This pilot study investigates the way that young students and teachers of a Dutch Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) secondary school subject Research and Design (R&D) reason about the concept of 'model'. The core of the Dutch Technasium secondary school course Research and Design curriculum (R&D is in Dutch called…

Field experiences are a fundamental and well-loved tool for teaching in the natural sciences. However, a number of concerns threaten continued incorporation of field experiences into courses, including increased class sizes, strained finances, legal liability, accessibility concerns, and the effects of COVID-19. Because of these barriers, it is…

Teaching physics in real-life contexts continues to be a challenge for teachers at different educational levels. In this article, three context-rich problems are proposed to be implemented in the classroom for higher education, using the explosion that occurred in Beirut as a case study. These problems require the search and analysis of real data,…

The recent Next Generation Science Standards recommend students have increased opportunities engaging in modeling work scientists do. Science classroom tasks include simple inquiry compared to more complex authentic inquiry that closely resembles authentic science. Science fair participation presents students with the opportunity to engage in…

Learning occupies a very important place in our life. Learning provides a key to the structure of our personality and behaviour. It occurs through listening, reading, observation and experiences. Meaningful learning involves continuous construction of new knowledge and interpretations with previous knowledge. In teacher education programme…

Community partnerships present opportunities for expanding students' learning experiences outside traditional classroom settings. However, under-resourced low-income communities often lack access to such opportunities. This qualitative study explores how high school teachers, community liaisons, and community partners establish and sustain…

In an effort to improve student learning, authentic research experiences have been incorporated into introductory laboratory courses as a means to teach students scientific inquiry and engage them in the scientific process. Here, we describe the development and implementation of a novel undergraduate research-based laboratory course for first-year…

Background: Since about 2010 e-learning has been embedded in educational practice and has become, surely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increasingly important. Objectives: Although much has been written about e-learning, little is known about crucial didactic and pedagogical design principles for e-learning. This review tried to fill that gap.…

This study explores student agency in the context of a culturally authentic computer science (CS) curriculum implemented in an introductory CS course in two high schools. Drawing on focus group and interview data, the study utilizes qualitative research methods to examine how students exercise critical agency as they engage in the course and how…

Background and Context: Learning to create self-directed and personally authentic programming projects involves encountering challenges and learning to get unstuck. Objective: This article investigates how one U.S. fourth-grade classroom engaged in practices which emphasized community supports, in the context of the classroom's implementation and…

This study presents the research that Pramling Samuelsson's keynote at the 32nd annual EECERA conference in Brighton 2024 drew upon. The study addresses an important but understudied feature of early childhood education and care for sustainability (ECECfS), namely engaging children in prospective or what-if thinking. Our reasoning is founded on…

Virtual laboratories and simulations have emerged as innovative solutions for science teaching. However, existing resources have various limitations and constraints including cognitive load/mental burden and limited coverage of all necessary steps in scientific inquiry, focusing mainly on the experimental simulation. To bridge this gap and address…

This paper examines specific problems of educational practice that I, an undergraduate engineering educator and education researcher, have encountered in creating an interdisciplinary engineering project course. I reveal my process of theorising about problems of practice to position engineering educators' pedagogical theorising as worthy of…

The term Powerful Learning Experience (PLE) is an outgrowth of a University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) project. Colleagues who were engaged in the Leaders Supporting Diverse Learners (LSDL) project, along with researchers examining exemplary educational leadership programs refined the original framework. The version described in…

Pre-service training is the most important stage when teachers learn about integrating technology into their teaching. Pre-service teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of technologies can be used to predict their intention of including technology in their classrooms in the future. Having the necessary technical equipment available is…