The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the LearnEd Notebook curriculum when used with two groups of eighth-grade African American male students in teaching science. More specifically, the researcher sought to determine if there was a correlation between the utilization of the LearnEd Notebook Science curriculum…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of phenomena-based inquiry on students' engagement levels in my science classroom. This action research study took place in the fall of 2021 with six student participants. Participants were enrolled in an 8th grade honors science course in a middle school in South Carolina. The research was…

This study examines the instructional decision making of an eighth-grade general education science teacher working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) students in a heterogeneously grouped class without the support of a specialized English to Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) teacher. To do so, this study employs Erving Goffman's…

The continuous underrepresentation of the Latinx population in STEM fields and careers requires urgent attention. This study addresses this issue by designing and implementing a science curriculum based on culturally relevant and translanguaging pedagogies. Focusing on chemical and physical reactions, the curriculum was implemented in two…

This paper describes the construct of fascination in science, a non-cognitive trait combining interest, curiosity, and mastery skills, and the particular relevance of fascination in science for students during middle school. Grounded in the theory of "Science Learning Activation" and employing data from the longitudinal Activated…

Project-based learning (PjBL) instruction is an inquiry-based method that is beneficial to student achievement and their exploration of 21st-century learning skills, but there is a gap in the literature about how Grades 6 to 8 teachers feel about PjBL and its implementation. The research problem was science teachers in the United States were not…

This study examined the impact of sense of belonging on student engagement in math and science classrooms at an all-girls middle school. The sample was comprised of 129 seventh and eighth-grade students in three math classrooms and three science classrooms in an independent, urban all-girls middle and high school. My research design applied…

The purpose of this action research study was to explore the impact of problem-based learning on science instruction in my eighth-grade college preparatory classroom. Constructivism was the framework for this study. Problem-based learning is based on constructivist principles, and it served as the instructional model for this study. PBL can foster…

This study was designed to identify the impact of virtual reality (VR) and the virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) on the assessment outcomes of students in a middle school life sciences unit of study. The experiment was a quantitative 2 x 3 repeated measure mixed group quasi-experimental design with three variables. The two independent…

This study investigates the challenge faced by eighth-grade students at Southern State Middle School in grasping abstract concepts within the domains of physical science, physics, and chemistry. This difficulty is manifested in their poor performance on summative assessments. A comprehensive analysis of state-provided data, in conjunction with…

Student' achievement in science can be affected by teacher subject matter knowledge, ineffective instructional methods, and lack of student engagement. Although all schools provide professional development opportunities, not all teachers choose to engage in a program that provides teaching and learning through experiential techniques for the…

The adoption and implementation of state science standards based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have posed significant challenges for the development and interpretation of science Large-Scale Assessments (LSA); specifically, the extent to which the assessment items align with the standards. Previous research has relied on large…

Significant attention is being paid to how assessments aligned to learning trajectories (LTs) can be used as a means to locate students' progress in learning big ideas in mathematics over time. Furthermore, data from LT-aligned assessments have been signaled as key to driving student-centered instruction on a day-to-day basis. For LTs and…

As science becomes increasingly computationally intensive, the need for computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS) practices in K-12 science education is becoming paramount. Incorporation of CT/CS practices in K-12 education can be seen in national standards and a variety of allied initiatives. One way to build capacity around an…

The present dissertation in practice (DiP) proposal delineates an action research study designed to evaluate the use of problem-based learning (PBL) in an eighth-grade earth science class to assess the impact of PBL on student achievement. I have observed that students often struggle with developing an understanding of how the motions of the sun,…