An experimental science curriculum for primary school was introduced in Croatia for the 1st time in the 2023/24 school year. This is taking place against the backdrop of a shortage of teachers from various science subjects, especially physics. They are increasingly being replaced by non-professional teachers, often those with a Master of Primary…

Citizen science has proven to be a useful paradigm both to contribute to science and to increase the public understanding of science. Thus the connection between citizen science and schools offers an interesting approach to explore. However, a lot of questions and challenges remain unclear, such as the balance between scientific and educational…

Current models of best practice in science education advocate for students to learn science by engaging in applied contexts that integrate the various science disciplines. Permaculture offers one such integrated context for elementary science. Although permaculture is relatively new in PK-12 education, the broader practice of school gardening has…

In this article, I argue for expanding what "counts" as evidence of content learning in the assessment of English learners (ELs) and their peers in the content areas. ELs bring expansive meaning-making resources to content classrooms that are valuable assets for meeting the ambitious learning goals of the latest K-12 education reform.…

Green School intend to increase student connection to the environment, and have the potential to increase achievement through opportunities for hands-on science learning. This study utilizes publicly available data on all public schools in Maryland to examine the extent to which the Green School designation relates to changes in science…

At the time of the current global energy crisis energy awareness education in school is increasingly important. Textbooks directly helping and influencing learning play an important role in this, especially in the case of natural sciences. Thus, the aim of this research was to show how science textbooks help to educate energy awareness (EA).…

School science is often very different from "real world" science. One important difference, and possibly the main one, is that in school science the relationships between variables have often been sanitized -- essentially "cleaned up" -- so that there is very little (and often no) variation in the data from the relationship…

Partnerships between schools and out-of-school organizations (museums, zoos, nature centers, etc.) have been shown to improve the educational experiences for both students and teachers. In this article, we report on the experiences we have documented as a nature center through our active involvement in school partnerships. Our partnerships with…

This paper uncovers the sustainability content in the science and mathematics curriculum of Qatar's K-12 public school system. It focuses on mapping the curriculum standards of both subjects against sustainable development goals (SDGs) and identifying the existing gap. The mapping, using a key-words approach, of sustainability concepts based on UN…

If people want to be healthy they need to eat. However, food poverty (the inability to afford or access food to make up a healthy diet) is just one of the consequences of climate change. For many children in UK schools, food poverty is their everyday experience. The UK's food poverty rate is suggested to be among the highest in Europe; despite the…

Engineering's promise to build a better world has been realized differently across the United States, often with lines of social identity determining who becomes an engineer, who benefits from engineering innovations, and who suffers devastating consequences. Many educational scholars have argued that engineering inequities are in part due to deep…

In this article, the author describes her early fascination with the natural world, and how this directed her through school and university into a scientific career. She talks about how she combined her previous experiences into one fabulous job, running the educational outreach for a pharmaceutical company, before the teaching itch led her to…

Hodson and Wong (2017, this issue) argue that, though the nature of science (NOS) is now an established focus of school science education and a key element in defining scientific literacy, "the consensus view" of NOS misrepresents contemporary scientific practice. They then propose a number of alternative approaches to science curriculum…

Nebraska is committed to pursuing a new vision for science education based on "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC, 2012), that advocates for rigorous, high-quality science education for all students. Following an ambitious four year timeline, Nebraska is working to develop new assessments aligned to and designed for these…

There are not many teachers who would argue against effective leadership for learning as a fundamental skill, necessary to ensure that all students are provided with high-quality teaching and learning. In this article, the author discusses the impact of shared leadership in primary science and how the practice was developed in her school setting.