By the third grade, students must make the transition from learning to read to reading to learn. If they do not, they cannot do their coursework. Each year, as the grade level demands go up, students tend to fall further behind and become outsiders inside the classroom. K-3 Reading is a program that implements the mastery of reading for third…

Even though engineering outreach to K-12 schools initially seemed to be a simple undertaking, it proved to require complex design solutions related to a variety of issues. The purpose of this design case is to tell the story of our National Science Foundation (NSF) supported engineering outreach project, that took place between the years of…

Studies evaluating the graphics in science textbooks have recommended that teachers use eye-catching visuals to reinforce student learning objectives. Similarly, the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) suggest that science teachers use visuals to teach English Language Learners (ELLs). However, little research has…

Creating charts and graphs is all about visual abstraction: the process of representing aspects of data with imagery that can be interpreted by the reader. Children may need help making the link between the "real" and the image. This abstraction can be achieved using symbols, size, colour and position. Where the representation is close to what…

Most people who are attracted to STEM-related fields are drawn not by a desire to take mathematics tests but to create things. The opportunity to create an algebra drawing gives students a sense of ownership and adventure that taps into the same sort of energy that leads a young person to get lost in reading a good book, building with Legos®,…

This article describes a cooperative project between eighth graders and first graders called "Going Green in the Neighborhood." The project entailed the first grade students sketching home designs on paper to make a model community, and the eighth grade students taking those drawings and making them into 3D computer models and then…

In this article, the author describes a project using acetate sheets. This project was to have at least two layers: (1) the first layer is a more detailed front layer of the acetate sheet; and (2) the second layer is a piece of painted paper behind the acetate. This lesson presents an opportunity to help students think in "layers," which will be…

Modern education technologies are destined to reflect the realities of a modern digital age. The juxtaposition of real and synthetic (computer-generated) worlds as well as a greater emphasis on visual dimension are especially important characteristics that have to be taken into account in learning and teaching. We describe the ways in which an…

This interdisciplinary activity promotes science, technology, and language arts and is well suited for upper elementary grade students. In the activity, students' research about a teacher-assigned weather phenomenon facilitates their study of the weather. When they have completed their research, students word process a paper summarizing their…

This paper describes the genesis and purpose of our geometry methods course, focusing on a geometry-teaching technology we created using NVIDIA[R] Chameleon demonstration. This article presents examples from a sequence of lessons centered about a 3D computer graphics demonstration of the chameleon and its geometry. In addition, we present data…

It is the universal cry of parents the world over, driven mad by the persistent sight of their children investing hours and hours in mastering the many layers of a video game. To the parent, video games are the enemy, the nemesis of homework and learning. But the child sees something of value, something engaging enough to fill a weekend, to the…

This article reports on a research effort that investigated whether the use of Microcomputer-Based Labs (MBLs), implemented within an inquiry-based activity sequence on phase transformations (melting and freezing), contributes to the development of fourth grade (9-10 year-old) students' conceptual understanding and ability to construct and…