Science data literacy (SDL) is an important literacy for college students in STEM majors to possess. However, the current understanding of SDL is incomplete and lacks effective cultivation strategies. This study integrates the core ideas of science literacy (SL) and data literacy (DL), while considering the characteristics of science data, and…

At Play in the Cosmos is a game for University-level Astronomy courses. Designed as a collaboration between the Games + Learning + Society Center, an academic center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Norton & Company, Cosmos is intended to support a "game-first" model of curriculum in which students play the game before…

In this commentary, summarized from a recent interview, the author reminisces about a career dedicated to critical exploration in the classroom. She discusses the formation of the Moon Group, a group of teachers who met over a period of 25 years to study the behaviour of the moon. Duckworth later describes an exercise in which her students…

Flexibility, opportunities for exploration, and a focus on 21st century skills make out-of-school time (OST) programs an ideal environment for authentic learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM; Committee on STEM Education, 2013; Noam & Shah, 2014). In addition, because OST programs serve significant populations of…

The aim of this study is to introduce an educational game called The Star Game, and to examine its effects on prospective science teachers' conceptual understanding of stars. In addition, their opinions of The Star Game were examined. The study was conducted with a total of 54 prospective teachers in three groups. The Star Game was played in all…

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City implemented a science-based curriculum pairing augmented reality (AR) with a student-designed escape room experience to support astronomy learning. AR has the potential to simplify complex systems into digestible concepts. Designing an escape room experience provided students with an…

Science curriculums and curricular materials are essential guidelines in materializing effective science teaching. The primary goal of the current study aims to present a thematic analysis of the last three elementary and middle school science curriculums objectives released in 2013, 2017, and 2018 to determine whether they provide a base for…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] Our investigation of 353 faculty-produced multiple-choice Think-Pair-Share questions leads to key insights into faculty members' ideas about the discipline representations and intellectual tasks that could engage learners on key topics in physics and…

In 2017 the University of Utah experienced a tragedy which catalyzed already active changes in the department. In the aftermath, admissions to the graduate program was paused while new policies were developed and implemented. This article outlines this change process through the perspectives and accounts of those involved. Through in-depth…

In an attempt to understand the natural world's phenomena, young children form their perceptions of different aspects of the macrocosm, which they contrast with new scientific concepts. This process calls for an early intervention that will provide the stimuli and the tools for the development of new concepts, ideas, and cognitive structures. The…

The need to prepare students with twenty-first-century skills through STEM-related teaching is strong, especially at the elementary level. However, most teacher education preparation programs do not focus on STEM education. In an attempt to provide an exemplary model of a STEM unit, we used a rapid prototyping approach to transform an…

This article describes an integrated unit designed to teach second graders about the phases of the Moon. The science department at the author's school had been reshaping their curriculum to match their state standards as well as the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"). Their primary goal was for students to be…

Teachers are not typically involved as participatory designers in the design of technology-enhanced learning environments. As they have unique and valuable perspectives on the role of technology in education, it is of utmost importance to engage them in a participatory design process. Adopting a case study methodology, we aim to reveal in what…

This paper reflects upon the development of a multidisciplinary lesson plan aimed at developing science skills for Physics and Astronomy, Geographical and Earth Sciences, and Chemistry students at a research intensive Scottish university. The lesson plan was co-developed with a small group of staff and undergraduate students from these…

Literacy remains an area of concern in early secondary education in Scotland (ages 12-14), with recent research suggesting a continued decline in attainment levels. As literacy underpins learning, interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to teaching literacy are now being emphasized through the new Curriculum for Excellence that aims to…