As content literacy intervention is expanded in schools, data-based decision-making practices need to also advance, especially in the areas of science. Vocabulary-matching curriculum-based measures (VM-CBM) may allow educators to identify students needing additional support in science vocabulary to assist with using and comprehending disciplinary…

Elementary school teachers are commonly known to have low self-efficacy in mathematics and science. Previously conducted research on science teaching self-efficacy and content knowledge has often focused on whether methods courses, professional development or other interventions improve both self-efficacy and content knowledge among elementary…

Food constitutes an important pedagogical component of elementary science, yet research on how to approach this topic is scarce. The present study attends to this issue by exploring "food appraisal" (dialogic sense-making wherein elementary teachers and students orally evaluate particular types of foods and eating habits) during science…

Career and educational opportunities in food science and food safety are underrecognized by K-12 students and educators. Additionally, misperceptions regarding nature of science understanding persist in K-12 students despite being emphasized as an important component of science education for over 100 y. In an effort to increase awareness…

The notion of plant-blindness, the inability of humans to notice plants in their environment, has been much examined. Similarly, plant scientists have criticised the seemingly zoocentric focus of a biological education, which appears to neglect plants. Furthermore, there are stark contrasts between the active plant behaviours evidenced in current…

This study examines student reading engagement with children's science books in elementary classrooms. "Reading engagement" in science is conceived in terms of a Transmission-Transaction continuum. When centered on transmission, science reading entails passive reception of a textually encoded scientific message. By contrast, when science…

This study examined the effect of imagery interventions for the presentation of novel science vocabulary to fifth grade learners. Eighty-nine students from two schools in Long Island participated in this study and were randomly assigned to four different instructional interventions: a Picture Presentation method, in which a word was paired with a…

This article describes a culminating assignment for students enrolled in a human ecology course in a Masters in Science Education program. The goal of this assignment was for students to use published scientific data to link daily life, human impact, and sustainability to ecological function. This activity required students to consider the…

This paper presents a series of illustrative LEGO Mindstorms-based science and math activities, developed under an NSF GK-12 Fellows project, for elementary, middle, and high school grades. The activities, developed by engineering and science graduate Fellows in partnership with K-12 teachers, are grade appropriate, address pertinent learning…

This paper describes the Science in the City seminar, an innovative approach to in-service and preservice science teacher development that bridges formal and informal science learning contexts. Drawing upon the tenets of design and evaluation research, the study focuses on the teachers' presentations of evidence of student learning from trips they…

This qualitative study looks at 23 elementary preservice teachers' roles as science teachers and the importance of understanding linguistic diversity for science instruction. Using individual and group reflection papers, two important points are made that reflect the importance of preparing preservice teachers in science. Explicit conversations…

Presented is an elementary school science program designed to offer a basic continuum of process objectives and concepts. A brief history of the development of the Wappingers Central School District's Elementary Science Committee is presented to help lay the groundwork for the redesigning of the science program described. Potential advantages…