With the continued emphasis in the United States on science teaching reform as a way to increase science learning and the scientific literacy of all, the integration of informal science learning activities like citizen science is emerging as a possible way to enhance formal science teaching and learning. There is a limited but growing number of…

In higher natural science education, the scientific report is the prevailing genre of writing. Despite the fact that communicative skills are highly valued in working life, earlier studies have shown deficiencies among science students. In this paper, we highlight the need for varied communication training, in particularly arguing for the…

A laboratory experiment was developed to enable students to investigate the use of smart hydrogels for potential application in targeted drug delivery. This is challenging for students to explore practically because of the extremely high risks of handling cross-linking agents such as glutaraldehyde. Genipin is a safe and green alternative that has…

Scientific research projects competitions for high school students have been held by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) since 1969. Whereas only projects on science were taken into the scope of competition for long years, the projects appropriate to the interdisciplinary approach such as social sciences projects…

Increasing student achievement is a fundamental concern for many school districts and teachers. Providing students with engaging, blended STEM educational experiences may help them understand how scientists and engineers solve problems. The purpose of this article is to share teaching strategies and student activities that will not only increase…

We inserted a self-taught molecular modeling project into an otherwise conventional undergraduate chemical-reaction-engineering course. Our objectives were that students should (a) learn with minimal instructor intervention, (b) gain an appreciation for the relationship between molecular structure and, first, macroscopic state functions in…

Citizen science is a rapidly growing emerging field in science and it is gaining importance in education. Therefore, this study was conducted to document the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of biology teachers who participated in a citizen science project involving observation of wild bees and identification of butterflies. In this paper,…

A chemical engineering PhD student from Purdue University completed an internship at The Dow Chemical Company, evaluating the effect of scale on the hydrodynamics of a trickle bed reactor. A unique aspect of this work was that it arose from an ongoing collaboration, so that the project was within the scope of the graduate student's thesis. This…

Open Air Laboratories is a citizen science project that provides environmental monitoring resources that can be used by schools for experiential learning to support the science curricula. This pilot research project aimed to use a self-completed online questionnaire to assess children's views of the value of Open Air Laboratories experiential…

High winds and heavy rain are regular features of the British weather, and forecasting these events accurately is a major priority for the Met Office and other forecast providers. This is the challenge facing DIAMET, a project involving university groups from Manchester, Leeds, Reading, and East Anglia, together with the Met Office. DIAMET is part…

The High School Project on Astrophysics Research with Cosmics (HiSPARC) is an international project in which secondary schools and academic institutions join forces to form a network of detectors to measure cosmic rays with extremely high energy. We present results of research done by students at the King Edward VI High School For Girls,…

As well as providing a valuable and enjoyable experience for pupils, outdoor learning also enhances and contextualises learning in science by helping pupils understand science concepts. Teachers' lack of confidence in which aspects of the science curriculum they can actually teach outdoors deters them from venturing outside the classroom for…

We designed a "3D Printing Technology Science Project" as part of a science methods course to engage preservice teachers (N = 41) in a 3D printing project that they could implement with their future elementary school students. The goal was to introduce prospective teachers to engineering design and technology application ideas and…

Building a robot from scratch in an educational context can be a challenging prospect. While a multitude of projects exist that simplify the electronics and software aspects of a robot, the same cannot be said for construction systems for robotics. In this paper, we present our efforts to create a low-cost do-it-yourself construction system for…

The type of mathematics taught in schools is often criticised for being irrelevant to students' lives and not based in "real life". This article is Part 1 of a three part report that documents the findings of a research project that investigated the mathematical calculations completed by adults in their everyday, non-occupational lives…