This paper, describes Synergies, an on-going longitudinal study and design effort, being conducted in a diverse, under-resourced community in Portland, Oregon, with the goal of measurably improving STEM learning, interest and participation by early adolescents, both in school and out of school. Authors examine how the work of this particular research-practice partnership is attempting to accommodate the six principles outlined in this issue: (1) to more accurately reflect learning as a lifelong process occurring across settings, situations and time frames; (2) to consider what STEM content is

This study investigated the prevalence of transformative experiences, antecedents of transformative experience, and the relation between transformative experience and deep‐level learning (conceptual change and transfer) for high school biology students (N = 166). Results suggested that the high school students in our sample typically engaged in low levels of transformative experience with respect to biology, but those students who strongly identified with science and who endorsed a mastery goal orientation were more likely to report engagement in higher levels of transformative experience

Teaching and learning about geospatial aspects of energy resource issues requires that science teachers apply effective science pedagogical approaches to implement geospatial technologies into classroom instruction. To address this need, we designed educative curriculum materials as an integral part of a comprehensive middle school energy resources science curriculum. We examined teachers’ perceived impact of the curriculum materials to support their pedagogical content knowledge related to teaching science with geospatial technologies. Results indicated that the educative curriculum materials

Computational thinking (CT) is broadly defined as the mental activity for abstracting problems and formulating solutions that can be automated. In an increasingly information-based society, CT is becoming an essential skill for everyone. To ensure that students develop this ability at the K-12 level, it is important to provide teachers with an adequate knowledge about CT and how to incorporate it into their teaching. This article describes a study on designing and introducing computational thinking modules and assessing their impact on preservice teachers’ understanding of CT concepts, as well

The purpose of this article is to provide awareness of the danger of design fixation and promote the uses of brainstorming early in the design process--before fixation limits creative ideas. The authors challenged technology teachers to carefully limit the use of design examples too early in the process and provided suggestions for facilitating brainstorming sessions to help generate innovative ideas. The authors are not suggesting that teachers never provide design examples; in fact, this article highlights techniques for providing students with authentic examples and the benefits of this

This case study described teachers with varying technology skills who were implementing the use of geospatial technology (GST) within project-based instruction (PBI) at varying grade levels and contexts 1 to 2 years following professional development. The sample consisted of 10 fifth- to ninth-grade teachers. Data sources included artifacts, observations, interviews, and a GST performance assessment and were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. Teachers’ teaching actions, beliefs, context, and technology skills were categorized. Results indicated that all of the teachers had high

Driven by scholarly work that promotes incorporating the study of social justice issues in the engineering curriculum, this work-in-progress paper focuses on teaching social and critical consciousness in engineering. The purpose of this study is to discuss and compare the implementation of social and critical consciousness in a first-year general education engineering course and a senior design engineering course.