Research shows that various stereotypes about science and science learning, such as science being filled with hard and dry content, laboratory experiments, and male-dominated work environments, have resulted in feelings of distance from science in students' minds. This study explores children's experiences of science learning and science identity.…

Elementary teachers are expected to teach complex and authentic lessons and integrating multiple disciplines. In so doing, they must take many elements into account, such as disciplinary content, learning standards, and pedagogical knowledge, in an ever more complex environment, including pupils' increasingly heterogeneous characteristics. Our…

This study reports on the professional learning of two teachers of science who were learning to engage their grade four students in meaningful, hands-on learning. Teachers' learning took place in the context of a 10-month university-based action research program designed to help improve the practice of science, technology, engineering and…

The science vocabulary from a science curriculum standards document (Ministry of Education Ontario, 2007) was classified by morphological developmental level and compared to the grade level topics of the curriculum (grades 1 to 8). Descriptive statistical analyses highlight the complex nature of science vocabulary and the incompatibilities between…

The growing diversity of Ontario's population is increasing pressure on the education system to ensure that all students receive equal opportunities to excel academically and develop personally. Students are more likely to succeed if their own racial, ethnic, and cultural identity is reflected in the classroom. This observation applies no less to…

This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…

This study describes cognitive and social aspects of children's development of scientific literacy in a Schools For Thought (SFT) classroom. SFT is an educational reform project that applies cognitive research about the active, reflective, and social nature of learning into classroom practice. Participants were fourth graders from a…

This guide is one of a set of 10 science guides, each covering a separate grade in Manitoba, together covering kindergarten through grade 9. The guides have been designed to provide a framework for building scientific concepts and developing the learning of process skills. They replace an earlier set of guides dated 1979. Each guide is essentially…