Purpose: The aim of this research is to determine the impact of hands-on science activities on preschool children's motivation for science. Design/Approach/Methods: The study group of the research, in which the quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest control group was used, consists of 25 children aged 60-72 months who are continuing their…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how equity-oriented pedagogy infused with Making activities promoted five non-dominant middle school youths' attitudes toward science in an after-school program in the Midwestern United States. The researchers conducted pre- and post-interviews with five students from non-dominant…

Founded in 2011, the Bay Area Science Festival (BASF), led by the Science and Health Education Partnership (SEP) at UC San Francisco, brings together academic, scientific, corporate and civic groups to develop and lead STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) events for all ages. From 2011-2019, the Festival hosted over 50 events…

Primary school science emphasises hands-on interactions, but little is known about how the sensorimotor experiences these interactions provide shape children's science ideas. Early interactions with science need to be engaging as these shape children's developing attitudes towards science and themselves as science learners; however, these…

Chemistry is a vital and highly relevant field of science that is under-represented in science centers and museums. Amidst concerns that the public is ambivalent about the chemistry field, the "Explore Science: Let's Do Chemistry" project sought to understand how to design hands-on activities that could increase the feelings of interest,…

Virtual water is the amount of water that we ignore in water consumption and is considerably higher than the visible water we see in daily uses. Realizing the water spent in the production processes of objects can cause us to change our consumption habits. In 1979, Joseph Cornell presented a four-step framework called Learning Flow to move nature…

Large numbers of U.S. students lack proficiency in science, and students from different ethnic and socioeconomic groups show disparities in science achievement. Science knowledge and skills are important for both academic and workplace success, and a variety of interventions have been developed to improve student achievement in science. The…

The Yuan T. Lee Foundation Science Education for All (YTLF) has implemented a science camp for students with visual impairments in central Taiwan since 2009. The implementation of the camp serves as an informal science education practice model that informs curriculum design and development, personnel preparation and organization, as well as…

Parental involvement increases K-12 student interest in STEM careers; however, when parents lack confidence in STEM content, or language and cultural barriers exist, parental engagement decreases. The Teacher Enrichment Initiatives (TEI) collects annual teacher feedback regarding the level of parental involvement with students during science…

A conceptual framework for empirical research on the impact of NASA Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC) activities is presented in this paper, along with a cross-referencing system between the NSF-based NSSEC evaluation framework and historical definitions of comparable psychometric constructs in the literature. A selected set of findings…

Seagrass ecosystems are widespread, valuable, and threatened. We have used this system as a model to teach 3rd-7th grade students about food webs, the interconnectedness of ecosystems, ecosystem services, and the effects of human activity on coastal systems. Our objective was to increase student understanding of seagrass ecosystems and other key…

A science summer camp is a popular type of informal science experience for youth. While there is no one model of a science camp, these experiences typically allow for more focused and in-depth exploration of different science domains and are usually hands-on and participatory. The goal of this research was to examine the impact of a short science…

High-quality, hands-on science education is lacking in many low-resource schools. Seattle Children's Research Institute launched a mobile science lab program in 2009 to support the efforts of schools in Washington state by providing access to engaging hands-on science activities and opportunities to interact with scientists. For this study, we…

The High School Summer Research Program (HSSRP) is a rigorous eight-week research experience that challenges high school students to a novel scientific question in an engineering laboratory at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (HSSEAS) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The program collates highly…

The article describes an innovative project for year 9 (age 13-14) students that has run since 2002 with the help of professional engineers and scientists and incorporates careers information and hands-on practical work. The programme was developed to highlight alternative energy as a subject and also to provide a hands-on practical day for the…