This study investigated the effectiveness of culturally relevant project-based learning to address the academic achievement gap between Black and Brown students and their White and Asian American peers at New Hope Elementary School. The research aimed to determine if culturally relevant project-based learning could enhance academic outcomes,…

Project-based learning (PjBL) has been increasingly promoted and extended to online environments to enhance the quality of higher education. However, PjBL involves complex processes requiring higher-order thinking skills, which may pose challenges to many students especially in online settings with little prompt support from teachers. The problem…

Inspired by the biology education research community's collective reading of Kendi's "How to Be an Antiracist," I draw together recent articles related to "achievement gaps"--a construct identified by Kendi as perpetuating racist ideas. At the same time, I recognize that, for many in science, technology, engineering, and…

Student-Centred Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) is a set of collaborative learning techniques that are shown to reduce the continuation and awarding gaps between students of Black, Asian and other Minority Ethnicities (BAME) and White students when SCALE-UP is implemented throughout every module in an…

The problem addressed in this study was that some high school students do not have the math skills needed to succeed in a traditional chemistry class. If instructional strategies are not changed, many students who struggle with algebra will also struggle to master the chemistry content which is a required high school subject in Arizona. The…

Project-based learning (PBL) holds promise for students in urban high schools by creating personalized, engaging, and relevant experiences that prepare students for post-secondary pathways. This exploratory study focused on understanding the implementation of PBL in an urban STEM high school that includes career pathways where students engage in…

Artificial photosynthesis is a promising approach to generate commodity chemicals using abundant chemical feedstocks and renewable energy sources. Despite its importance, affordable and effective hands-on classroom activities that demonstrate artificial photosynthesis and teach key concepts, especially for primary school students, are lacking.…

Underrepresentation of some populations in STEM fields occurs because these students experience achievement gaps with performance lower on average than their overrepresented peers. Interventions to reduce achievement gaps and increase the retention of underrepresented students in STEM courses include approaches found both inside and outside of…

Georgia adopted science standards encouraging teachers to use inquiry-based instruction in science instruction in 2016 to improve science exam scores. The problem was a lack of improvement in science exam scores in middle school and high school students in a small rural school district in South Georgia since inquiry-based standards have been put…

Background: Research shows that active pedagogies could play an important role in achieving more equitable outcomes for diverse groups of students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Although flipped classes are a popular active methodology, there is a lack of high-quality studies assessing their impact in ecologically…

Team-based learning (TBL) is a highly intense active learning pedagogy that uses a cycle of preclass preparation, formative assessment for readiness, mini-lectures, and complex team exercises. Consistent with the literature on active learning, prior research on TBL consistently shows its benefits for student outcomes as compared with previous…

Millennial students, shaped by the rapid change in technology and connectivity, pose a challenge in devising new teaching and learning pedagogies. The team-based learning (TBL) approach has been used in several disciplines and is indicated as an effective way to use active learning techniques to help students improve their academic performance.…

In outcome based education (OBE), curriculum design with industry involvement is most recommended approach which enables relevant execution of teaching learning process. Globally, acceptance of OBE is increasing since four decades. This article investigates the OBE curriculum design by adding Value-Added Courses (VACs) which are endorsed and…

What happens when campus units come together to create both a shared physical space and a shared mission space? This case study highlights a unique cross-campus partnership between the UCLA Science Libraries and two academic support programs to create a STEM Collaborative Learning Center. This space serves to help decrease achievement gaps in STEM…

Persistent disparities in opportunities to learn between students from different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds serve as stark reminders that our schools, which reflect what is happening in society, are not meeting the needs of all youth equally well. Furthermore, inequitable approaches to funding and resource allocation in…