This article describes the creation of a university-based cross-disciplinary collaboration with elementary schools to address the challenges faced by teacher preparation programs in providing preservice teachers opportunities to design integrated STEM learning environments. The partnership focused on the design of an electric car unit and…

Problem solving is a central focus of mathematics teaching and learning. If teachers are expected to support students' problem-solving development, then it reasons that teachers should also be able to solve problems aligned to grade level content standards. The purpose of this validation study is twofold: (1) to present evidence supporting the use…

This design research study describes how one mentor teacher-teacher candidate dyad co-learned to promote student engagement and participation through using a "Collaborative Learning Structure" (CLS) tool that we are developing. We share how the dyad used the CLS, with support from a professional development facilitator and fellow…

The researchers used Gorski's continuum of five approaches to multicultural education--which extends from conservative to liberal and then critical--to analyze 40 syllabi from required or elective courses for candidates seeking licensure to teach in the middle grades (grades 4-9). While the researchers found evidence of all five approaches within…

The purpose of this article is to share specific methods employed to support preservice teachers as they engage in culturally sustaining nonfiction writing instruction with elementary children in an embedded methods course. First, we explore theories of culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies. Next, we define culturally sustaining writing…

The aim of this study was to describe the design process of an educational board game, the Planet-Dart. This board game design is based on the science curriculum and aims to enhance middle school students' basic concepts about solar system. The purpose of developing this educational game was to provide an entertaining way for learning science. A…

Learning to teach science using engineering design is a complex endeavor for elementary preservice teachers (PSTs). This entails helping PSTs understand students as sense makers and recognizing ways to notice, respond, and leverage their students' ideas throughout the design process. In this study, we follow a cohort of elementary PSTs through a…

The authors use finding the area of irregular shapes as the context for developing flexible strategies for measuring area. This article builds on their paper, "Setting a Design Challenge: Promoting the Discovery of the Relationship between Area and Perimeter" (EJ1272407). As part of Lesson Study research within an initial teacher…

We worked to identify how the availability of two languages, Spanish and English, facilitates the teaching of mathematics when instruction is centered on students' mathematical thinking. We present results of interactions between seven bilingual pre-service teachers and seven bilingual 5th-graders working on fractions. Using a theoretical…

As part of Lesson Study research within an initial teacher education programme two mathematics teacher educators worked alongside a group of five pre-service elementary teachers to create a motivating and meaningful problem-based lesson. The lesson promoted Year 5 students' understandings of the relationship between area and perimeter. The results…

The purpose of this research is to improve and evaluate a different approach to develop the lab application skills of the physics pre-service teachers in the courses of Secondary Physics Experimental Design (SPED), School Experience (SE) and Teaching Practices (TP). In this context, action research was used to achieve the purpose of the research.…

Though motivationally nurturing instruction has been linked to numerous desirable outcomes, its presence and impact on student learning, particularly in models-based practice, is largely absent in the literature. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined the efficacy of an intervention aimed at increasing the provision of…

We share ideas for preparing for and enacting high-cognitive demand tasks in ways that support students in articulating and justifying their ideas. We offer strategies for developing and posing several types of purposeful questions: (1) eliciting thinking, (2) generating ideas, (3) clarifying explanations, and (4) justifying claims.

If chosen carefully according to teaching purposes and incorporated into the curriculum, games can enhance teaching and learning. The use of didactic games while teaching maths can support students' motivation and performance during the lesson. Therefore, educational games should be preferred in maths classes as an alternative teaching method. In…

Some of the key challenges for STEM education in Turkey include the problems encountered by teachers when integrating diverse disciplines and technologies into STEM activities, the need for teachers to acquire the skills necessary to prepare and implement appropriate STEM activities for the educational level of their students and their school…