Integrated STEM education within North America has become a popular pedagogy; however, teachers identify challenges that arise when planning for and implementing integrated STEM education. These challenges may threaten STEM teachers' capacity to balance disciplinary and integrated learning, a core feature of effective STEM education. The purpose…

To increase the likelihood for continuous growth and improvement, professional development for high school biology teachers should include long-term, targeted instruction with an accompanying peer-coaching component. This study examined the views of biology teachers who were engaged in a two-year professional development program, which included a…

Through the GK-12 program of the National Science Foundation, graduate student fellows in a coastal marine and wetland studies program were trained to present targeted science concepts to middle- and high-school classes through their own research-based lessons. Initially, they were taught to follow the 5-E learning cycle in lesson plan…

A nonequivalent, control group design was used to investigate student achievement in secondary chemistry. This study investigated the effect of process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) in high school chemistry to reduce alternate conceptions related to the particulate nature of matter versus traditional lecture pedagogy. Data were…

This study investigates the conceptions and use of inquiry during classroom instruction among beginning secondary science teachers. The 44 participants were beginning secondary science teachers in their first year of teaching. In order to capture the participants' conceptions of inquiry, the teachers were interviewed and observed during the…

This study was conducted at an innovative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics high school, providing a rich contextual description of the teaching and learning at the school, specifically focusing on problem solving and inquiry approaches, and students' motivation, social interactions, and collaborative work. Data were collected…

Early career science teachers are often assigned to classrooms with high numbers of English language learners (ELLs). For the underprepared early career science teacher, these circumstances are challenging. This study examines the changes in beliefs and practices of an early career science teacher who taught high numbers of ELLs in an urban…

This paper is based on an online graduate program for middle school science and mathematics teachers in Texas titled Integration of Science, Mathematics and Reflective Teaching (iSMART). Launching the program for its first cohort in fall 2010, the authors attempted to answer the following two questions in this paper: (a) How do the members of the…

This paper examines secondary science teachers' perspectives of the role that mentoring by a scientist and science educator pair played in their professional development. Multiple data sources from three years of a professional development project, including interviews, participant reflections, and a focus group, were used to examine the benefits,…

The Information Technology in Science (ITS) Center for Teaching and Learning was a National Science Foundation funded program to provide high-quality professional development for 7-12th grade science teachers. The subgroup on which this paper focuses was immersed in an innovative approach to understanding chemistry of the environment. The group…

This article presents a study exploring the beliefs, knowledge, and practices of four middle and secondary science teachers participating in a collaborative curriculum action research project. Using a case study methodology, the views and practices of these teachers were described and analyzed as they investigated novel ideas about scientific…