Research shows that well before children can verbalize their thoughts, they often create internal visual models of what scientists are and what they do (Farland-Smith 2012). Therefore, discovering, understanding and recording a student's own stereotypical perceptions are crucial to science instructors, as it is believed that perceptions may affect…

Facing calls for greater emphasis on STEM education in primary school classrooms, teachers may be anxious because of limited exposure to STEM in their own education. The Australian Curriculum: Technologies is new and many teachers are not familiar with its content. Hence both in-service and pre-service teachers (PSTs) require preparation. This…

Nebraska is committed to pursuing a new vision for science education based on "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC, 2012), that advocates for rigorous, high-quality science education for all students. Following an ambitious four year timeline, Nebraska is working to develop new assessments aligned to and designed for these…

This qualitative research examines design failure within a 5th grade science classroom that embedded engineering design activities. In adhering with a situative learning perspective, the goal of this research was to understand how design failure was portrayed to students through the written and enacted curriculum and in turn, how students…

This naturalistic observational study examined teacher-child interactions in a third-grade science classroom. Of interest was the extent to which the quality of teacher-child relationships was associated with various categories of interaction, and students' understanding of science concepts. Teacher-child relationships of an intact class of 17…

This column provides background science information for elementary teachers. This month's issue discusses the science behind self-driving cars, but first explains how a car "with" a driver works.

In this article, Megan Shenton, a final-year trainee teacher at Nottinghom Trent University, describes using "The Big Question" in her science teaching in a move away from objectives. The Big Question is an innovative pedagogical choice, where instead of implementing a learning objective, a question is posed at the start of the session…

This paper, presented at the 2017 meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), summarizes findings from efforts to elicit pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) from elementary teachers. The paper focuses on teachers' knowledge for teaching about the small particle model of matter and is a product of the Knowledge…

The use of technology is increasing rapidly in our society, and classroom teachers must recognize the impact and importance of technology in the lives of their students. It is crucial that college faculty involved in teacher training design courses that integrate mobile technologies to prepare the next generation of teachers. In this study, we…

"Minecraft" is a computer game that allows players to move around in a virtual world, building almost limitless creations with a vast array of cubic blocks with varying textures and properties. Its representative settings and processes link to the real world, making the game a valuable tool for both presenting scientific concepts to…

Recent changes to English national assessment policy have resulted in primary school leaders adopting new frameworks to evaluate pupil progress. This study examines the role of expansive workplace characteristics and staff meetings to support teachers to change their assessment practice at a schoolwide level, following engagement with a new…

Incorporating computational thinking (CT) ideas into core subjects, such as mathematics and science, is one way of bringing early computer science (CS) education into elementary school. Minimal research has explored how teachers can translate their knowledge of CT into practice to create opportunities for their students to engage in CT during…

Science identity has been widely discussed in recent years; however, research on its development in multimodal composing environments, especially in formal classroom settings, has yet to be fully investigated. This qualitative study unraveled the science identity development of sixth-grade students as they created multimodal science fiction…

This article contends that in England, where the status of science as a core subject has been weakened due to a focus on high-stakes accountability testing, a global learning approach reignites science as a subject that can nurture active global citizens. It argues that teacher knowledge and teachers' personal and professional commitment to global…

Argumentation research often addresses the nature of argumentation as a complex set of procedures that can aid learning of complex scientific knowledge and practices. Thus, studies might look at transfer of knowledge and processes to specific science domains or to other types of procedural knowledge, such as teacher implementation in the…