The purpose of this article is to introduce a methodology for analyzing the complex configurations emerging in students' speech and drawing activities, having consequences for how and what students learn and make meaning of in science. Accordingly, we launch a methodology to unfold the multidimensional communication as to deepen the analysis of…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a reform effort "for states, by states," advances ambitious ideals for elementary science teaching, but the fate of these ideals will depend in part on the engagement of state science coordinators (SSCs). This article explores the responses of SSCs to NGSS in a purposeful sample of 18 US…

Present and future social and ecological challenges are complex both to understand and to attempt to solve. To comprehend the complex systems underlying these issues, students need systems thinking skills. However, in science education, a uniform delineation of systems thinking across contexts has yet to be established. While there seems to be…

Situated in the context of an in-service professional development (PD) program focused on Interdisciplinary Science Inquiry, this quantitative study tests the validity of and further explores the theoretical model adapted from Desimone's (2009), "Educational Researcher," 38, 181-199 conceptual framework on effectiveness of PD. The…

Reports on a study which investigated the effect of instructional objectives on seventh grade students' attitudes toward science. Results indicated that students in the integrated science program had better attitudes than those receiving traditional instruction. (TW)