Green School intend to increase student connection to the environment, and have the potential to increase achievement through opportunities for hands-on science learning. This study utilizes publicly available data on all public schools in Maryland to examine the extent to which the Green School designation relates to changes in science…

Green School Programs are an internationally recognized effort that transforms schools into environmentally friendly entities and engage school communities in environmentally impactful efforts. Such efforts may increase student awareness about their connection to the environment and have the potential to increase achievement through opportunities…

The need for scientifically literate citizens is an urgent priority, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Despite the importance of scientific literacy, elementary schools across the nation have not made science instruction a priority in their school day. On average, elementary students spend 40% less instructional time in science…

Computational thinking (CT) has great potential for enhancing mathematics and science lessons in K-12 education. Numerous studies demonstrate that under the right circumstances, CT integration in math and science can improve student learning and promote deeper understanding. However, teacher education currently does not include preparation for…

This article describes a three-dimensional 5E (Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, Evaluation) lesson that investigates 3-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived. A phenomena-based approach was used to engage third graders in the story of Maya, who…

School closures because of natural phenomena, such as COVID-19, underscore long-standing gaps in access to science education in the United States of America, particularly for young students. When educators have to pivot to deliver virtual instruction, it is important to identify feasible remote learning strategies for science content across formal…

Citizen science provides an opportunity for students to capture data both locally and globally while supporting the real-time work of scientists seeking to understand natural events. In this article, the authors present a project-based approach that explores climate at home and abroad to help develop elementary students' local-to-global…

In a kindergarten classroom, exclamations like "Oh no!" may be causes for concern. However, when the students in Mrs. Grabia's classroom shouted "Oh no!" and "Uh oh!" during an engineering-infused 5E lesson, it meant that a persistent little robot had pushed its way out of the fences they had created. It also meant…

This quantitative study was designed to investigate if relationships existed between elementary science teachers' self-efficacy toward science teaching, schedule structure (self-contained or departmentalized), experience level of teachers, amount of time dedicated to science instruction, and student achievement on a standardized science…

The eastern oyster, "Crassostrea virginica," is an ecologically and economically important species in Chesapeake Bay. Oysters are ecologically unique in the Chesapeake Bay because they build a structure known as a bar or reef by attaching to one another over a 45 long period of time. They have been coined the "Ecological Engineers…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] In the "standard" physics education research curriculum-development model, researchers are cast primarily as producers of curricula and instructors are cast primarily consumers, i.e., adopters and adapters. We illustrate a complementary model in…

The STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools (SABES) program is a community partnership initiative that includes both in-school and afterschool STEM education for grades 3-5. It was designed to broaden participation and achievement in STEM education by bringing science and engineering to the lives of low-income urban elementary school…

This article describes a lesson in which fourth-grade students create a habitat for terrapins while reducing erosion. A client and their needs were presented to the students: The city purchased a piece of shoreline on the bay previously owned by a private company. The company had started to develop the land, exposing soil up to the water's edge.…

This paper presents the results of a nationwide survey of educators for grades 6-12 who specialize in family and consumer sciences education (N=380). The paper examines teacher reports about their self-efficacy in online learning during the switch to off-campus instruction. Data revealed that district communication to teachers indicating that they…

National and state-based science and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) initiatives expect educators to incorporate inquiry- and design-based practices into their STEM-centric lesson planning. While this is a new expectation and may be a challenge for all, it is an even more prohibitive barrier for elementary teachers who…