Society values the vital role scientists and engineers play in solving urgent, real-world problems such as developing COVID-19 vaccines. The NGSS framework for Engineering Design articulates specific practices and disciplinary core ideas that work in conjunction with other science standards to equip today's youth to be solvers of tomorrow's…

Computers and computer algorithms have contributed to important scientific advances by allowing scientists and engineers to create and use sophisticated models to explain and predict phenomena. Yet, of the eight "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") science and engineering practices, computational thinking may be the…

Death as a common mental health issue, however, can be viewed through a lens of student well-being, which can be nurtured through the use of a simple triad--maximize positive affect, minimize negative affect, and minimize the inhibition of affect (Watchtel 2016). Teachers often fear that difficult topics may maximize negative affect.…

In science classrooms, students usually see and work with data that's intended to tell them right away about the natural world. Students then often treat the data we provide to them as factual, rather than as a source of evidence (Duschl 2008; Sandoval and Millwood 2005; Berland and Reiser 2009; McNeill and Berland 2017; Hancock, Kaput, and…

All educators engage in formative assessment; however, to ensure educators are fostering equity in how diverse learners experience learning, the assessment toolkit needs to be expanded. Science education, like all other aspects of society today, has persistent issues of inequity rooted in issues of anti-Blackness, colonialism, and racism; however,…

Graphic novels are everywhere! The popularity of graphic novels is not surprising. They are colorful and engaging, marrying text to images, with diverse characters doing everything from struggling with their tennis game to solving engineering problems to battling villains from the Multiverse. Graphic novels promote both language and scientific…

Modeling is an important tool in science teaching and learning. Constructing a model instead of replicating one is more meaningful and better supports student learning than analyzing premade models (Firooznia 2015; Gouvea and Passmore 2017; Takemura and Kurabayashi 2014). Models include physical replications of a scientific phenomenon or analyzing…

Cultivating students' scientific knowledge and developing their capability in scientific inquiry depends on a teacher's ability to use existing resources to design rich learning opportunities. Designing such experiences is not easy, and is particularly challenging for new teachers who have little experience making decisions about the best way to…

Many students possess their own unique potential and "genius," but seem to base their worth on the status of grades instead of their connection to education itself. Antonio Salieri, for instance, created wonderful, emotionally binding music throughout his lifetime. Salieri however, never saw the beauty in his work because Mozart, a child…

Model-based inquiry (MBI) is an instructional framework designed around the construction, revision, and testing of models by students to make sense of and explain a phenomenon (Windschitl et al. 2008). Focusing on explaining natural phenomena provides a specific context for students to learn and apply scientific understandings to and can help…

Increasingly, science teachers are seeking phenomena that will allow them to explore both scientific content and socially relevant issues. The authors describe a series of lessons that (1) model the exoneration of wrongly convicted individuals using the science of DNA analysis and (2) contextualize individual cases within a larger system where…

Teacher talk moves are useful for supporting students' learning, but they are not enough to create a science learning community in the classroom. Talk moves focus on functional engagement with individual students' ideas and sensemaking. Norms must be established by having a nuanced understanding of how those individual talk moves create patterns…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides a framework, based in brain research, to design instruction around the needs of all learners. By considering the UDL principles as educators design science instruction, they can proactively address how to engage students, how to make content accessible, and how to provide options for students to…

The push for project-based learning (PBL) has been at the forefront of education for the last decade. Exposure to projects even in the lower grade levels helps students learn foundational skills that will strengthen the collaborative and leadership skills that will assist them as they get older. The result of a typical PBL project requires…

Analyzing and interpreting data is essential to the practice of scientists and is also an essential science and engineering practice for science teaching and learning. Although working with data has benefits for student learning, it is also challenging, particularly with respect to aspects of work with data that are not yet very common in schools,…