning. Network science makes topics more real, lends immediacy to…

Profiles four successful charter schools. San Diego's O'Farrell Community School provides an enrichment curriculum for inner-city middle schoolers. The Minnesota New Country School, established by three teachers, stresses individual and group projects. Saint Paul's City Academy engages 60 racially diverse youngsters with real-life construction…