In delivering chemistry courses by distance, a key challenge is to offer the learner an authentic and meaningful laboratory experience that still provides the rigour required to continue on in science. To satisfy this need, two distance general chemistry laboratory courses appropriate for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) students, including chemistry…

To address the need to better prepare teachers to enact science education reforms, the National Science Foundation has supported a Research Experience for Teachers (RET's) format for teacher professional development. In these experiences, teachers work closely with practicing scientists to engage in authentic scientific inquiry. Although…

This article describes how a university and a museum have worked together to create a "How science works" workshop entitled "What's in our water?" The workshop teaches students about the continuing pollution from a disused coal mine, how the pollution is cleaned up using a state-of-the-art treatment works and how scientists…

This report shows how insights gained from system dynamics modeling and the U.S. STEM Undergraduate Model® can help inform the Navy's strategy to grow a robust civilian workforce that is strongly invested with Navy-relevant STEM skills and ready to contribute to the next generation of Naval innovation. This work positions the Navy to serve a…

The Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO) strives to improve STEM education through engineering and believes every student should have the chance to engineer. Situated in Massachusetts, the first state to adopt engineering education at all levels in public schools (Massachusetts DOE, 2001), the CEEO supports the…

This innovation configuration offers a set of quantifiable indicators of instructional excellence in mathematics. These indicators are related to improved achievement in mathematics and can be used to improve teacher competencies. The innovation configuration is offered as a means of evaluating and aligning teacher preparation and professional…

This article describes the experiences of one Minnesota middle school that implemented a year-long integrated STEM program with the cooperation of graduate student fellows from a local university. The authors, two of whom were among the graduate students involved in the project, describe their impressions of the program, share some lessons they…

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. In 1999, a group of researchers from Indiana University and Purdue University decided to investigate data about students' ideas in science by inviting National Science Teachers Association members to participate in a research study about children's conceptions of animals. Published in…

Student researchers in physiology courses often interact with human subjects in classroom research but may be unfamiliar with the professional ethics of experimenter-subject interactions. This communication describes experiences related to an interactive video used in exercise science and general biology courses to help students become aware of,…

In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in…

Open-ended, inquiry-based multiweek laboratory exercises are the key elements to increasing students' understanding and retention of the major biological concepts. Including original research into undergraduate teaching laboratories has also been shown to motivate students and improve their learning. Here, we present a series of original…

In this article, the author suggests a classroom challenge that will engage students in designing a house on the hill. He suggests teachers ask a local builder to come to the school to discuss the kinds of concerns that must be dealt with when building homes in cold environments. The use of dioramas and cardboard scale models would be very useful…

This bibliography cites sources to assist middle, junior, and senior high school students and teachers in planning, preparing, and executing science fair projects in the environmental sciences. In addition, a few books with experiments suitable for elementary grade students are included. The listing includes: (1) 5 introductory texts; (2) 31…

The purpose of this booklet is to discuss how the curriculum is changing and what assessment methods are needed to monitor and measure the performance of students in the restructured science curriculum. Sections in this booklet include: (1) The need for alternate assessment, (2) Performance assessment, (3) Observation and questioning, (4)…

The Invent America program addresses the need to provide K-8 students with opportunities to learn critical and creative thinking skills through the process of inventing. Students apply problem-solving skills as they turn their own creative ideas into inventions. It is an effort to integrate the curriculum, help students synthesize knowledge, and…