Strong spatial skills are foundational in predicting students' performance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Decades of research have considered the relationship between thinking spatially and how scientists reason and solve problems. However, few studies have examined the factors that influence improvement in…

This study aims at analyzing the learning outcomes of the 2018 science education curricula in Turkey according to science process skills. Learning outcomes are statements that describe what a learner will know, understand, and/or be able to do after completing a learning process. Learning outcomes were evaluated using document analysis which is a…

With school populations across the country becoming increasingly representative of students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, new considerations must be made to promote equitable and engaged science learning for all students (National Academy of Science, National Academy of Engineering, & Institute of Medicine [NAEEM], 2011).…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which science process skills are represented in the texts and activities in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade science textbooks according to the learning areas of the science curriculum. The document analysis method is adopted in the current study. Course contents and activities in…

This study aims to conduct a multidimensional analysis of the 2017 Science Curriculum taking the previous three curricula into account. The document analysis technique, which is a qualitative research method, was used. The Science curricula of 2000, 2005, 2013 and 2017 were analyzed in detail for this purpose. The 2017 Science Curriculum, which is…

Design2Learn (D2L) is a NYC-based afterschool program aimed at increasing middle school students' interest, engagement, and achievement in science. Designed by ExpandED Schools, D2L centers around three core strategies: (1) collaborative teaching between an in-school science teacher and two afterschool educators; (2) curricular bridging, which…

Design2Learn (D2L) is an afterschool program aimed at increasing science interest, engagement, and achievement among middle school students who historically have been underrepresented in STEM. The D2L model, designed and implemented by ExpandED Schools, uses three core strategies to foster students' interest and engagement in science: (1)…

Representation of nature of science (NOS) within curricula including standards, grade level expectations, and textbooks and their alignment with each other to achieve teaching NOS is crucial. Thus, the aims of the study were to a) assess how NOS is portrayed in standards, grade level expectations and a teacher edition of seventh grade textbook of…

This paper aims to analyze the science curricula which is being implemented in Turkey with respect to spiral curriculum approach. To carry out this analyze 3th, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade education programs are analyzed correlatively based on qualitative research method. The research findings were analyzed in terms of iterative revisiting of…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

Inquiry-based science interventions aim to improve students' science proficiency by helping them understand scientific processes. In these interventions, students conduct hands-on investigations of science concepts and everyday phenomena, construct explanations for what they observe, consider alternative explanations, and communicate and justify…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between constructivist learning environment and students'motivation to learn science by testing whether students' self-efficacy in learning science, intrinsically and extrinsically motivated science learning increase and students' anxiety about science assessment decreases when more…

The new science education reform documents call for integration of engineering into K-12 science classes. Engineering design and practices are new to most science teachers, meaning that implementing effective engineering instruction is likely to be challenging. This quasi-experimental study explored the influence of teacher-developed, engineering…

This article presents an empirical study on an initial learning progression of energy, a concept of central importance to the understanding of science. Learning progressions have been suggested as one vehicle to support the systematic and successful teaching of core science concepts. Ideally, a learning progression will provide teachers with a…

Improving youth science comprehension in the United States is imperative to reverse current trends in student achievement and to meet an expected shortage of scientists in the future. This lag in achievement scores and need for future scientists is a problem. One challenge is to link inquiry-based learning and experiential education with…