In this work, the first experiment ever done to determine the age of the Earth is revisited. The benefits of its application at primary and secondary school levels are presented and discussed. In particular, emphasis is placed on the advantage of facing students with the challenges that scientists have had to overcome during the past three…

Understanding the spatial nature of the world is necessary in everyday life. Not only do people move about in 3D space, but spatial thinking is also important in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This may be especially true in the geosciences, where learners often encounter unique spatial reasoning…

Earth's critical zone (CZ) is the uppermost layer of Earth's continents, which supports ecosystems and humans alike. CZ science aims to understand how interactions among rock, soil, water, air, and terrestrial organisms influence Earth as a habitable system. Thus, CZ science provides the framework for a holistic-systems approach to teaching Earth…

This article proposes an evidence-based and engaging approach to teaching the mechanisms driving the movement of tectonic plates that should lead high school students towards the prevalent theories used in peer-reviewed science journals and taught in universities. The methods presented replace the inaccurate and outdated focus on mantle convection…

Constructing scientific arguments is an important skill, and is specifically addressed by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science and engineering practice of Engaging in Arguments From Evidence. To ensure that students understand the significance of a scientific argument, they need experiences that will help them understand, use, and…

Learners with disabilities are often denied field-based learning experiences in naturalistic disciplines. Geology can present substantial barriers due to rugged terrain in difficult-to-reach locations. In 2014, a field trip was executed with the dual purpose of 1) designing inclusion in field learning and 2) demonstrating to college faculty an…

Although many have suggested the use of games to motivate active learning, studies that evaluate the learning outcomes of games with high school students are scarce. Here, we present the evaluation of the board game "Taphonomy: Dead and Fossilized" as an active learning tool to teach fossilization and Earth systems thinking with rising…

The inclusion of engineering in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as a key component of K-12 science learning has provided both opportunities and challenges for elementary teachers. One challenge is integrating the design thinking processes that undergird engineering with core science concepts and current issues facing scientists and…

The world is overcoming an unprecedented challenge with the COVID-19 pandemic's worldwide spread. Epidemics and pandemics are part of history. The oldest records are related to the plague of Athens in 430 BC and throughout times numerous other diseases affected humankind, devastating societies. Nowadays, the global world allows rapid communication…

Objective/Research Question: This paper reports on data collected in a multi-year National Science Foundation grant project involving a professional development (PD) model built to support community college faculty as change agents (CAs). The research question was: How do disciplinary communities of practice (CoP) emerge among community college…

The aim of this article is to explore the worth of a materialist/posthumanist approach to ethics, specifically affirmative ethics (Braidotti, 2018, 2019a), within the field of education. I work empirical material that 'does' this ethics in classrooms and draw on Deleuze's (1988) ethically guided materialism as taken up by Braidotti (2019b), to…

This column contains exercises to challenge content knowledge. This month's issue discusses ways to remove CO[subscript 2] from the atmosphere.

Results from a national needs assessment survey advertised through science teacher networks with the title "Polar Education--Teacher Input Needed" showed that the majority (90%) of teachers that responded are teaching about polar topics or polar regions. We received 508 responses from elementary to post-secondary teachers across the…

This study presents the results of an investigation of the undergraduate student perception of fieldwork, specifically in the context of the affective domain, and considers the effectiveness of field-based training as a pedagogical tool. Fieldwork provides the learner with a deep and immersive learning environment, where they are required to apply…

The present dissertation in practice (DiP) proposal delineates an action research study designed to evaluate the use of problem-based learning (PBL) in an eighth-grade earth science class to assess the impact of PBL on student achievement. I have observed that students often struggle with developing an understanding of how the motions of the sun,…