There is considerable evidence that traditional approaches are ineffective in teaching physics concepts, including light and optics concepts. A major focus of the work of the Activity Based Physics Group has been on the development of active learning curricula like RealTime Physics (RTP) labs and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs). Among…

E-Science has the potential to transform school science by enabling learners, teachers and research scientists to engage together in authentic scientific enquiry, collaboration and learning. However, if we are to reap the benefits of this potential as part of everyday teaching and learning, we need to explicitly think about and support the work…

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…

Engaging students in both hands-on and minds-on experiences is needed for education that is relevant and complete. Many middle school students enter science classrooms with pre-conceived ideas about their world. Some of these ideas are misconceptions that hinder students from developing accepted concepts in science, such as those related to…

We present the most recent steps undertaken to reform the introductory algebra-based course at The George Washington University. The reform sought to help students improve their problem-solving performance. Our pedagogy relies on didactic constructs such as the" GW-ACCESS problem-solving protocol," "instructional sequences" and…

Research into effective pedagogy was a major strand of the science education research programme at the University of Waikato for the 20 years of the 1980s and 1990s, being done in all five Learning in Science Projects and related theses. The research was closely connected to constructivist and sociocultural views of learning, current national…

In recent years, a number of National Research Council reports have emphasized the need to improve science education and enhance science literacy for all students. In addition, the newly released "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" advocates engaging students in scientific practices and disciplinary core ideas. Children are not learning…

In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in…

What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry-based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project-based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, [1990]; Crawford, [1999]; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks,…

Engineering technology students can attain a meaningful mathematics learning if they are allowed to actively participate in hands-on activities. However, the current dissemination of knowledge in the classroom still focuses on teacher-centered paradigm of teaching. A study to explore lecturers' views regarding a newly developed integral calculus…

We transformed our first-year curriculum in biology with a new course, Biological Inquiry, in which greater than 50% of all incoming, first-year students enroll. The course replaced a traditional, content-driven course that relied on outdated approaches to teaching and learning. We diversified pedagogical practices by adopting guided inquiry in…

Well-developed professional communication skills, collaborative work practices, effective self-management and a clear understanding of social responsibility and ethical practices are essential for the new engineer who hopes to contribute to the profession and build a career. These attributes are in addition to the traditional sound knowledge of…

The teaching of biochemistry within medical disciplines presents certain challenges; firstly to relay a large body of complex facts and abstract concepts, and secondly to motivate students that this relatively difficult topic is worth their time to study. Here, nutrient biochemistry was taught within a multidisciplinary module as part of an…

Two lengthy reviews are presented of a series of seven studies, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), on the subject of science education from 1950 to 1975. In "Science Education in the United States during the Third Quarter of the Twentieth Century", Rita Peterson provides an historical view of major events that occurred…

In recent years, a number of curriculum reform projects have championed the notion of having students do science in ways that move beyond hands-on work with authentic materials and methods, or developing a conceptual grasp of current theories. These reformers have argued that students should come to an understanding of science through doing the…