The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have high requirements regarding science knowledge and academic vocabulary that need to be taught to students using research-based curriculum and teaching techniques. Students who receive Special Education services or who are ELL are known to encounter difficulties learning new and complex scientific…

Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. The new standards set off a chain reaction of standards adoption and…

These appendices accompany the report "Final Report of the i3 Impact Study of Making Sense of SCIENCE, 2016-17 through 2017-18." Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the…

This study originated from the realization that many community college students have significant difficulties with the concepts related to linear functions and their graphs even though these topics are included in the mathematics curriculum from about third grade onward. It is an attempt to identify possible gaps in the math standards in this…

In San Diego, California, 800 public school students from the inner city are attending a program called School in the Park (SITP), for approximately one-fourth of their 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade education. This unique program blends rigorous academic standards (formal learning) with hands-on, experiential curricula (informal learning), using…

Since the early 1600s, millions of people have came to the United States from all over the world. At that time, Native American Indians inhabited the land, but they too had come from elsewhere 30,000 years earlier. Why did they come and what was their arrival like? "Your Acting Company" (the class) has been selected to present a play at…

In this activity students (in pairs) become explorers and map readers tracing the best land routes to travel between select U.S. cities. They learn who were the first known explorers who broke the trails and who were the first groups of people to follow the trails. The activity tasks each pair of students with instructions to determine the…

This review of the literature investigates ways to apply student-centered math activities in fifth grade standards-based curriculum. My goal for this project is to discover and share several ideas about how to effectively implement student-centered math activities within the standards-based curriculum requirements that dominate today's public…

This activity plan for fifth graders posits that the student is an agent for the King and Queen and are authorized to make a journey to the New World on behalf of the kingdom. The mission is to claim all land for the monarchy, locate a new trading route across the ocean, look for the Northwest Passage, and bring back gold, silver, spices, new…

California State Standard 5.2 is delineated as: Students trace the routes of early explorers and describe the early explorations of the Americas. The Age of Exploration, which began in the late 1400s, was an important era in the discovery and development of land yet unknown to Europeans. During this period, Europeans sought new sea routes to Asia…

California State Standard 5.3 is delineated as: Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers. North American Indians once had inhabited regions now contained in the United States that stretched from far north to south and from the east to the west coasts. The…

California State Standard 5.8 is delineated in the following way: "Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems." Students answer six…

California State Standard 5.6 is delineated as: Students understand the course and consequences of the U.S. Revolutionary War. Students should be able to identify and map the major military battles, campaigns, and turning points of the Revolutionary War, the roles of U.S. and British leaders, Indian alliances on both sides, the contributions of…

California State Standard 5.5 is delineated as: Students explain the causes of the Revolutionary War. The Revolutionary War is a great central drama in U.S. history and in the evolution of nationalism and democracy throughout the world. Students should perceive the worldwide impact of the colonies' triumph over British imperial power and its…

The Age of Exploration, beginning in the late 1400s, was an important era in the discovery and development of land unknown to Europeans. Students initially participate in geographic literacy activities by comparing and contrasting the European geographic view of the world in the 1400s with present-day information. Focusing on pre-Columbian…