An understanding of how sensemaking unfolds when elementary students engage in engineering design tasks is crucial to advancing engineering teaching and learning at K-12 levels. Sensemaking has been widely studied in the context of science as a discipline. In this paper, we seek to contribute to the more nascent efforts to build theory about the…

This study compared four horseless and seven traditional horse participants from Washington County 4-H in Utah for horse knowledge gained and for the development of 10 life skills from Hendricks's Targeting Life Skills Model: leadership, teamwork, self-responsibility, personal safety, problem-solving, decision-making, critical thinking, goal…

Digital transformation has become pivotal for enhancing efficiency and sustainable development in animal husbandry. However, this presents challenges to higher education in animal science, necessitating substantial modifications in education and training to ensure that students acquire the competences required to adapt to this digital…

Preparing college students with the skills to engage in multidisciplinary problem solving, especially as it relates to the wicked problems of agriculture, has been called for by scholars for nearly two decades (UNFAO, 2006; Boyer, 1998; NRC 1998). Our nation's Land Grants, with the mission to provide practical education, and particularly…

Design thinking--a human-centered approach to problem solving--is a process by which K-12 teachers engage students in solving relevant issues that occur in their schools. In this article, the authors describe a project in which fourth-graders used design thinking to solve an unexpected issue related to a much-anticipated class project. The project…

Bringing peace to the world is a profound aspiration, and it can be achieved by instilling the values of empathy, compassion, and respect in young children through humane education. Humane education sows the seeds of hope for a future that can heal our planet and usher in positive societal change. Humane education fosters empathy and ethical…

"Dolphin Tale" is a movie about a dolphin that loses its tail after being entangled in a crab trap line and obtains a prosthetic tail. The movie was presented to support environmental education classes at the University of Brasilia. Over a period of five years, 210 Brazilian undergraduate and graduate students answered questionnaires…

Children's picture books, both fiction and non-fiction, play a vital role in introducing the reader to the natural world. Here we examine the representation of turtles, terrapins and tortoises (Testudines) in 204 English language picture books and find a mean of 3.9 (SD 9.1) basic biological errors per book. Only 83 (40.7%) of the examined books…

This study aimed to present a project-based STEM activity titled "Let's Build a Mini Farm on Our Schoolyard." The activity was implemented in science and science applications courses during the 2018-2019 academic year with 28 seventh grade students attending a state school in Giresun/Turkey. At the beginning of the study, the students…

Although the empowerment of critical thinking (CT) has become an international concern that needs to be developed in the biology learning process for high school students, there still needs to be more relevant research literature. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of implementing reading, questioning, and answering strategies…

Fisheries scientists make sure that fish populations ("fisheries") are managed properly, neither over- or under-utilized, to maintain long-term economic and ecological stability. Scientists collect data and conduct surveys to determine fish populations, and then make recommendations about how many fish may be caught by commercial and…

Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives have received increased attention in recent years (Bybee 2011), the focus is often on science and mathematics (Thornburg 2009). Yet, engineering has been referred to as "the glue that holds the other STEM subjects together" (Thornburg 2009). With the release of…

The authors describe activities designed to teach the concept of weight to five and six year old children, using the imaginary 'Measureland' and its brand-new ride 'The Zipline Balancer'. They explore how they addressed misconceptions and insights are provided into the evolving measurement understandings of young children.

Incorporating different ways of knowing in research and management has the potential to bring creativity to environmental problem-solving through integrating ways of knowing and innovation via co-producing knowledge. To gain these benefits, North Carolina Sea Grant Extension offers small annual grants called Fisheries Resource Grants to paired…

This article describes an unit that was created for first-grade students using both the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in a student-centered, problem-based approach. The multifaceted classroom unit combined with a take-home field study provides students…