Are makerspaces--where children can create gas-powered Roman chariots, singing greeting cards, or playdough circuit boards--just the site for a slightly wacky explosion of inventiveness? Or can these maker activities be channeled to support deep STEM learning? Bronwyn Bevan, director of the Exploratorium Institute for Research and Learning in San…

In this Reflection on Practice we propose a triple nexus of research, public engagement and teaching that could provide a new pathway for academic developers to enable greater engagement in learning and teaching issues from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academics. We argue that the public engagement activities demanded…

Interconnectedness changes lives. It can even save lives. Recently the author got to witness and be part of something in his role as a teacher of primary science that has changed lives: it may even have saved lives. It involved primary science teaching--and the climate. Robert Collins describes how it is all interconnected. The "Toilet…

This paper discusses a novel structure for providing a high-impact, first year experience for science students. ASTER (Access to Science Through Experience in Research) is an extracurricular certification program designed to introduce our students to the research culture via seminar attendance, journal clubs, book clubs, and lab visits.…

The relationship between students' use of PeerWise, an online tool that facilitates peer learning through student-generated content in the form of multiple-choice questions (MCQs), and achievement, as measured by their performance in the end-of-module examinations, was investigated in 5 large early-years science modules (in physics, chemistry and…

The acronym STEM--the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math--now a familiar term in education, is evolving into STEAM--STEM plus "A" for art. Educational researcher Martin Storksdieck's studies have shown that infusing art into STEM allows for "a different way of perceiving and knowing and dealing with the world, as a means to…

This paper presents a series of activities and educational strategies related to the teaching of digital electronics in computer engineering. The main objective of these methodologies was to develop a final tutored coursework to be carried out by the students in small teams. This coursework was conceived as consisting of advanced problems or small…

Within the school library community, there have been persuasive calls for school librarians to contribute to science learning. We present a conceptual framework that links national standards of science education ("Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas," referred to as…

A nanotechnology module was developed for ninth grade students in the context of teaching chemistry. Two basic concepts in nanotechnology were chosen: (1) size and scale and (2) surface-area-to-volume ratio (SA/V). A wide spectrum of instructional methods (e.g., game-based learning, learning with multimedia, learning with models, project based…

We present a science centre established in Genoa on an agreement between Municipality of Genoa and Department of Physics of University of Genoa. The aim is to offer children, young people and community an opportunity to approach science in a playful way. The centre staffs guide the visitors through the exhibits, attracting their interests towards…

School science laboratory classes and hands-on public engagement activities share many common aims and objectives in terms of science learning and literacy. This article describes the development and evaluation of a microbiology public engagement activity, "The Good, the Bad and the Algae", from a school laboratory activity. The school…

Family Math and Science Nights engage students and parents in active investigations tied to the curriculum in a fun, informal environment. Through this program, families actively explore math and science ideas, discover together through guided inquiry, and apply their discoveries to solve a problem at the end. All activities are hands-on, use…

The website "Earthlearningidea" was developed for the International Year of Planet Earth in 2007 and continues with one new activity per fortnight. Activities are devised to catch the attention of students and to enable them to enjoy the science of the Earth. Many activities require minimal equipment, for schools in developing countries, but there…

Despite being criticised for placing little emphasis on thinking, the majority of laboratory work at school level is taught "via" expository "recipe-style" labs. This has been seen to result in students struggling to be able to apply the practical techniques they have learnt in the classroom outside the narrow environment in which they were…

The objectives of this research were to identify the characteristics and effectiveness of chemistry teaching programs that increase students' entrepreneurial attitudes, chemistry concepts understanding and creativity. The research design application refers to the R & D (Research and Development) Design. Seventy-three senior high school students…