This paper reports the results of a study of the relationship of robotics activity to the use of science literacy skills and the development of systems understanding in middle school students. Twenty-six 11-12-year-olds (22 males and 4 females) attending an intensive robotics course offered at a summer camp for academically advanced students…

The aim of the work presented here was to devise an activity associated with factors affecting boiling points. The intervention used a four-step constructivist-based teaching strategy, which was subsequently evaluated by a cohort of students. Data collection consisted of application of a purpose designed questionnaire consisting of four open-ended…

Laboratory Earth, a series of three NASA-Sponsored, on-line graduate courses for K-8 teachers, was designed to meet a variety of learning styles and appeal to teachers' motivation to learn the content and improve their teaching. This is especially important to teachers as they seek to demonstrate "highly qualified" status to meet No…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program during the period from July 2009 through June 2010. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary…

Theme-based learning (TBL) refers to learning modes which adopt the following sequence: (a) finding the theme; (b) finding a focus of interest based on the theme; (c) finding materials based on the focus of interest; (d) integrating the materials to establish shared knowledge; (e) publishing and sharing the integrated knowledge. We have created an…

Growing science apathy at the K-12 education level represents an alarming development with potentially devastating consequences at individual, societal and economic levels. Technology has been incorporated in science education without fundamentally improving test scores or student attitudes. We claim the core of the problem is how technology is…

In this study, we analyzed the quality of students' written scientific explanations found in notebooks and explored the link between the quality of the explanations and students' learning. We propose an approach to systematically analyzing and scoring the quality of students' explanations based on three components: claim, evidence to support it,…

I was interested in whether the inclusion of a service-learning experience would affect students' attitudes and values about the environment. To investigate this question, I incorporated a service-learning project into the laboratory portion of one of the two sections of my non-majors biology course, and kept the lecture portions of the course…

In line with the cognitive theory of multimedia learning by Moreno and Mayer (2007), an interactive, multimodal learning environment was designed for the pretraining of science concepts in the joint area of physics, chemistry, biology, applied mathematics, and computer sciences. In the experimental set up, a pretest was embedded in order to…

This paper reports an examination on gender differences in lunar phases understanding of 123 students (70 females and 53 males). Middle-level students interacted with the Moon through observations, sketching, journalling, two-dimensional and three-dimensional modelling, and classroom discussions. These lunar lessons were adapted from the Realistic…

This research examines the effects of the Horsham Greenpower Goblin Challenge (HGGC), a hands-on science, engineering and technology (SET) project, on the attitudes of Year 5, primary-school children towards SET. The data collection centred on pre- and post-HGGC questionnaires using Likert scales and picture/word images of scientists and…

Our research project was guided by the assumption that students who learn to understand phenomena in everyday terms prior to being taught scientific language will develop improved understanding of new concepts. We used web-based software to teach students using a "content-first" approach that allowed students to transition from…

Fourth-grade students' knowledge of observable moon phases and patterns of change, as well as conceptual understanding of the cause of moon phases, was investigated before and after special instruction. Pretest and post-test data for 48 students were used to address the research question related to observable moon phases and patterns of change.…

This study investigated the effect of providing students with the objectives of a lesson before the lesson delivery on their achievement at the end of the lesson. Two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-control group design was used, with a total of 4 groups. All four groups were taught the same…

While problem solving is a generally accepted goal of most science courses, it has previously been difficult to determine the extent to which students' problem-solving abilities are impacted by these courses. Interactive Multi-Media Exercises (IMMEX) is a web-based software package that can deliver multiple cases of case-based problems and keep…