Robotics competitions for K-12 students are popular, but are students really learning and improving their STEM scores through robotics competitions? If not, why not? If they are, how much more effective is learning through competitions than traditional classes? Is there room for improvement? What is the best robotics competition model to maximize…

This paper discusses a K-12/university collaboration in which students participated in a four-day scenario-based summer STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp aimed at making difficult scientific concepts salient. This scenario, Jumpstart STEM-CSI: Chocolate Science Investigation (JSCSI), used open- and guided-inquiry…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and its reports are a key measure in informing the nation on how well the goal of scientific literacy for all students is being met. The "Science Framework for the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress" sets forth the design of the NAEP Science Assessment. This document is…

The country's technological edge is receding, and the problem cannot be solved simply by flooding the workforce with more engineers and scientists. This comes as little surprise to administrators at the nation's community colleges. In 2007, the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science, and the Institute of Medicine responded to…

The School Choice Demonstration Project has published a series of reports written in the fifth and final year of its evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). This review is of Report #30, a final follow up to a five-year study examining high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment rates for students participating in the…

Introduction: In this quantitative, cross-sectional study we analyse the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and students' adaptation to school life, as expressed through several indicators of achievement, integration (adaptation to transitions, behaviour problems, risk behaviours, interpersonal difficulties, participation in…

Adolescents' expectations about school and work may be key antecedents of adult attainment and this relationship may vary by specific racial, ethnic, and gender groups. This article examines how educational and occupational expectations change in adolescence and how expectations predict corresponding attainment in adulthood. Participants included…

Nowadays, many technological means are available to support teaching, such as the interactive whiteboard, class sets of laptop or netbook computers, and high speed internet access. For mathematics education there are advanced software packages for geometry, algebra, calculus, and statistics, which in many cases are available on line at no cost.…

Chronically high rates of new and experienced science teacher attrition and the findings of new large-scale mentoring programs indicate that administrators should adopt new approaches. A science teacher's role encompasses demanding responsibilities, such as observing laboratory safety and OSHA mandates, as well as management of a business-like,…

Studies incorporating technology into the teaching of trigonometry, although sparse, have demonstrated positive effects on student achievement. The optimal sequence for integrating technology with teacher-led mathematics instruction has not been determined. Our research investigated whether technology has a greater impact on student achievement…

Background/context: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only comparative assessment of academic competencies regularly administered to nationally representative samples of students enrolled in Grades 4, 8, and 12. Because NAEP is a low-stakes assessment, there are long-standing questions about the level of engagement and…

Learner pregnancy has recently become a thorn in the flesh for most schools in South Africa, and documentary evidence shows that its prevalence is greater amongst Black public schools than White schools. Within its discourse, more often than not, the Child Support Grant (CSG) has featured prominently in the perceived increase in the pregnancy rate…

This paper examines the results of the repeated administration of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) in a large introductory physics course at a midsize, metropolitan Canadian university. We compare the results to those obtained previously in comparable courses at the University of British Columbia (Canada) and the…

The modern world is becoming increasingly digitalised and this is affecting the way in which humans not only live but also learn. In South Africa, the majority of students entering universities are from disadvantaged backgrounds and come from schools and communities in which they were not exposed to the same technologically rich environments as…

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a hands-on, project-based engineering curriculum for high school and middle school students, which has quadrupled annual enrollment in Texas in five years to over 23,000 students. The diversity of students participating has also increased dramatically. Using six years of longitudinally-linked student data, the…