Understanding the features of science learning experiences that organize and motivate children at early ages can help educators and researchers find ways to ignite interest to support future passion and learning in the sciences at a time when children's motivation is declining. Using a sample of 252 fifth-and sixth-grade students, we…

The objectives of this study were to (a) determine preservice educators' perceptions of forest health, (b) define the experiences which may have influenced their understanding, and (c) identify the approaches they might use to convey forest health information. Twelve interviews were conducted with preservice science and agriculture education…

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a science assessment tool termed the Life Sciences Assessment (LSA) in order to assess preschool children's conceptions of basic life sciences. The hypothesis was that the four sub-constructs, each of which can be measured through a series of questions on the LSA, will make a significant…

The present paper delves into the classroom dynamics of Biology classrooms taking into account teaching learning processes associated with some of the ethical issues in Biological Sciences. Argumentation and debate appear to be the major transactional approaches adopted by teachers for dealing with these issues. The classroom discourses emanating…

Evolution is fundamental to biology and scientific literacy, but teaching high school evolution is often difficult. Evolution teachers face several challenges including limited content knowledge, personal conflicts with evolution, expectations of resistance, concerns about students' conflicts with religion, and curricular constraints. Evolution…

Learning assistant (LA) programs have been implemented at a range of institutions, usually as part of a comprehensive curricular transformation accompanied by a pedagogical switch to active learning. While this shift in pedagogy has led to increased student learning gains, the positive effect of LAs has not yet been distinguished from that of…

This article documents a collaborative project involving preservice early childhood education students' development of inquiry-based learning experiences alongside kindergarten students within a science methods course. To document this project, I utilized a multiple methods approach and data included classroom observations, transcripts from lesson…

This document contains all of the Minnesota kindergarten academic standards in the content areas of Arts, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. For each content area there is a short overview followed by a coding diagram of how the standards are organized and displayed. This document is adapted from the official versions…

A fifth grade life science lesson was implemented through a lesson study approach in two fifth grade classrooms. The research lesson was designed by a team of four elementary school teachers with the goal of emphasizing engineering practices consistent with the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) (Achieve Inc. 2013). The fifth…

Increasing inclusion of underrepresented minority and first-generation students in mentored research experiences both increases diversity in the life sciences research community and prepares students for successful careers in these fields. However, analyses of the impact of mentoring approaches on specific student gains are limited. This study…

Academic medical centers nationwide face numerous fiscal challenges resulting from implementation of restructured healthcare delivery models, contracting state support for higher education, and increased competition for federal and other sources of biomedical research funding. In pursuing greater accountability and transparency in its fiscal…

Public participation in local decision-making processes has numerous purported benefits. Yet, realizing these benefits requires a citizenry that is able and willing to participate in meaningful ways. High schools are ideal venues for civic education but rarely teach local collective action, citizen engagement, and self-governance, focusing instead…

The ability to understand and implement calculations required for molarity and dilution computations that are routinely undertaken in the laboratory are essential skills that should be possessed by all students entering an undergraduate Life Sciences degree. However, it is increasingly recognized that the majority of these students are ill…

This article explains four kinds of inquiry exercises, different in purpose, for teaching advanced-level high school and college students the hypothetico-deductive (H-D) method. The first uses a picture of a river system to convey the H-D method's logic. The second has teams of students use the H-D method: their teacher poses a hypothesis…

There are well-acknowledged challenges to scaling computerized performance-based assessments. One such challenge is reliably and validly identifying ill-defined skills. We describe an approach that leverages a data mining framework to build and validate a detector that evaluates an ill-defined inquiry process skill, designing controlled…