This article examines the ways in which interdisciplinary small groups were used in a school setting in order to drive students' "joyful engagement and" literacy instruction. Drawing from the work of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad in "Cultivating Genius" (2020) and "Unearthing Joy" (2023) we designed and implemented a summer…

Introduction: Cognitive psychology courses are rich in content that can be useful to broad audiences. Much of the foundational research presented in course texts is conducted in highly constrained laboratory settings, making the concepts difficult to apply or use in the real world. Statement of the Problem: Students in cognitive psychology classes…

Teachers use a variety of strategies to capture students' attention, which is a necessary step for any lesson. Expert-level teachers take this one step farther, making sure that their attention-gathering techniques engage students cognitively, sparking productive curiosity and connecting to key concepts and skills to be learned in a unit or…

"'Who's Gonna Water My Tomatoes?': School Gardens, Kitchens, and the Search for Educational Authenticity" updates an old concept for our modern age, utilizing school gardens and culinary kitchens where students grow, prepare, and eat their own food. Over a century ago, the educational philosopher John Dewey proposed reforming education…

Discover a bold new vision for high school mathematics that empowers students through engaging, real-world learning. For decades, mathematics education has been guided by the visionary efforts of educators and leaders who recognized the importance of making math relevant, engaging, and accessible to all students. From the foundational principles…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their college and career goals. Career-connected learning can be delivered in a variety of ways, including in core content…

Integrating content-area and literacy instruction in primary-grade classrooms creates authentic and engaging opportunities for students to build background knowledge and literacy skills. Furthermore, when students engage in meaningful dialogue about content-area topics they can discuss complex ideas and use content-specific vocabulary. These…

This article develops a pedagogical approach to increase students' ability to locate and (re-)create publics for the issues about which they care most. By drawing Rhetorical Genre Studies into public sphere theories, this approach blurs the boundaries between widely-dispersed genres (those with large readerships across communities) and…

This project involves students in a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) as part of the traditional introductory biology laboratory course. Recently, research has shown that student engagement in authentic research has significant positive impacts on students, such as development of science literacy and reasoning skills. Being…

The authors introduce the readers to a project that highlights digital heritage in early childhood. The highlighted teachers partnered with an anthropologically-trained archaeologist who utilizes advanced digital technologies to enhance public understanding of cultural heritage. This collaboration emphasized social studies and reinforced…

Capstone projects provide key learning opportunities for STEM undergraduates to consolidate knowledge gained over the life of their degree. These projects typically reflect lab- or fieldwork-based research, which can exclude students who do not wish to pursue these career avenues. Here we deployed school engagement projects (SEPs) as an…

In this paper, we address the societally important issue of developing a more equitable approach to preK-12 engineering education. Our primary emphasis is on K-8 grades--a time when first impressions of engineering may be developed. Calls for increased participation by all students, including those who have been historically marginalized, motivate…

A role-play activity is presented that was designed for a STEM education learning experience to enrich science literacy, collaboration, and critical-thinking skills in undergraduate science courses. During the role-play, learners assumed the roles of critical stakeholders involved with Everglades restoration activities. After conducting research…

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unanticipated event that has exposed human fragility in an interconnected and interdependent world. While impacts are of a global magnitude, they have been felt at the most local of levels. Across the world pupils' daily lives and experiences have been directly impacted by government-imposed measures and restrictions…

The definition of experiential education (EE) has both pedagogical and practical implications for higher education institutions. While there is increasing pressure to justify and quantify these experiences, we remain faced with the challenge of ensuring that a demonstration of breadth does not distract from the importance of meaningful depth both…