E-Science has the potential to transform school science by enabling learners, teachers and research scientists to engage together in authentic scientific enquiry, collaboration and learning. However, if we are to reap the benefits of this potential as part of everyday teaching and learning, we need to explicitly think about and support the work…

Incorporating computer-simulation modelling into project-based learning may be effective but requires careful planning and implementation. Teachers, especially, need pedagogical content knowledge which refers to knowledge about how students learn from materials infused with technology. This study suggests that students learn best by actively…

Incorporating business skills such as problem-solving, public presentations, collaboration, and self-direction into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects is an excellent way to build students' enthusiasm for these disciplines. When educators add workplace internships to the learning experience, they are well on their way…

Electrochemistry, which combines chemistry and electronics, is an exciting field and those who are in this field are very versatile scientists. Electrochemistry is a combination of true phenomena and an instrument to teach much about other fields and its technological advances touch many other fields as well.

Given biotechnology's emergence as a major competitor in the Pittsburgh region, critically linking education to industry through the Community College of Allegheny County's Biotechnology Workforce Collaborative (BWC) provided a well-trained workforce. The collaborative also sought to increase the number of women in the sciences, specifically…

This study was conducted to develop a simple and inexpensive experimental apparatus that can measure the position of an object moving along a straight line at certain time intervals. For the construction of the apparatus, a battery-powered toy car, a fine-tipped paint brush, gouache (or watercolour) paint and paper tape were used. The working…

This article reports on a plea directed to schools in England that changed status to an "academy" and thus lost their Local Authority Radiation Protection Adviser (RPA) service. These schools have been encouraged to do all that they can to hang on to their sources (radioactive equipment used in classroom experiments to investigate…

Assessment is primarily a matter of judgement rather than measurement, yet for too long the nation has been pretending that pupils' attainment and measurement can be measured in increasingly fine detail (one APS "point" being one sixth of an original National Curriculum level). The lack of validity and reliability of this approach…

You have to stick with it. It takes time, patience, trial and error, failure, and persistence. It is almost never perfect or finished, but, with a good team, you can build something that works. These are the lessons youth learn when building a robot, as many do in the out-of-school time (OST) programs supported by the initiative described in this…

Are makerspaces--where children can create gas-powered Roman chariots, singing greeting cards, or playdough circuit boards--just the site for a slightly wacky explosion of inventiveness? Or can these maker activities be channeled to support deep STEM learning? Bronwyn Bevan, director of the Exploratorium Institute for Research and Learning in San…

Soil science, though relevant to a variety of subjects including science, geography, mathematics, social sciences and history, is typically perceived as a subgenre of agriculture. With a global need for soil scientists, and declining numbers in university soil courses, there's a growing gap between science needs and providers. One way to promote…

School science systems tend to emphasize teaching and learning about achievements of science (such as laws and theories) at the expense of providing students with opportunities to develop realistic conceptions about science and science inquiry and expertise they could use to conduct their own science inquiry projects. Among reasons for such an…

Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach (PGR) is a children's program that has offered garden-based youth education since 1990. PGR focuses on Grade K-8 students and teachers from local Title I schools who work in teams on garden and science projects. In this exploratory study, the authors used field observations, document analysis, and past…

Project-based science (PBS) instruction can simply be defined as a student-centered science teaching approach, in which students produce tangible learning outcomes by posing and answering research questions that are relevant to their own lives and communities. In a PBS classroom, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own…

Opportunity to Learn (OTL) stems from the basic premise that there is an important relationship between the quality and intensity of classroom instruction and students' levels of academic success. For many students with disabilities, an emphasis on OTL has become national priority, yet measuring its impact is a complex challenge. The first purpose…