It is urgent to ensure that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education meets the needs of our nation's increasingly diverse student population. This study examined whether a second-grade science program, Scientific Explorers, supported educational equity in STEM achievement for diverse student populations. Sociodemographic…

In this article, Kimi Waite and Jennifer Burgin describe a three-step interdisciplinary framework for learning partnerships between TK-2 students and scientists that covers the NCSS themes SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SOCIETY and PEOPLE, PLACES, AND ENVIRONMENTS. The authors showcase standards-aligned learning activities and resources to help practicing…

There's a lot to love about this newly expanded book in the Picture-Perfect Science series: You can combine STEM and reading through appealing lessons that are just right for your second-grade students. Also, reading comprehension strategies are embedded in all 12 of the ready-to-teach lessons, 11 of which are updated and one brand-new. The goal…

The main purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions of elementary school students (1,2,3 and 4) about science and scientist. The study has been included three different elementary schools in the city center of Kastamonu in northwest Turkey. A total of 1862 students in the first (n = 480), second (n = 450), third (n = 471) and fourth (n…

The purpose of this research is to compare the previous stereotypes of the scientist image and the current stereotypes of the inventor image among Korean students. For this purpose, three primary schools located in the metropolitan area of Korea were selected under a convenience sampling method, with one class selected for each of the 2nd, 4th,…

Taking place within the Science Through Technology-Enhanced Play (STEP) design-based research project, this paper describes how first- and second-grade students use their bodies to imaginatively become microscopic particles inside of a collaborative simulation of state change (e.g., liquid to gas) and within two distinct play spaces: a…

To address the lack of research in early science learning and young children's informal science experiences, this exploratory case study investigated a 7-year-old girl's (Abigail) emergent science competencies and how they are related to her science experiences in everyday family contexts. Data sources included observations, interviews, parent…

Insect vision is an area of active research that allows fruitful exploration into the nature of the scientific endeavor because of the bias our own vision brings. As scientists, we use our senses to make observations, but we can't assume that what we see is what insects see; we are forced to think outside of our own senses when we ask questions…

We explored 30 Black Kindergarten-2nd grade students' spoken narratives around pages of their science journals that the children selected as best for showing them as scientists. Because in all narratives, space-time relationships play an important role not only in situating but also in constituting them, we focused on such relationships using…

In this commentary, the authors bring insights from their work on science-literacy integration at the elementary level to bear on the ongoing conversation about disciplinary literacy at the middle and secondary levels. In particular, the authors discuss what they have learned about inquiry, disciplinary reading strategies, and the role of text in…

We focused on young, low-income, African American children in first- to third-grade classrooms where they experienced varied forms of interactive, participatory, and dialogic pedagogy in the context of yearlong, integrated science-literacy instruction. Using conversations that started around children's own science journals, which were an important…

This study explores young children's images of science and scientists, their sources for scientific knowledge, and the nature of their science-related experiences. A cross-sectional design was used to study how students' ideas differ over the first three years of elementary school. A modified version of the Draw-a-Scientist Test (DAST) and a…

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of questioning "during" a read-aloud and questioning "after" a read-aloud, using science-related informational tradebooks with first-and second-graders. Three thematically-related tradebooks were used, each portraying a scientist involved in authentic investigation. Students in two first/second…

Good resources for teaching elementary science content abound, making science more accessible to everyone and helping teachers enhance their presentation of science topics. However, there is one important aspect of science that sometimes proves a bit more difficult to teach: introducing students to the idea of the nature of science. Nature of…