STEM education awareness, advocacy and literacy are paramount to the nation's global competitiveness, innovation, and security. Technology will be the vanguard of the 21st century and the effectiveness of STEM education will determine if we can solve real-world problems such as maintaining national defense, protecting the environment, medicine,…

The shift from traditional education to maker-centered learning calls for an analysis and evaluation of the current studies on professional development in maker-centered learning. The current systematic literature review was conducted to examine existing literature on teacher professional development for maker-centered learning. It aligns the…

This investigation explored a learning community approach to professional development (PD) specifically catered to science teacher educators. It was designed to bolster faculty collaboration, help participants learn about new research relevant to teacher development, and share effective teaching strategies. Forty-four science teacher educators…

Teachers, support staff, schools, and school districts have faced a multitude of challenges in adapting their known and familiar practices to the new realities and restrictions that have been put in place due to the outbreak of COVID-19. These challenges are daunting and difficult for many in our education system. Fortunately, a numerous amount of…

Problem-based learning (PBL) offers a powerful approach to engage students in meaningful learning experiences by connecting classroom content to real-world challenges. This Spotlight explores how PBL can be implemented across K-12 to foster critical thinking, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. From preparing students for the workforce…

This article describes the process of designing and creating six computer-based simulations for school leadership training programmes, in the context of the Chilean school system. For the design and construction of the simulations, six scenarios were selected from case analysis of principals with formal training and experience in different…

The integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, also referred to as integrative STEM education, is a relatively new interdisciplinary teaching technique that incorporates an engineering design-based learning approach with mathematics, science, technology, and engineering education (Sanders, 2010, 2012, 2013;…

This exploratory study investigates the impacts of industry-based externships for K-12 teachers, and reports teachers' perspectives on how these experiences influenced K-12 classroom practices. The program of focus in this research study is the Educators in Industry: K-12 Externship Program. For four weeks in the summer, teacher-participants are…

The label of "teacher" is something of a misnomer for the problem-based learning (PBL) practitioner. Rather than acting as a source of content knowledge, PBL educators are lead learners who demonstrate learning to students through their own authentic inquiry (Hmelo-Silver, 2004). PBL educators and students travel a road together that…

The U.S. military has long understood the value of immersive simulations in education. Before the Navy entrusts a ship to a crew, crew members must first practice and demonstrate their competency in a fully immersive, simulated environment. Why not teach students in the same way? K-12 educators in Pennsylvania, USA, recently did just that when…

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) disciplines are considered key to the scientific and economic improvement in the United States. As noted by the Carnegie Corporation of New York (2011), we need a nation in which "all" teachers and thus, all students, are "STEM-capable" (p. 2), that is, equipped with a broad…

This report describes a problem based learning project focusing on the cultural elements of a high performing school district. Current literature on school district culture provides numerous cultural elements that are present in high performing school districts. With the current climate in education placing pressure on school districts to perform…

How can we use new technology to support and educate the science leaders of tomorrow? This unique book describes the design, development, and implementation of an effective science leadership program that promotes collaboration among scientists and science educators, provides authentic research experiences for educators, and facilitates adaptation…

For the forty-first time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Kansas City, Missouri. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains twenty-seven…

These proceedings contain the papers and posters of the International Conference on e-Learning (EL) 2019, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information Society and co-organised by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, in Porto, Portugal, July 17-19, 2019. The EL 2019 conference aims to address the…