Deep science understanding is reflected in students' ability to use content and skills when making sense of the world. Assessing deep understanding requires measuring complex constructs that combine elements of content and skills. To develop valid measures of complex constructs, we need to understand how their theoretical dimensionality, reflected…

In "A Framework for K-12 Science Education," researchers call for teachers to make dramatic shifts in practice -- and sustain in these changes in practice -- so students can engage in rigorous and equitable three-dimensional science learning. Project-Based Learning (PBL) motivates students from diverse backgrounds to persist in learning.…

All students need to experience the joy of discovery and innovation. In this study we discussed how STEM education that focuses on design can provide students with these opportunities. Learning environments that focus on STEM questions and engage students in design have the potential help students learn core ideas related to STEM as well as engage…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") emphasizes content and scientific practices, but what does this actually look like in a classroom? The "NGSS" integrates scientific and engineering practices with core ideas and crosscutting concepts, merging the three dimensions from "A Framework for K-12 Science…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)--now in development--will be based on "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" released by the National Research Council last summer. The "Framework" identifies seven scientific and engineering practices that should be used in science classrooms. These practices reflect the multiple ways in which…

As the context of human life expands from personal to global, a new vision of scientific literacy is needed. Based on a synthesis of the literature and the findings of an online survey of South Korean and US secondary science teachers, we developed a framework for scientific literacy for South Korea that includes five dimensions: content…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)--now in development--will be based on "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" released by the National Research Council last summer. The "Framework" identifies seven scientific and engineering practices that should be used in science classrooms. These practices reflect the multiple ways in which…

Design-Based Science (DBS) is a pedagogy in which the goal of designing an artifact contextualizes all curricular activities. Design is viewed as a vehicle through which scientific knowledge and real-world problem-solving skills can be constructed. Following Anderson and Hogan's (1999) call to document the design of new science pedagogies, this…