De-a Arhitectura Association, a Romanian cultural organization made up of architects and teachers, develops and promotes architecture and built environment education for children and young people, in order to raise awareness and provide knowledge about the values of architecture, design, and urban planning. Its educational programs take place in…

This case study aimed to investigate teachers' reflections on the transfer of makerspace activities into classrooms. Primary and secondary STEM teachers participated in a Continuous Professional Development programme about makerspaces. Data were collected in the form of written reflections and semi-structured interviews after the teachers…

This paper provides a systematic review of instruments that have the potential to measure the quality of project-based science and technology (S&T) learning environments in elementary school. To this end, a comprehensive literature search was undertaken for the large field of S&T learning environments. We conducted a horizontal bottom-up…

As a final-year student teacher specialising in primary science, Emma Heaney faced the challenge of having to plan, organise, and conduct a small-scale, classroom-based research project. She had to teach about bones in the final block practice session and thought it would be a good idea to bring in some biological specimens obtained from the local…

School segregation and inequity are deep-rooted realities in U.S. society. Despite historical efforts at integration, too many schools are de facto segregated, and those serving mostly students of color are routinely under-resourced when compared to those servicing mostly white students. Teachers and students can struggle to talk about this…

This paper presents a case study of how a teacher and nine-year-old students deal with mathematics in a practical technology project. By analysing videotaped dialogues between teacher and a pair of students working on constructing a house model, we identify challenges of meaningful inclusion of mathematics in the project. The dialogues are…

The author discovered artist Eleanor McCain's work on "Dear Ada," an art blog he follows. McCain makes brightly colored art quilts using various rectangles and squares. She creates visual "pop" by using these shapes in a variety of sizes and bright colors. There is an interesting spatial "push and pull" that happens when looking at her quilts.…

The purpose of the study was to examine if and how elementary preservice teachers' perceptions about history were changed upon their completion of a class project that engaged them in a discipline-specific inquiry as a method of teaching history. Surveys were administered to assess any changes in their perception of the history before and after…

Explicit pedagogy that focuses on visual design and composition principles can affect students' responses to and understanding, interpretation and analysis of images, as well as the creation of their own visual representations. This article considers the why, the what, and the how of teaching various visual elements of art and design to students…

This study investigated views about children experiencing homelessness held by preservice teachers in an early childhood education program. Thirteen early childhood preservice teachers were actively involved in class discussion, reading, doing class assignments, and visiting homeless shelters as community-based field experience. They were asked to…

This article describes a cooperative project between eighth graders and first graders called "Going Green in the Neighborhood." The project entailed the first grade students sketching home designs on paper to make a model community, and the eighth grade students taking those drawings and making them into 3D computer models and then…

The process of finding inspiration for a class project is fascinating and intriguing. In this article, the author describes a class project inspired by the gyre, a widespread circulating rotation or vortex of ocean currents, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This particular gyre is the location of an enormous floating mass of garbage,…

Many parents, educators, and policy makers see great potential for leveraging tools like laptop computers, tablets, and smartphones in the classrooms of the world. Under budget constraints and shared access to equipment for students and teachers, the impacts have been irregular but hint at greater possibilities in 1:1 student computing settings.…

Many school districts are seeing a need to introduce technology education to students at the elementary level. Pennsylvania's Penn Manor School District is one of them. Pennsylvania has updated science and technology standards for grades 3-8, and after several conversations the author had with elementary principals and the assistant superintendent…

"Children as Researchers in Primary Schools" is an innovative and unique resource for practitioners supporting children to become "real world" researchers in the primary classroom. It will supply you with the skills and ideas you need to implement a "children as researchers" framework in your school that can be adapted for different ages and…