Lab components of undergraduate science courses typically have students complete highly directed cookbook-like laboratory activities. These experiences rarely engage students in a meaningful manner and do not accurately convey what the work of science entails. With funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), we have created more…

St Michael's RC School aims to develop in its students an understanding of the importance of scientific knowledge through the delivery of a more diverse but appropriate scientific curriculum: a curriculum that is enriched and accessible to all students, regardless of ability; a curriculum that will encourage them to continue the study of both…

Mathematics education is rarely out of the policy spotlight in England. Over the last 10 years, considerable attention has been given to improving 14-19 mathematics curriculum pathways. In this paper we consider some of the challenges of enacting curriculum change by drawing upon evidence from our evaluation of the Mathematics Pathways Project…

Software Engineering education must account for a broad spectrum of knowledge and skills software engineers will be required to apply throughout their professional life. Covering all the topics in depth within a university setting is infeasible due to curricular constraints as well as due to the inherent differences between educational…

In this invited autobiography, the author describes the impact that educational gaming and simulation has had on his professional career. He begins by reviewing his early life and education in Aberdeen and his subsequent work as a research scientist, schoolteacher, and physics lecturer. He then shows how he changed disciplines from physics to…

"Potemkin schools" is used as the phrase to capture what a US science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) public speciality high school becomes as a result of its institutional branding. By way of an examination of the efforts of one teacher drawn into school branding through his "inquiry-based reform" of an Advanced Chemistry course,…

On September 22, 2012, NSF announced its decision to fund a three-year project, "Models for Information Assurance Education and Outreach" (MIAEO). In the first year of grant operation, MIAEO has invited 18 high school students, two K-12 teachers, and two CSUB student assistants to conduct research explorations in the fields of…

Funded by innovative programs at the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Richmond faculty in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and computer science teamed up to offer first- and second-year students the opportunity to contribute to vibrant, interdisciplinary research projects. The result was…

A curriculum innovation requires new learning material for students and a preparation program for teachers, in which teacher learning is a key ingredient. In this paper we describe how three experienced teachers, involved in the development and subsequent classroom enactment of student learning material for context-based chemistry education,…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…

Back in 1992, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded grants to five curriculum development teams and charged them with the task of starting over. Five years later, each of the development teams had produced an innovative and "integrated" curriculum. All represented notable departures from the commonly encountered, calculus-driven high…

Five of the seven papers presented at conferences to acquaint school administrators with federally supported elementary school programs (COPES-Conceptually Oriented Program with Elementary Science; ESS-Elementary Science Study; MINNEMAST-Minnesota Mathematics and Science Teaching Project; SCIS-Science Curriculum Improvement Study; and Science--A…

First of a series of three articles on elementary science programs, this describes the Elementary Science Study (ESS): (1) the nature of the program, (2) instructional materials, (3) implementation and teacher programs, (4) evaluation, and (5) the role of the teacher. (BR)

Continuing the emphasis of this issue on elementary school science, this article presents information on the Minnesota Mathematics and Science Teaching (Minnemast) Project, the Conceptually Oriented Program in Elementary Science (COPES), and the Science 5/13 Project (which evolved from the Nuffield Junior Science Project). (PEB)