By high school, parent engagement is likely to differ not only by grade, but by subject. This study surveyed students enrolled in high school science classes and found that parents of freshmen (9th graders) are more involved at home, less involved at school, and equally involved in educational planning compared to parents of high school students…

There has been incessant low academic performance in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) subjects especially among girls at form four level in Kitui Central District over the years. The aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of girls' performance in SMT subjects in public secondary schools. Using ex-post-facto survey research…

Phylogenetic trees provide visual representations of ancestor-descendant relationships, a core concept of evolutionary theory. We introduced "tree thinking" into our introductory organismal biology course (freshman/sophomore majors) to help teach organismal diversity within an evolutionary framework. Our instructional strategy consisted…

Early childhood is a critical period for introducing girls to traditionally masculine fields of science and technology before more extreme gender stereotypes surface in later years. This study looks at the TangibleK Robotics Program in order to determine whether kindergarten boys and girls were equally successful in a series of building and…

This study examined how students' science-specific argumentative writing skills and understanding of core ideas changed over the course of a school year as they participated in a series of science laboratories designed using the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) instructional model. The ADI model is a student-centered and writing-intensive approach to…

The increasing use of interactive learning [IL] strategies in Astro 101 classrooms has led some instructors to consider the usefulness of a textbook in such classes. These strategies provide students a learning modality very different from the traditional lecture supplemented by reading a textbook and homework and raise the question of whether the…

A number of studies have reported on the positive impact of social constructivist approaches on learning in introductory chemistry courses. However, the widespread use of such approaches is being hampered to a certain degree by uncertainty as to whether one needs a special type of classroom. In this study, we investigated student learning in two…

Studies show that it is hard to change students' attitudes toward science. This study specifically explored if media affect preservice science teachers' attitudes toward astronomy and their astronomy achievement. The sample for the pilot study consisted of 196 preservice science and mathematics teachers for attitude assessment and 230 preservice…

The "U.S. TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 Technical Report and User's Guide" provides an overview of the design and implementation of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 in the United States and the nine participating benchmarking states:…

The purpose of this nonequivalent control group design study was to evaluate the effectiveness of metacognitive and self-regulatory strategy use on the assessment achievement of 215 9th-grade, residential physics students from low socioeconomic status (low-SES) backgrounds. Students from low-SES backgrounds often lack the self-regulatory habits…

The overall results from the 2011-12 student survey were positive. The most positive results pertained to overall satisfaction with the participants' school, with the most unfavorable results centered on the consistency of challenging work being assigned to students and bullying. In general, 4th grade students responded more favorably than 7th and…

Are students well prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Can they analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Have they found the kinds of interests they can pursue throughout their lives as productive members of the economy and society? The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) seeks to answer these…

This study examined whether attending a Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) middle school improved students' reading, math, social studies, and science achievement for up to 4 years following enrollment. The study reported that students attending KIPP middle schools scored statistically significantly higher than matched students on all of the state…

In 19 (sub)samples from seven countries (United States, Austria, Germany, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Vietnam, Brazil), we analyzed the impact of parental education compared with wealth on the cognitive ability of children (aged 4-22 years, total N = 15,297). The background of their families ranged from poor indigenous remote villagers to academic…

Purpose: To advance a framework of indicators that promotes implementation of math standards under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), we tested a conceptual model of the resources and processes within schools that influence the opportunity to learn mathematics (OTL) in the classroom using a recent administration of the 2011 Trends in…