Inspired by the positive impact of serious games on science understanding and motivated by personal interests in scientific outreach, we developed "Bacttle," an easy-to-play microbiology board game with adaptive difficulty, targeting any player from 7 years old onward. Bacttle addresses both the lay public and teachers for use in…

This paper highlights some of the challenges and milestones inherent in building partnerships between institutions of higher education and public-school systems from an interdisciplinary approach. It discusses lessons learned from a Mathematics Science Partnership (MSP)-Start Partnership that was funded by the National Science Foundation from 2008…

The purpose of this study was to understand the influence of globalization, foreign direct investment, and multinational corporate responsibility on the curriculum and teaching practices in Costa Rican K-12 schools. The study was also designed to understand the relationships among the Ministry of Education, Coalicion Costarricense de Iniciativas…

Experiments are essential for both doing science and learning science. The aim of the German youth science fair, "Jugend forscht," is to encourage scientific thinking and inquiry methods such as experimentation. Based on 57 interviews with participants of the competition, this study summarises students' conceptions and steps of learning…

We have developed the traditional science fair format into an ocean science fair model that promoted the integration of Western science and Alaska Native traditional knowledge in student projects focused on the ocean, aquatic environments, and climate change. The typical science fair judging criteria for the validity and presentation of the…

This study was conducted to develop a new scale for measuring teachers' attitude towards science fair. Teacher Attitude Scale towards Science Fair (TASSF) is an inventory made up of 19 items and five dimensions. The study included such stages as literature review, the preparation of the item pool and the reliability and validity analysis. First of…

On the Saturday before Halloween, hundreds of students and their parents went from booth to booth participating in science activities at an annual Fall Festival and Learning Fair. The Fall Festival and Learning Fair is a valuable annual partnership where culturally relevant teaching engages each child in hands-on, standards-based science lessons.…

As the global economic competition gets tougher, American policymakers and researchers are interested in finding ways to increase the number of students pursuing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-related majors in order for the United States to continue its role as an economic powerhouse. A survey study was employed to…

For more than half a century, the annual science fair has been a fixture in many a school's academic life, both for science teachers, who guide classes through the hands-on experience of researching topics of interest, and for students, who often hectically put the finishing touches on their work the night before it is exhibited in the school gym…

In standards-based science fairs, children learn more about what they are interested in. They deepen understandings of how science works and improve inquiry skills--including the ability to communicate and share research results. Parents learn more about science inquiry and their child's science abilities. The standards-based science fair builds…

Amid a struggling economy, a raft of foreign-policy headaches, and the tail end of a heated campaign season, President Barack Obama carved out time in his schedule last month to watch students in the State Dining Room demonstrate a solar-powered model car, a water-purification system, and a soccer-playing robot. The science fair was the fifth…

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…

One major contributing factor to the low number of students receiving degrees in engineering is the two decades of steady decline in student enrollment in engineering disciplines. Evidence in the literature suggests that this decline can be linked to K-12 students' lack of knowledge of engineering careers and their perception of engineering as…

This research investigates how eight undergraduate African American women in science, math, and engineering (SME) majors accessed cultural capital and informal science learning opportunities from preschool to college. It uses the multiple case study methodological approach and cultural capital as frameworks to better understand the participants'…

Nowadays, universities are making extensive efforts to attract prospective students to the fields of electrical, electronic, and computer engineering. Thus, outreach is becoming increasingly important, and activities with schoolchildren are being extensively carried out as part of this effort. In this context, robotics is a very attractive and…