Recognizing the relevance of energy in our lives is essential for ensuring a sustainable future. The lessons offered by education systems could exert an impact throughout the lives of people. This study conducts a review of the content of elementary-level textbooks in Mexico to describe and analyze the scope of these materials and their depth from…

This study tests a hypothesized learning progression for the concept of energy. It looks at 14 specific ideas under the categories of (i) Energy Forms and Transformations; (ii) Energy Transfer; (iii) Energy Dissipation and Degradation; and (iv) Energy Conservation. It then examines students' growth of understanding within each of these ideas at…

The call for inquiry science to be a part of the school science curriculum is popular in many parts of the world. While some research in this area revealed success stories of students' learning when they are engaged in student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry activities, others are more sceptical about how these activities impact students'…

This lesson combines the science concepts of renewable energy and producing electricity with the technology concepts of design, constraints, and technology's impact on the environment. Over five class periods, sixth-grade students "work" for a fictitious power company as they research wind as an alternative energy source and design and test a…

A wind energy focused curriculum for grades 4-8 was designed and implemented to promote the understanding of wind energy concepts with American Indian students. 57 students who participated in the 2009 summer program of the "Reach for the Sky" (RFTS) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) received the curriculum. The…

We use a construct-based assessment approach to measure learning progression of energy concepts across physical, life, and earth science contexts in middle school grades. We model the knowledge integration construct in six levels in terms of the numbers of ideas and links used in student-generated explanations. For this study, we selected 10 items…

Proven through more than a decade of rigorous research to be effective with both teachers and students, "Making Sense of SCIENCE" helps teachers gain a deep and enduring understanding of tricky science topics, think and reason scientifically, and support content literacy in science, thereby increasing student achievement. The materials…