Located in the suburbs of a large midwestern city, Trail Middle School serves a predominantly middle-class population. The data the authors feature in this article include group discussions and interviews with students, as well as recordings of in-class lessons, student work, and fieldnotes. The authors focus on the theme of gender as it emerged…

Identifying the factors that contribute to interest in STEM will provide guidance for successful interventions as well as contribute to our understanding of how students learn STEM content and how STEM career trajectories are developed. Thus, this study aimed to develop an instrument of STEM career interest. The process of the instrument…

Ages 10-14 mark a period in which children develop a strong sense of whether science is 'for them,' a time that typically coincides with the start of middle school in the United States and their first exposure to more rigorous science classes and testing. Experiences with science in and out of school can shape children's motivation to choose…

The aim of this study was to develop a Scientific Process Skills Test (SPST) in the context of ''Matter and its Nature''. It was investigated whether there was a predictive effect of demographical features and participating out-of-school learning opportunities across the 7th and 8th grade students' Scientific Process Skill (SPS) levels.…

In the present study we investigate what problems adolescents in year-nine compulsory school face when trying to learn to play a song together, how they take on these, and how their teacher responds to these problems. The studied practice, where students are to form a band and learn to play a song together in music class, is an example of…

The present study focuses on the development of intercultural values and attitudes in a linguistically homogeneous groups of students in the nation of Georgia. The aim of the research was to study: (1) intercultural values (valuing cultural diversity) and attitudes (openness to cultural otherness and to other beliefs, worldviews and practices) of…

This study investigated the use of different pedagogical techniques to create an intellectually engaging experience for middle school students who visited a traveling exhibition from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at a non-museum host site: the University of North Georgia Dahlonega's Library and Technology Center. The findings of this…

This dissertation investigates the following research question within an informal games-based learning environment: "How do students construct scientific ideas within a games-based learning environment?" In this study, middle school youth role-played as scientists recruited by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop the Raven Virus…

Formal mentoring is the cornerstone of most teacher induction programs, but teachers receive support from informal mentors as well. The authors report on findings from a study of 57 first-year mathematics teachers in 11 school districts to describe who teachers' formal and informal mentors are, how teachers work with them, and how the functions of…

At the botanical garden of the University of Würzburg, we conducted practical lessons on bionics, focused on the lotus effect, with 260 students. Those approx. 14 years old, 8th-grade mid-level students were divided into two groups. During an instructional discussion about the topic, one group was confronted with their alternative conceptions…

Field trips are an important feature of the United States' education system, although in the current context of high-stakes tests and school accountability, many schools are shifting resources away from enrichment. It is critical to understand how field trips and other informal learning experiences contribute to student test scores, but little…

In this investigation, we examined how youth during learning conversations at an informal science education camp negotiated and authored identities as learners of science. Using identity theory as our analytical lens, we investigated by application of qualitative methodology the socially constructed nature of youth's identities. We focused on the…

Recent educational studies have shown increasing lack of interest and participation of youth (ages 10-14 years old) in various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields in the U.S. The decline in the number of youth choosing to study STEM fields in higher education and the resulting lack of STEM professionals in the society…

Current scholarship suggests that many youths identify with hip-hop, especially youths of color. Study of this artistic form has been suggested as a means of helping youths acquire and become fluent in literacy practices. This article explores how the use of a hip-hop literacies curriculum addressed the literacy skills of urban ninth-grade English…

In 2011, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois embarked on the creation of a program that allows middle and high school students to explore community health issues using human patient simulation. MedLab was created to engage students in an authentic exploration of medical science, biology, and human anatomy, with a particular…