This study examines the effectiveness of the Center for Civic Education's Project Citizen teacher professional development program and curriculum intervention in producing positive student learning outcomes that support civic engagement. Through Project Citizen, students identify and research a problem in their community, explore solutions,…

The purpose of this study was to understand if a STEM camp (Gear Up 4 STEM) offered during school breaks could improve science outcomes and engagement of elementary school students. This study followed two cohorts of students in Knox County Schools (grades 3, 4, and 5) over one school year and assessed their performance on the state administered…

Project-based learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that provides civics, social studies, and American government students with the opportunity to actively and cooperatively engage with real-world issues and situations. Students typically identify a problem in their community or school, research the problem and policy-based solutions,…

Energy concepts are taught in many schools, but children rarely have an opportunity to grapple with energy problems and work on their own solutions. This study explores the impacts of Connect Science, a service-learning (SL) program developed to enhance elementary students' energy literacy in the United States. Program impacts were explored within…

We present an embodied theory of transfer as applied to mathematical ideas. Project-based learning (PBL) offers important sites for investigating transfer because students and teachers must track mathematical invariant relations that are embedded in complex settings where knowledge and information is distributed and extended across various…