The adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) means that many educators who adhere to model-based reasoning styles of science will have to adapt their programs and curricula. In addition, all practitioners will have to teach modeling, and model-based reasoning is a useful way to do so. This brief offers perspectives drawn from Lehrer and Schauble, two early theorists in model-based reasoning.
Beyond explicit behavioral rules, there are typically unspoken codes of conduct present in classrooms that shape interactions between students and teachers. In this paper Donnelly, McGarr, and O’Reilly explore how the classroom norms behind these interactions can stifle or facilitate the implementation of inquiry-based science education.
In-class projects can be an effective way for students to learn subject material that relates to authentic problems people address outside of classrooms. Jurow investigated middle-schoolers’ participation in an in-school math project based on the premise of creating a research station in Antarctica. Students’ engagement with the project and meaning making with math content shifted as students navigated through the different and often competing figured worlds of the classroom and “Antarctica.”
In this case study, Calabrese Barton and Yang describe how a young person’s strong interest in science (specifically reptiles) outside of school went unrecognized by his school teachers and his family as an aptitude for science. The authors describe how the prevailing view of science, framed in the context of the culture of power, can narrow learners’ perceived opportunities to pursue academic or professional pathways in science.
How and why students develop productive science learning identities is a key issue for the education community (see Bell et al, 2009). Carlone, Scott, and Lowder describe the changes in the science identities of three students as they move from fourth to sixth grade. The authors discuss the processes — heavily mediated by race, class, and gender — by which the students position themselves, or are positioned by others, as being more or less competent learners in science.
Researchers Maltese, Melki, and Wiebke investigated when lasting interest in STEM is sparked and how it is maintained by comparing the remembrances of adults who did and did not persist in STEM. Both groups said that they became interested in STEM early, usually by Grade 6. Those who persisted in STEM were more likely than those who did not to say that they had always been interested in STEM. Parents and teachers were early influences for those who stayed in STEM fields.
Feinstein and Meshoulam’s study examines the nature of equity work in museums and science centres across the U.S. Based on 32 interviews with leaders from 15 informal science education organisations, the authors identified two different perspectives, client and cooperative, each with its own strengths and implications for informal science education.
Mobile technology can be used to scaffold inquiry-based learning, enabling learners to work across settings and times, singly or in collaborative groups. It can expand learners’ opportunities to understand the nature of inquiry whilst they engage with the scientific content of a specific inquiry. This Sharples et al. paper reports on the use of the mobile computer-based inquiry toolkit nQuire. Teachers found the tool useful in helping students to make sense of data from varied settings.
This pilot study was funded by the Museum of Science’s Women in Science Committee to examine the impact of competition on children participating in Design Challenges engineering experiences, and in particular, to see what effect, if any, the competitive design of these engineering activities had on girl participants. The research questions for this study included: 1. How does competition affect participants' engagement in engineering activities? 1.a Does this differ for boys and girls? 2. How does competition affect participants' desire to take part in future engineering activities? 2.a. Does
The Dimensions of Success (DoS) observation tool defines and provides rubrics (with levels 1-4) for 12 dimensions that were developed to measure STEM program quality in out-of-school time. This technical report summarizes the development of the instrument and findings from our initial study that included 284 observations in the field across 58 STEM programs in two geographic regions (New England and the Midwest). Data were collected by 46 trained observers who observed in pairs. This report is the initial step in developing a validity argument for the instrument.
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Ashima Mathur ShahCaroline WylieDrew Gitomer
The article focuses on children's makerspaces and the maker movement in Canada. Topics include the Nova Scotia government's idea to distribute 3D printers to libraries to create public makerspaces, which are collaborative meeting places that blend craft and high technology to foster do-it-yourself (DIY) solutions, the Maker Club in Kitchener, Ontario owned by entrepreneur Cam Turner and his son Owen, and the organization Scoperta, maker Jim Akeson's version of the organization Curiosity Hacked.
The article discusses the Maker Faires, a hybrid of science fairs, craft shows, and county fairs where people come to display what they have created and talk about what they learned. The faires are designed for people who work in places such as shops, garages, kitchen tables, schools, or science clubs, while they invent and innovate with new technologies, science, engineering, art performance and various crafts. The events' impact on economic development and education is mentioned.