STEM education is widely recognized as a powerful means of cultivating well-rounded future talent. However, challenges such as difficulties in observation, declining learning interests, and the lack of teaching resources present obstacles to the implementation of STEM education in China. Virtual Reality (VR), with its immersive, interactive, and…

Green chemistry and chemical safety complement each other in reducing adverse health and safety outcomes. However, it is imperative to train students of advanced synthetic chemistry, beyond reaction mechanisms, to proactively connect complex experiments with hazard analysis, risk minimization, and planetary sustainability. Virtual experiments…

With a belief in the need for a reform in education that prepares students for life, work, and citizenship in a globalized economy, leaders were determined to connect students across the district, state, country, and globe in global collaborative STEM projects. These projects were aligned to the standards but also afforded students the opportunity…

This study explores fluctuation in students' emotional state and motivational goals during a learning project that requires self-regulation. The research asks the following questions: (1) How do students' emotional state and motivational goal fluctuate between the gStudy learning sessions during a two-month project? (2) How do students with…

As solar energy becomes increasingly affordable, many schools are considering installing new solar power systems. In this article, the authors present Solarize Your School, an engineering project that gives students the opportunity to design and evaluate solar power solutions for their own schools. This STEM project requires students to learn and…

When learning about electricity, students are typically asked to complete a simple circuit involving a battery, wire, and lightbulb. This activity can be enhanced by adding discussion and discourse and can take on a unique final form in the case of "The Friendship Detector." In such electrical circuit activities, the completed circuit is…

Background: Design and science inquiry are intertwined during engineering practice. In this study, we examined the relationship between design behaviors and scientific explanations. Data on student design processes were collected as students engaged in a project on designing energy-efficient buildings on a blank square city block surrounded by…

Electronic textiles (e-textiles)--fabrics embedded with electrical or electronic components--offer a new model for teaching this content. E-textiles also engage students in programming and engineering design through nontraditional projects and materials. This article describes a four-week electricity curriculum using three e-textiles projects that…

Surface area is consistently identified as a curriculum standard for K-12 students and it regularly appears on national and international assessments. Recently, many schools began acquiring digital fabrication and advanced manufacturing equipment. The growing use of digital fabrication in classrooms raises the question of whether or not this…

This paper presents a mixed methods study in which 77 students and 3 teachers took part, that investigated the practice of Learning by Design (LBD). The study is part of a series of studies, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, that aims to improve student learning, teaching skills and teacher training. LBD uses the…

In the technology-rich twenty-first century, students are required to actively construct their knowledge and collaboratively engage in problem solving by using such skills as adaptability, communication, self-management, and systematic thinking. In accordance with this necessity, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education…

Rational drug design requires expertise in structural biology, medicinal chemistry, physiology, and related fields. In teaching structure-based drug design, it is important to develop an understanding of the need for early recognition of molecules with "drug-like" properties as a key component. That is, it is not merely sufficient to teach…

We investigated the effect of modeling and visualization resources on upper-division, undergraduate and graduate students' performance on an open-ended assessment of their understanding of physical hydrology. The students were enrolled in one of five sections of a physical hydrology course. In two of the sections, students completed homework…

This case study reports on how students, working collaboratively, interpret and construct a written report of the events described in animated educational software. The analysis is based on video recordings of two upper-secondary-school students while they are endeavouring to construe an animated sequence of the mouldering process. How the…

This article reports the phases of design and use of video editing technology as a medium for creatively expressing science content knowledge in an elementary science methods course. Teacher candidates communicated their understanding of standards-based core science concepts through the creation of original digital movies. The movies were assigned…