Background: In countries that endorse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education as an educational movement, design-based learning is deemed a pedagogical approach. Purpose: Because the integration of the engineering design process and scientific investigation has been an issue in science education, this study examined the…

The need for shifting the expository laboratory instruction style to inquiry-based approaches is widely acknowledged. Problem-based learning (PBL), one of the inquiry-based approaches, advocates students' self-directed learning. The literature indicates that scaffolding students' independent learning is necessary for a PBL environment. In our…

This work presents a lecture and lab series that focuses on teaching the concept of nanophytotoxicity to undergraduate students in a relatively simple experiment. In this experiment, students evaluated the phytotoxicity of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) using mung beans (i.e., "Vigna radiata") and industrially relevant, commercially…

The study investigated the effects of graphic organizer (GO) and experiential learning (EL) with feedback on the mean achievement and students' critical thinking in Jos North Local Government Area of the Plateau State of Nigeria. A pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was used. A sample of 75 students was drawn from the population of 1950…

Virtual globe programs such as Google Earth replicate real-world experiential learning of spatial and geographic concepts by allowing students to navigate across our planet without ever leaving campus. However, empirical evidence for the learning value of these technological tools and the experience students gain by exploration assignments framed…

Adequately responding to linguistic diversity in the classroom is imperative in European school contexts, not least because of current migratory movements. This article presents the results of an intervention study with primary school English-foreign-language learners in Germany (N = 42, M[subscript age] = 8.70 years) from linguistically diverse…

For decades science educators and educational institutions have been concerned with the status of science content being taught in K-12 schools and the delivery of the content. Thus, educational reformers in the United States continue to strive to solve the problem on how to best teach science for optimal success in learning. The constructivist…

We have conducted an education project to communicate the wave energy concept to high school students. A virtual reality system that combines both hardware and software is developed in this project to simulate the buoy-wave interaction. This first-of-its-kind wave energy unit is portable and physics-based, allowing students to conduct a number of…

This article describes a one-semester anatomy and physiology course that is currently offered through the concurrent enrollment program at the University of Minnesota. The article explains how high school teachers are prepared to teach the course and describes efforts to promote program quality, student inquiry, and experiential learning.…

In this study, interdisciplinary environments were created in NSF institutes and classrooms with graduate fellows and teachers. Using a mixed methodology, we examined how experiential learning influenced participants' mathematical/scientific actions and compared differences in mathematics/science efficacy and content understanding between…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an 11th-grade and 12th-grade zoo-based academic high school experiential science program compared to a same school-district school-based academic high school experiential science program on students' pretest and posttest science, math, and reading achievement, and student perceptions of…

The Food, Math, and Science Teaching Enhancement Resource (FoodMASTER) Initiative is a compilation of programs aimed at using food as a tool to teach mathematics and science. In 2007 to 2008, a foods curriculum developed by professionals in nutrition and education was implemented in 10 3rd-grade classrooms in Appalachian Ohio; teachers in these…

Exhibits in informal science institutions, like science centers and museums, are often designed to help people learn, but research showing the immediate impact of experiences with exhibits on understanding is limited. This dissertation tested the hypothesis that the value of first-hand experience with an exhibit is not necessarily in its immediate…

We conducted a series of summer workshops on bioinformatics to increase educators' knowledge of this new field of inquiry with the assumption that their knowledge will, in turn, impact student achievement. The workshops incorporated experiential learning and self-reflection (Loucks-Horsley et al. 1998). Educators demonstrated significant increases…

Students learned about electrical circuits in an arcade-type game consisting of 10 levels. For example, in one level students saw two circuits consisting of various batteries and resistors connected in series or parallel, and had to indicate which one had a higher rate of moving current. On levels 1-9, all students received a correct tone and had…