Business leaders in Wisconsin cannot find the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent they need to stay competitive. Students' lagging performance in K-12 is a critical reason why. The good news is that the nation's most effective STEM education programs can help turn the tide. Wisconsin students have made some progress in…

With the increasing demand for evidence-based research on teacher effectiveness and improving student achievement, more impact studies are being conducted to examine the effectiveness of professional development (PD) interventions. Cluster randomized trials (CRTs) are often carried out to assess PD interventions that aim to improve both teacher…

Development of benchtop, portable Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (IR) spectrometers has opened up opportunities for creating university-high school partnerships that provide high school students with hands-on experience with NMR and IR instruments. With recent changes to the international baccalaureate chemistry…

The integration of an undergraduate science content course and science methods course into a single combined course for preservice teachers, including a precourse field experience, was undertaken at a small, liberal arts college. The conceptual framework for this new delivery system was grounded in the "Next Generation Science Standards…

The North American Association for Environmental Education encourages state environmental education associations to develop professional certifications for individual environmental educators. To understand perceptions in Wisconsin, the authors distributed an online survey. Survey questions encompassed participant demographics; certification…

Demonstration shows are a widely used form of Informal Science Education. While there is evidence that the shows are highly enjoyable, little work has been done to investigate the cognitive impacts of these shows. This article describes the development and production of "The Boiling Point," a show that uses the structure of a play to…

States vary greatly in their implementation of standards-based accountability under No Child Left Behind, yet little evidence is available to guide policymakers on what attributes of state policy advance more tightly aligned instruction. This study uses survey data and content analyses from the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum to describe elements of…

Biological energy flow has been notoriously difficult to teach. Our approach to this topic relies on abiotic and biotic examples of the energy released by moving electrons in thermodynamically spontaneous reactions. A series of analogical model-building experiences was supported with common language and representations including manipulatives.…

Radiation pressure is an important topic within a standard physics course (see, in particular, Refs. 1 and 2). The physics of radiation pressure is described, the magnitude of it is derived, both for the case of a perfectly absorbing surface and of a perfect reflector, and various applications of this interesting effect are discussed, such as…

There is a great need to raise the levels of science achievement for those groups of children who have traditionally underperformed. Prior cognitive research with Native people suggests that problems with achievement for Native students may be more complicated then simple problems with knowing or not knowing content knowledge. This dissertation…

In this article, the author describes a bike trip which marks the culmination of a unit reviewing map-reading capabilities. In seventh grade, students develop various map skills, including cardinal and intermediate directions, how to measure distance on a map using a scale of miles, how to interpret the legend of a map, and how to locate places…

This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that…

With support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Siemens Foundation, and the Associated Colleges of Illinois (ACI), National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST) hosted its third summer science program in June 2006 at Aurora (IL) University's Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, campus. This program…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…

Describes an ongoing program that brings together science faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and area school science teachers. The program offers lecture-dinner evenings and an annual science teacher day. Concludes that the program is well attended, cost effective, and readily transferrable to other locations. (PR)