The intervention programmes have a direct influence on teachers' knowledge of teaching different topics. This paper focuses on how Grade 8 natural science teachers' knowledge developed during an intervention programme. Eight schools were selected to participate, and 25 Grade 8 Natural Sciences teachers from Gauteng province participated. Data were…

Micro-credentials are increasingly being adopted across a variety of industries and countries, including the kindergarten through grade 12 education system in the United States, as a way to identify workers with specific skills, knowledge, and competencies. This report presents the results of a study conducted by RAND researchers who investigated…

During a 10-week professional physical science professional development (PD) course, elementary inservice teachers (n = 18) in a large urban district were engaged in explicit-reflective nature of science (NOS) instruction. Teachers were also explicitly engaged in reflection concerning NOS pedagogy (e.g., explicit-reflective, role of context).…

Digital literacy is a vital competency needed by physics teachers, so it should be trained through lectures using technology, one of which is LMS3. The study aims to describe the LMS3 implementation in school physics lectures to train digital literacy and elucidate an enhancement of prospective physics teachers' digital literacy in school physics…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Pack program. The Pack was developed by the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) and includes a digital game and set of curricular and professional development resources that aim to support computational thinking teaching and learning in middle school science and computer…

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) increase student engagement in scientific practices and empower students to generate novel findings. Previous studies have demonstrated that CUREs are more effective at enhancing students' motivations, attitudes, science identity development, and acquisition of science process skills than…

Educational Scaffolding was first mentioned in 1976 by Wood et al. Several examples for scaffolding in chemistry are also known from the literature. As written scaffolds, stepped supporting tools to support students while solving problems in organic chemistry were developed, applied, and evaluated. Although the students rated the tool as very…

Playground Physics is a supplemental middle school science program designed to support embodied learning by enabling students to connect physics concepts to their own playful activities. The purpose of this study was to examine a model for scaling up the Playground Physics program and to determine the program's impact on middle school students'…

Large numbers of U.S. students lack proficiency in science, and students from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups show disparities in science achievement. Science knowledge and skills are important for both academic and workplace success, and a variety of interventions have been developed to improve student achievement in science.…

Large numbers of U.S. students lack proficiency in science, and students from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups show disparities in science achievement. Science knowledge and skills are important for both academic and workplace success, and a variety of interventions have been developed to improve student achievement in science.…

In large, introductory courses, instructors and teaching assistants often struggle to provide detailed feedback on student homework in a timely manner. Here we describe a peer-reviewed homework system that provides quick turnaround while offering flexibility in the construction of homework problems. Homework is administered through a cycle, which…

The NGSS Early Implementers Initiative was created to help eight California school districts and two charter management organizations, supported by WestEd's K-12 Alliance, implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Many educational initiatives are funded for only a couple of years. This unique initiative spanned an extraordinary six…

This article presents the evaluation of a two-year action research project in biology and mathematics teaching involving a primary school and a university in Sweden. The aim of the study was to contribute knowledge about a school-university intersection as a professional learning arena. The teachers' conceptions about the project implementation,…

Empirical Education Inc. is the independent evaluator of SRI International's 2014 Investing in Innovation (i3) Development grant called Redesigning Secondary Courses to Improve Academic Outcomes for Adolescents with Disabilities and Other Underperforming Adolescents. The goal of the grant is to develop "Enhanced Units" that combine…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) advocate an integrated model of science instruction for middle schools in which the science disciplines are connected rather than separate. This model, used by other countries that are consistently successful in science, has several key benefits, including enhanced student learning and better…