This paper connects the technological practice of activity monitor gaming to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practice of "analyzing and interpreting data," and to the foundational constructionist idea of personal meaning. In our larger study, eighth-grade students, ages 12-14, wore physical activity…

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released proposed Science and Technology/Engineering standards in 2013 outlining the concepts that should be taught at each grade level. Previously, standards were in grade spans and each district determined the method of implementation. There are two different methods used…

The purpose of this study is to reveal the metaphors of primary school students (n = 362) relating to the concept of global warming. Data collected by completing the expression of "global warming is like..., because..." of the students were analysed by use of qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques. According to findings of…

In this article, the authors describe an investigative activity in which their eighth-grade students reconstructed past environmental change in the New England area using data from lake varves in central Vermont to examine evidence of climate change. The investigation uses an authentic paleoclimate record (Ridge 2011) from the Pleistocene epoch,…

We present a method for assessing science inquiry performance, specifically for the inquiry skill of designing and conducting experiments, using educational data mining on students' log data from online microworlds in the Inq-ITS system (Inquiry Intelligent Tutoring System; www.inq-its.org). In our approach, we use a 2-step process: First we use…

Action Potential Science Experience (APSE) is a five-day summer camp offering science opportunities for K-8 students. The focus of the APSE curriculum is to teach science concepts and methods while challenging the participants to solve an overarching problem from the popular-culture context. The participants in the APSE entitled Burger 'N Fries…

Students are moving away from content consumption to content production. Short movies are uploaded onto video social networking sites and shared around the world. Unfortunately they usually contain little to no educational value, lack a narrative and are rarely created in the science classroom. According to new Arizona Technology standards and…

There is, no doubt, untapped potential in using technological tools to enhance the understanding of science concepts. This study examines the potential by observing 7th and 8th grade middle school students' (n=23) use of portable data collection devices in a nine-week elective class, "Exploring Technologies". Students' use of the data collection…

Building and racing mousetrap cars is a common activity in many eighth- and ninth-grade physical science classrooms. However, once students have raced their cars, most mousetrap assignments come to an end. In this article, the authors developed a project to help teachers get more mileage out of mousetrap cars. The Mousetrap Car Project addresses…

Last fall, "Science and Children" invited kindergarten to grade eight teachers to participate in a study investigating students' ideas about plants and plant growth (Barman et al. 2002). Two hundred twenty-seven individuals from 16 states in the United States, one U.S. Territory, and one Canadian Province responded to this invitation and…

The purpose of this study was to monitor the development of teacher personal attribute and school environmental factors at an urban intermediate (years 7 and 8) school in New Zealand as a result of an extended science professional development intervention project. Over a 2-year period, a validated, comprehensive science curriculum delivery…

The science education community has been challenged to develop curricula that offer science educators and students a variety of experiences that highlight the advances of technologies. Although many approaches have been suggested for using technologies in school, there has been little research on its use as a tool with middle school students.…

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…