Teachers serve as gatekeepers to the implementation of curriculum in their classroom (Thornton, 2005). Their beliefs about a topic and the wider political environment can influence what they teach. To this end, our goal was to investigate whom preservice teachers identify as heroes and why, which heroes should be included in the curriculum, and…

Part 2 of the article on the proposed alternative PreK-12 physical education Learning Standards introduces examples of specific Content Learning Outcomes (CLOs) under each of the alternative standards introduced in Part 1. In addition, Learning Outcomes are offered that target students' pro-social behavior development, as well as their joy and…

In the past few decades, scientific and educational entities in the United States have repeatedly expended considerable fiscal and human resources in an effort to establish contemporary education standards, curriculum frameworks, and assessment tools. These efforts are intended to reform the quantity and quality of K-16 Earth science education…

As the world races to combat a pandemic, slow climate change, and solve many other public health challenges, it is clear that developing young people's scientific knowledge should be an urgent priority in schools. The goal of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is to foster scholars and citizens who can think critically and creatively to…

In Latvia the implementation of the new National Curriculum is oriented towards a competence based approach that focuses on learning by doing and is based on theoretical constructs of constructionism and social constructivism. For the first time since Latvia gained independence in 1990, the new National Curriculum will provide a unique opportunity…

The purposes of this study were to (1) investigate 127 high school students' views about scientific inquiry at different grade levels, and (2) to describe factors such as the teacher's views about scientific inquiry, his teaching, and his curriculum that facilitated or constrained students' views about scientific inquiry. The majority of students…

English Language Learners (ELLs) represent the fastest growing population of K-12 students in the United States (National Education Association, 2020). This study sought to examine and improve the teaching practices used with newcomer ELLs at a high school in New England, USA, and respond to the question: How can newcomer ELL Students with Limited…

The purpose of this study was to explore similarities and differences between special educator preparation in Norway and in Sweden. Graduates of special education programmes at two Norwegian (n = 320) and two Swedish universities (n = 425) who completed their training between 2001 and 2012 responded to surveys. Findings indicate that both Swedish…

The Ashland University's superintendent licensure program had not been revised and updated for the last several years. With all of the educational reforms in the first part of this new millennium, there was a pressing need to redefine and develop the overall program and courses embedded in it. An action plan was set up to carry out several steps…

Learn about the Challenge Based Science Learning Project and its larger implications for the fields of Next Generation Science Learning and Open Educational Resources. The project involved 18 middle school teachers and five administrators from three U.S. school districts partnering with instructional coaches and learning sciences researchers from…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) emphasize how human activities affect the Earth and how Earth processes impact humans, placing the concept of sustainability within the Earth and Space Sciences. We ask: how prepared are future teachers to address sustainability and systems thinking as encoded in the NGSS? And how can geoscientists…

Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2013. The new standards set off a chain reaction of standards adoption and…

These appendices accompany the report "Final Report of the i3 Impact Study of Making Sense of SCIENCE, 2016-17 through 2017-18." Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the…

The authors conducted a test to determine whether they could incorporate a discovery box into a preschool setting was successful. It stimulated the students' natural inquiry processes while promoting understanding of healthy foods and allowing for practice of fine-motor skills. It was easily incorporated into the curriculum and classroom space.…

The book is linked to the annual theme of the 2008 CAERDA International Conference with contributing authors serving as keynote speakers, invited panelists, paper presenters, as well as specialists and educators in the field. The book provides a most comprehensive description of and a theoretically well informed and a scholarly cogent account of…