Many teachers have a level of discomfort with planning inquiry-based science lessons for students with complex needs. Science instruction typically includes teaching discrete skills with a focus on vocabulary acquisition (Knight et al., 2020). Because science is universal and thus important for all learners, many states have adopted the Next…

The first educational goal within scientific subjects is to acquire a sense of scientific literacy. In science lessons, methods of scientific inquiry provide the tools to achieve this. In this study, we based scientific inquiry on the SDDS-Model according to Klahr (2002). It is divided into three subareas: Search Hypothesis Space, Test Hypothesis,…

A new project-based laboratory (PJBL) was developed for general chemistry students to tackle the steps involved in chemical water quality analysis using an accessible, real-world hydrologic system (the lakes of the Lower Grand Coulee, Washington). This PJBL was developed in a joint general chemistry and environmental geology course by a…

This study used robot-based practices to develop an activity that incorporated the 6E model. The sixth-grade students learned interdisciplinary knowledge about how to use Arduino electronic components, microcontrollers, and hands-on tools to make a "Crab Robot." In addition, the students learned how to use Scratch programming language to…

There is extensive evidence showing that the climate system is warming and human behavior is linked to the change. Despite increasing attempts to integrate climate change into school curricula, teachers have challenges in preparing and implementing climate change lessons. The study aims to look at (a) the kinds of wondering questions middle school…

The raising of Henry VIII's warship, the "Mary Rose," from the sea bed set in train an extraordinary programme of interdisciplinary research, relentlessly pursuing the clues to Tudor life and death provided by the remains of the ship, its cargo and crew. In this article Clare Barnes offers fascinating insights into the way in which this…

St. Olaf College recently restructured its Summer Bridge Program (SBP) course for incoming low-income (LI) and first-generation (FG) college students from a non-major biology course, "Issues in Biology," to an interdisciplinary "Explorations in Science" course. Two significant changes were made with the intention of giving…

Through a collaborative effort between a sixth-grade teacher and two university faculty, we designed an integrated unit to learn about motion and we learned that an integrated teaching and learning experience about motion is MESSY (i.e., it includes movement, engagement, social interactions, spontaneity, yikes, and yippees!). We engaged in a…

The Department of Chemistry at American University has replaced its junior- and senior-level laboratory curriculum with two, two-semester long, student-led research projects as part of the department's American Chemical Society-accredited program. In the first semester of each sequence, a faculty instructor leads the students through a set of…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is a term seen almost daily in the news. In 2009, President Obama launched the Educate to Innovate initiative to move American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade (The White House, n.d.). Learning about the attributes of STEM…

Systematic studies on effectiveness of in-service teacher professional development (PD) are important for science education research and practice. Previous studies mostly focus on one certain aspect of the entire program, for example, effectiveness of PD on improvement of teachers' knowledge or students' learning outcomes. This study, however,…

Drawing from their respective work at the intersection of music and science, the coauthors argue that engaging in processes of making music can help students more deeply engage in the kinds of creativity associated with inquiry based science education (IBSE) and scientists better convey their ideas to others. Of equal importance, the processes of…

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students' development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot…

This inquiry-based activity designed for the fifth through 12th grade allows students to engage in an outdoor, place-based experience, working collaboratively both in groups and as a class to accomplish the class goal of creating a local tree map linked to student-collected data about each tree. During Local Tree Mapping, students explore the…

Since 2002, a multidisciplinary program has been used to encourage science students to build on their chemical knowledge and to appreciate how it applies to the world around them. The program is interactive and instills a new set of core learning skills that are often underrepresented in undergraduate curricula, namely, cooperative learning,…