Over the last few decades, there has been an international focus on productive talk in science classrooms, requiring teachers to use more dialogic practices with their students. Studies promoting a dialogic approach propose that students have conversations in small, student-led groups. However, the literature in education and science education…

The continued downward spiral of enrollment in physical sciences in the USA and Europe has science educators concerned on both sides of the Atlantic. Physics has been particularly hard-hit, with the percentage of students choosing to major in the subject at the lowest level in decades. University physics has a reputation as a difficult, abstract…

In matrix teaching, teachers utilize elements of cooperative learning and project-based learning, but all students are held responsible for their own final products. A hypothetical story illustrates a worst-case scenario for cooperative learning, then the story is analyzed for its difficulties. Offers strategies for avoiding ineffectual group work…

This document was developed with the intention of increasing California public school students' awareness of and participation in science-related enrichment activities. Some of the activities are intended for participation by individuals, while others are meant for teams of students. These annual events are listed in chronological order for a…