Whilst there has been significant focus on STEM in Australian education for several years, there has been very little focus on the integration of Digital Technologies (especially coding) with the other STEM disciplines. Similarly, high school mathematics education remains largely a standalone discipline. This paper describes a full year…

Climate change presents escalating risks to young people and communities, including risks to the achievement of educational outcomes. In the years NZCER has been researching climate-responsive education, we have noted a steady increase in activity, interest, and concern about climate change amongst educational policymakers, school leaders, and…

Quantum computing is a growing field at the intersection of physics and computer science. The goal of this article is to highlight a successfully trialled quantum computing course for high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. This course was designed to bridge the gap between popular science articles and advanced undergraduate…

Religious Education in Ireland over the past two decades has achieved a new status in the publicly funded schools at the secondary (high school) level. This has happened largely because it has become examinable and is now a subject like any other. In this process however, it has tended to become too much like other subjects sharing their…

Numerical simulations are playing an increasingly important role in modern science. In this work it is suggested to use a numerical study of the famous perihelion motion of the planet Mercury (one of the prime observables supporting Einsteins general relativity) as a test case to teach numerical simulations to high school students. The paper…

This article describes the redesign of a project-based course on soft and biological materials to include computational modeling. Including the construction of computational models in the course is described as a shift from constructivism--a theory that characterizes the development of formal reasoning, to constructionism--a theory that focuses on…

In the Italian education system, secondary students (ages 14-19) are confronted with the foundations of quantum physics during the final term of scientific high school (pre-university year). The Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (acronym MIUR) has remarked its importance in the syllabus to address the high school exit…

Epidemic is an apt adjective for describing the problem of academic dishonesty. When asked if they have cheated in the past year, a "disproportionately large number" (i.e., the majority) of secondary and tertiary students in the United States (and in every other country in which it's been studied) report having done so. The problem of…

This article introduces the Critical Response Protocol (CRP), an arts-based technique that engages students in equitable critical discourse and aligns with the "Next Generation Science Standards" vision for providing students opportunities for language learning while advancing science learning (NGSS Lead States 2013). CRP helps teachers…

This paper proposes an optional syllabus for the students in the XIIth grade. The proposed theme analyzes the concept of "variable mass" both in terms of classical mechanics and relativistic mechanics. In terms of classical mechanics we refer to the slow motion of a body, whose mass ranges in ascending way (by annealing a mass particle…

Context is everything. Very little in art or in history (or in life) happens in isolation, although works of art and events in history have been studied this way. This is especially true of the arts, which are so intrinsically connected to the cultures from which they emerge. This essential interconnectivity was also the premise behind the design…

In this article, a New York City public school teacher discusses the creation and implementation of a course that explores controversial topics surrounding terrorism and modern reactions to terrorism. The author describes the challenges of creating such a course and questions why such courses are seemingly rare in social studies education.…

This paper is aimed at elucidating the current state of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in Zambia's high school science curriculum. Therefore, we investigated Zambian teachers' conceptions of inquiry; determined inquiry levels in the national high school science curriculum materials, which include syllabi, textbooks and practical exams; and…

The fatal effect of the Hendra virus was noticed first in Queensland, Australia in 1994 when several horses died from an "unidentified cause". This was followed by the death of trainers and veterinarians called to assist affected horses. It is now known that the "unidentified cause", is a virus harboured in native Australian…

Recent research on civic learning shows that students' civic identity--the sense of who they are in relation to the nation--is shaped by their lived experiences. Yet, efforts to integrate civic learning into the social studies curriculum do not generally build on this notion. A high school U.S. history course was developed to test this very idea.…