The number of students interested in pursuing STEM in post-secondary institutions is on the decline. This is due to several factors, one being a lack of effective and innovative science enrichment (summer or after-school) programs for high school students (Baran et al., 2019; Kong et al., 2014). While traditional lecture-based science courses…

The future outlook for STEM jobs in the U.S. is projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to have a 10.5% increase from 2020 to 2030, with 11.3 million STEM jobs projected in the U.S. by 2030. During the same time interval the projected rate of increase of STEM jobs is higher (at 10.5%) compared to non-STEM jobs (at 7.5%). Engineering,…

A participatory action research project involving social workers as stakeholders from high schools and the local community college in Nassau County, New York, provided the basis for an inquiry that addressed the effectiveness and implementation of clinical social work practice with Black male students transitioning to community college from high…

In today's digital world the Internet is becoming an increasingly predominant resource for science information, rapidly eclipsing the traditional science textbook in content area classrooms (Lawless & Schrader, 2008). The shift challenges researchers, educators, administrators, and policy makers to reconsider what it means to read and…

This study investigated whether participation in the Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP), a long-term authentic plant research project, in conjunction with explicit verses implicit instruction can change high school students' conceptions of the nature of science (NOS). The participants included a total of 134 students comprised…

Agencies that fund scientific research have called increasingly in recent years for the projects they support to contribute to broader social and educational impacts. However, the means by which these projects might best utilize their own resources to support educational outcomes for young learners have received relatively little attention. This…

State tests, which assess reading comprehension, ask students to make inferences and connections beyond the text. The problem of practice in which this study is situated is that students are having difficulty making meaningful connections and developing inferences in relation to the material that is read aloud together in class or assigned for…

This qualitative study researches a participatory action research project undertaken by 12 history teachers in two urban school districts. In this project middle and high school teachers were engaged in a yearlong action research project that involved them in implementing literacy strategies within their classrooms and reflecting on the use and…

Organizational sensemaking is the attempt to understand complex events that occur in organizations (Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 2005). This study focuses on the sensemaking leadership capabilities of a leadership team promoting comprehensive reform. The cross-school leadership team engaged in organizational sensemaking in order to…