The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine principals' perspectives on a model of professional development (PD) in writing. Participants were 14 principals and seven assistants from a rural district's K to 12 school system who shared in an interview their challenges and advice for effective PD at a building and district level. Their…

The purpose of this research project was to design, deliver, and informally assess the content and methodology of an introductory online course for the educators of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (N=20) that focused on the block-based coding language, Scratch. Prior work by The Playful Learning Lab examined various STEM resources and their…

Plant-based dietary choices can help to mitigate climate change. Yet, most people still consume meat. Social identity influences dietary choices. This study tests whether shared identity, pro-veg*n norms, attitudes, and dietary intentions, can be strengthened via a vegan cooking workshop for children. Pupils (N = 155) cooked in small groups (3-6…

Teachers enhance their professional competencies, knowledge, and performance by attending various professional development activities, whose main goal is to assist them in helping students to achieve better results. The effectiveness of such events depends on matching the professional development to teachers' needs, experience, and objectives.…

Youth suicide is an urgent public health problem. However, schools often lack standardized protocols for suicide intervention, and many school-based mental health professionals are not prepared adequately to assess and respond to students at risk for suicide. This paper describes a professional development workshop, Helping Students At-Risk for…

Migrant students tend to underperform in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and are less likely to pursue higher education in STEM when compared with their nonmigrant peers. Given the substantial increase in migration, this disparity has been a central concern in science education in many European countries. The…

With the heightened focus on STEM education in school districts, there is a need to examine the professional learning provided to teachers who implement STEM curriculum, especially low-cost, sustainable professional development experiences. This study used an embedded mixed-method design to examine the connection between Guskey's model of teacher…

The Lead Teacher Program (LTP) is organized by Beyond Benign, an institution that promotes green chemistry principles and sustainability in education. LTP trains K-12 teachers to run workshops in their own communities across the US and Canada. This research project aimed to study the culture among K-12 science teachers in LTP and how they share…

Real world, mathematics-based educational activities provide context for learning and break down barriers to learning in mathematics and science. SpaceMath@NASA (hereafter SpaceMath) provides teachers with real-world math activities in a space context in support of standards, by using current NASA discoveries as a starting point for motivating…

The next generation will be better prepared to cope with the daunting sustainability challenges if education for sustainable development is being taught and learned across educational sectors. K-12 school education will play a pivotal role in this process, most prominently, the teachers serving at these schools. While pre-service teachers'…

Background: Teachers play a prominent role in facilitating the integration of engineering into school instruction. There is an extensive body of literature that has addressed the delivery of engineering teacher professional development programs. A few studies have summarized the features of engineering teacher professional development programs,…

In recent decades much attention has been given to the optimization of professional development to support education reform; especially as it relates to science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) fields. Many studies have shown that the most effective STEM professional development programs include active inquiry opportunities that…

We present results from a meta-analysis of 95 experimental and quasi-experimental pre-K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional development and curriculum programs, seeking to understand what content, activities, and formats relate to stronger student outcomes. Across rigorously conducted studies, we found an…

The focus of this article is on the evaluation and outcomes of a professional learning opportunity that focused on 13 current K-12 public school science educators in the United States. This teacher training concentrated on sustainability education that utilized marine sciences as a unifying concept. Findings from this training helped to identify…

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of a content-based workshop on public school special education team members knowledge and perceptions towards the identification of students with mental health challenges. Participants were professional public school employees from a public school district in southeastern Massachusetts.…