This study examines elementary science content standards curriculum coherence between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. Three aspects of curriculum coherence are examined in this study: topic inclusion, topic duration, and curriculum structure. Specifically this study centers on the following research questions: (1)…

Guided by a new framework, the NAEP science assessment was updated in 2009 to keep the content current with key developments in science, curriculum standards, assessments, and research. The 2009 framework organizes science content into three broad content areas. Physical science includes concepts related to properties and changes of matter, forms…

Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S.…

This article provides an extended, comprehensive example of how teachers, schools, districts, and external factors (e.g., parental pressure and policy mandates) shape curriculum research in the U.S. It retrospectively examines how three different middle school curriculum units were implemented and scaled-up in a large, diverse school system. The…

Teaching and learning about geospatial aspects of energy resource issues requires that science teachers apply effective science pedagogical approaches to implement geospatial technologies into classroom instruction. To address this need, we designed educative curriculum materials as an integral part of a comprehensive middle school energy…

In South Africa, the Grade 12 "classes of 2008 and 2009" were the first to write examinations under the revised Life Sciences (Biology) curriculum which focuses on outcomes-based education (OBE). This paper presents an exploration of what students (as learners) considered to be difficult and interesting in Grades 10-12 Life Sciences…

Still largely based on EuroCanadian knowledge and Western teachings, Education in Nunavut remains a negative experience for many Nunavut youth as the result of culturally inappropriate schooling and worldview mismatch. Mismatch occurs as the schooling experiences of Nunavut youth, both Inuit and non-Inuit, do not align with the character, values,…

Emerging evidence indicates that culture influences pupils learning of science. However, the influence of culture on science learning is usually not considered when developing science curricular for both primary and secondary schools. This study investigated the extent to which primary and secondary school pupils believe in cultural…

This study explores the concepts and behaviors, otherwise referred to as "orientations", of six Indian science teachers and the alignment of these orientations to the 2005 India National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2005). Differences in teachers' orientations across grade bands (elementary, middle, and secondary) and school types (public…

This study examines four Singapore teachers' reflections on issues and problems in their teaching practices. As an insider-outsider or educator-researcher seeking to understand the complexities of teaching, we interrogated the teachers' beliefs, dilemmas, biasness and prejudices embedded in their reflective narratives on experiences in curriculum…

Fox Hill Primary School is part of a family of schools in Sheffield that is piloting the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Primary Specialism for Science. In parallel to this work, Fox Hill participated in the Smarter Schools project from September 2008-2009. This project, funded by the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust, was set up by the…

We present a framework for analysing the interplay between context-based teaching material and teachers, and for evaluating the adequacy of the resulting implementation of context-based pedagogy in chemistry classroom practice. The development of the framework is described, including an account of its theoretical foundations. The framework needs…

The Science Learning Assessment (SLA) is an individually administered, instructionally sensitive science assessment for kindergarten students. The SLA is a 24-item objective test, broken down into two subtests. The Scientific Inquiry Processes subtest consists of 9 items designed to measure young children's functional understanding of the nature…

For the past 5 years I have been teaching my introductory geology class using a case-based method that promotes student engagement and inquiry. This article presents an explanation of how a case-based curriculum differs from a more traditional approach to the material. It also presents a statistical analysis of several years' worth of student…

Teachers often engage in curricular planning by critiquing and adapting existing curriculum materials to contextualize lessons and compensate for their deficiencies. Designing instruction for students is shaped by teachers' ability to apply a variety of personal resources, including their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study…