Recent calls for reform in K-12 science education and the National Academy of Engineering's Grand Challenges for Engineering in the 21st Century emphasize improving science teaching, students' engagement, and learning. In this study, we designed and implemented a curriculum unit for sixth-grade students (i = 1305). The curriculum unit integrated…

Around the world, there have been curricula reforms involving the incorporation of the inquiry-based teaching and learning strategy in secondary school science education in general and in practical work in particular. Research in inquiry-based practical work (IBPW) has focused, for example, on aspects of the strategy itself, on teacher…

This article reviews current scholarship about how to promote change in instructional practices used in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. The review is based on 191 conceptual and empirical journal articles published between 1995 and 2008. Four broad categories of change strategies were developed to…

This study presents a description and analysis of a ninth-grade integrated science curriculum developed and implemented by teachers within a high school science department and subsequently sustained for over 25 years. The Integrated Science Program (ISP) at Lakeside Southwest High School depicted here offers a unique example of longitudinal…

This study is a meta-interpretative analysis that focuses on research conducted and published by other researchers. Concepts central to this study include global practical relevance, curriculum design, and formative situation. We analyzed 35 studies selected from 374 published studies in the years 2000 and 2001 in three journals referenced in the…

Describes the Intermediate Science Curriculum Study (ISCS) instructional system and its underlying rationale, and outlines the planning and developmental procedures used to construct this individualized junior high school science program. (JR)

The use of unifying themes that span the various branches of science is recommended to enhance curricular coherence in science instruction. Conceptions of spatial scale are one such unifying theme. This research explored the accuracy of spatial scale conceptions of science phenomena across a spectrum of 215 participants: fifth grade, seventh…

Investigated were 27 elementary teachers to determine how the factors of dogmatism, attitude towards science, and congruence with new curriculum influence the adoption of new science programs. Teacher congruence with new science courses and attitudes toward science both correlated negatively with dogmatism. (SL)

Reports on 18 months of action research that examined the effectiveness of using the history of science to promote British students' understanding of the nature of science. Both quantitative and interview data offer substantial evidence of a strategic movement away from serendipitous empiricism and toward an appreciation of the interactive nature…

Planned educational change occurs regularly throughout the world. With the enormous political change the 1994 elections brought to South Africa, a complete change in education policies was called for. The new Curriculum 2005 (C2005; Department of Education, RSA, [1997]) embraced new teaching and learning approaches such as outcomes-based education…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

A challenge for urban systemic reform initiatives in science education has been to achieve local, state, and national standards for teaching and learning. We have collaborated with teachers in the Detroit Public School System to design project-based curriculum materials that contextualize the learning of science in meaningful real-world problems,…