Integrating science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) education has become an emphasis in many countries' K-12 curricula. Design-based learning is an instructional approach that allows students to learn STEAM in more integrated ways than the traditional method. Using design thinking as a pedagogical framework, design-based…

Over the past decade, the arts' potential role in advancing mainstream transdisciplinary curriculum models, like STEM, has been more overtly recognized, both within arts and STEM communities. In this study, we explored STEAM curricula centered around data visualization, a transdisciplinary practice commonly utilized in design and STEM fields and…

As teachers and administrators focus increasing attention on the mental health needs of students, researchers are exploring ways that addressing social-emotional needs is essential to academic growth as well as personal wellness. This descriptive investigation explored ways that seventh and eighth grade students perceived their social-emotional…

To promote pro-environmental behavior (PEB), it is crucial to understand the drivers behind it. Studies indicate that, in addition to environmental attitudes and nature activities, interest in nature drives people to engage in PEB. However, the relationship between interest in nature and PEB is still greatly understudied among adolescents even…

Technological progress, globalization and demographic changes have brought about transformations that have increased economic and social inequalities. A structural transformation in education could support economic growth and sustainability and could also be associated with common actions in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,…

In this article, we describe a collaboratively developed information literacy curriculum that was embedded into three core 8th grade subjects: Algebra, American History, and English Language Arts. The curriculum was rooted in the concept of generalist literacy and supported students as they developed their curiosity, skepticism, commitment to…

Energy is considered both as a disciplinary core idea and as a concept cutting across science disciplines. Most previous approaches studied progressing energy understanding in specific disciplinary contexts, while disregarding the relation of understanding across them. Hence, this study provides a systematic analysis of cross-disciplinary energy…

Reading Apprenticeship is a model of academic literacy instruction designed by the Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) at WestEd to improve student literacy skills and academic achievement. Based on understandings of the close relationship between curricular reform and professional development, Reading Apprenticeship includes an instructional…

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised societal awareness of the role scientific literacy has in understanding and problem-solving complex societal issues. Misinformation during the pandemic relating to health, disease, and vaccines has impacted public health efforts to control the novel coronavirus. One of K-12 science education's main goals is to…

Integrated STEM education seeks to build deep connections between science, technology, engineering, and math. Contextualized lessons give students greater access to these content areas and can heighten engagement. Great parallels can be drawn between liberal arts philosophies and integrated STEM education. This paper explores how one teacher team…

In 2014, the Finnish National Board of Education launched a new core curriculum with the aim of meeting the skills and competence requirements of the 21st century. The purpose of this case study was to find out what transversal competencies Finnish eighth graders developed and how they experienced studying in a problem-based transdisciplinary…

This Teaching and Learning Research Initiative (TLRI) project was a 2-year exploratory study focusing on differentiating the curriculum in response to individual learner differences. The project was designed to explore learning and teaching of differentiated scientific content through observational processes and the expression of that learning…

As part of an outreach initiative by the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria, an interdisciplinary educational module was developed to teach students about sustainability through the lens of mineral resources used to produce mobile phones. The overall goal of the module is to provide teachers of different subjects with a multifaceted tool to…

Literacy in the Middle (LIM) is a sixth- through eighth-grade literacy initiative being implemented in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The initiative is an extension of the Literacy by 3 initiative being implemented at the elementary school level, district-wide. LIM focuses on literacy across the curriculum, including the core…

Prototype work can support the creation of data visualizations throughout the research and development process through paper prototypes with sketching, designed prototypes with graphic design tools, and functional prototypes to explore how the implementation will work. One challenging aspect of data visualization work is coordinating the expertise…