Since the launch of Sputnik by the U.S.S.R. on October 4, 1957, the United States has aimed to bolster nationwide STEM education with the intention of creating a strong STEM pipeline. Despite many efforts, there remains a distinct lack of diversity in the STEM career fields, and many people cannot accurately describe what engineers do. These two…

Science education has undergone extraordinary change in recent years. The Smithsonian Science Education Center has been producing world-class science curriculum for decades that integrates the arts, history, culture, and science of the Smithsonian. In the growing global marketplace, American students need to excel in science, technology,…

Implementation of science curriculum materials has been a fundamental challenge in science education for decades. Policy researchers have argued that alignment of standards, curriculum, and assessment are the key to supporting implementation. This paper focuses on teachers' perceptions of curricular alignment and on curriculum implementation using…

California's public schools have struggled since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, and today face enormous challenges to try to regain lost quality and standing as a national education leader. In light of the current economic crisis, competition for limited resources is fierce and the pressure is on to eliminate all but the basic "Three…

In this study, we seek a better understanding of how individuals and their daily interactions shape and reshape social structures that constitute a classroom community. Moreover, we provide insight into how discourse and classroom interactions shape the nature of a learning community, as well as which aspects of the classroom culture may be…

In the elementary and secondary schools, there is a movement toward a sequential instructional program which would involve the offering of a laboratory science each year from kindergarten to high school graduation. In some schools teachers have turned to science kits as a partial solution to the problems presented by restricted space, inadequate…