<p> This descriptive case study examined the meanings public elementary school teachers (N = 13) made of learning to enact citizen science projects in their schoolyards in partnership with a local Arboretum. Utilizing Engestr&ouml;m&rsquo;s (2001) framework of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT), the Arboretum&rsquo;s outreach program for area Title 1 schools was viewed as an activity system composed of and acting in partnership with the teachers. The major finding was that teachers designed and mastered new ways of teaching (expansive learning) and transformed their citizen science activity to facilitate student engagement and learning. I highlight four important themes in teachers&rsquo; expansive learning: (a) discussion, (b) inclusion, (c) integration, and (d) collaboration. Teacher learning communities formed when colleagues shared responsibilities, formed mentor/mentee relationships, and included student teachers and interns in the activity. This program could serve as a model for elementary school citizen science education, as well as a model for professional development for teachers to learn to teach science and Environmental Education outdoors.</p>

<p> This study examined the impact of dialogue-based group instruction on student learning and engagement in community college meteorology education. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare lecture-based instruction with dialogue-based group instruction during two class sessions at one community college in southern California. Pre- and post-tests were used to measure learning and interest, while surveys were conducted two days after the learning events to assess engagement, perceived learning, and application of content. The results indicated that the dialogue-based group instruction was more successful in helping students learn than the lecture-based instruction. Each question that assessed learning had a higher score for the dialogue group that was statistically significant (alpha &lt; 0.05) compared to the lecture group. The survey questions about perceived learning and application of content also exhibited higher scores that were statistically significant for the dialogue group. The qualitative portion of these survey questions supported the quantitative results and showed that the dialogue students were able to remember more concepts and apply these concepts to their lives. </p><p> Dialogue students were also more engaged, as three out of the five engagement-related survey questions revealed statistically significantly higher scores for them. The qualitative data also supported increased engagement for the dialogue students. Interest in specific meteorological topics did not change significantly for either group of students; however, interest in learning about severe weather was higher for the dialogue group. Neither group found the learning events markedly meaningful, although more students from the dialogue group found pronounced meaning centered on applying severe weather knowledge to their lives. Active engagement in the dialogue approach kept these students from becoming distracted and allowed them to become absorbed in the learning event. This higher engagement most likely contributed to the resulting higher learning. Together, these results indicate that dialogue education, especially compared to lecture methods, has a great potential for helping students learn meteorology. Dialogue education can also help students engage in weather-related concepts and potentially develop better-informed citizens in a world with a changing climate.</p><p>

<p> To effectively meet students&rsquo; needs, educational reform in science calls for adaptive instruction based on students&rsquo; thinking. To gain an understanding of what students know, a teacher needs to attend to, probe, and analyze student thinking to provide information to base curricular decisions, upon. These three components make up the skill of noticing. Learning to notice is not easy for any teacher, but is especially difficult for preservice teachers, who lack the experience these skills require. Additionally they lack the professional knowledge needed to inform responses. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to discover how a combination of scaffolds: video-based reflection on practice, a professional learning community, and a content specific moderator as a guide can be embedded into a methods course to support preservice teachers&rsquo; learning to professionally notice elementary students&rsquo; scientific thinking in order to provide a responsive curriculum. The study was designed on the premise that the skill of professional noticing is critical for preservice teachers to acquire the knowledge and ability to develop their personal PCK and topic specific professional knowledge. </p><p> It was situated in a methods course as this is the structure provided within teacher education programs to tie theory to practice. This qualitative case study, studied one section of an elementary science methods course during teaching of their science unit. In general participants&rsquo; skills progressed from noticing the class as a whole to attending to specific students&rsquo; thinking and from a focus on evaluation to interpretation. By the end they were connecting teaching strategies to student thinking. How participants&rsquo; responded to what they had noticed progressed as well, moving from frontloading information to creating additional constructivist based learning experiences when encountering student confusion demonstrating growth in their professional knowledge as well as their noticing skills. </p><p> They attributed certain aspects of their growth to different parts the intervention, for instance learning to probe thinking to video, learning to construct learning experiences to the content specific moderator, and learning to decide next steps to the professional learning community. </p><p> This study points to the efficacy of employing these scaffolds, found useful in other contexts, within science education.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence student engagement in science. Increases in student engagement positively correlate to improved student achievement. This study targeted the lack of clarity regarding the relationships between the complexity of instructional objectives, teacher self-efficacy, past achievement, student grade level, and student engagement. This correlational design method uses a quantitative approach that includes observations of student engagement levels and a student self-report survey of engagement, as indicators of student engagement levels. A multiple regression analysis of each measure of student engagement instruments determine the influence of each variable to student engagement. Influencing student engagement would be a valuable tool for educators in designing student intervention and improving student achievement.</p>

<p> Science teachers in the United States are not prepared to teach the students in their classrooms. Teachers are most often White females, while the children in their classrooms are from diverse backgrounds. Multicultural pedagogies exist, but teachers must be educated during their teacher preparation courses to understand their own relationship with race before they can enact such pedagogies in their classrooms. This qualitative study sought to examine the lived experiences of eight science education doctoral students in a course called Critical Voices in Teacher Education, through the qualitative method approach of transcendental phenomenology. The participants&rsquo; experiences were examined through three theoretical frameworks: transformative learning theory, White racial identity, and racial literacy. Interviews, field notes, and student reflections were used to collect data for this phenomenological study. The findings showed that through the process of critical reflection and group discussion, participants had a transformative experience in which their racial identities developed, and perceptions of students and curriculum shifted to include multicultural pedagogical approaches. The findings from this study supported the idea that teacher education programs must use racial identity development and multicultural curriculum as a foundation for all education programs.</p><p>

<p> Although research is limited on the effectiveness of co-teaching as a service delivery model for students with disabilities, through observation, many educators have reported positive outcomes with co-teaching (Beninghof, 2011). This case study was designed to examine the implementation of co-teaching in an elementary magnet school in a Midwestern school district driven by science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) and with a strong emphasis on personalized learning. General education teachers, special education teachers, and administrators were interviewed three times during the initial implementation school year. In addition, journaling was documented by three of the participants, and co-teaching fidelity checks were completed by the school district&rsquo;s Executive Director of Special Services. After information was gathered and analyzed, it was discovered both students with and without disabilities benefit from co-teaching as a service delivery model. It was also noted there are similarities between the benefits and challenges in a traditional co-taught classroom and a co-taught class in a STEAM elementary school with an emphasis on personalized learning. The benefits of co-teaching far outweigh the detriments. It was further discovered the success of co-teaching is attributed to the pairing of co-teaching partnerships. Finally, the participants shared the need for special education administrators to play a more active role in professional development and the sustainability of co-teaching.</p><p>

<p> High school students in the United States for the past century have typically taken science courses in a sequence of biology followed by chemistry and concluding with physics. An alternative sequence, typically referred to as &ldquo;physics first&rdquo; inverts the traditional sequence by having students begin with physics and end with biology. Proponents of physics first cite advances in biological sciences that have dramatically changed the nature of high school biology and the potential benefit to student learning in math that would accompany taking an algebra-based physics course in the early years of high school to support changing the sequence. Using a quasi-experimental, quantitative research design, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of science course sequencing on student achievement in math and science at a school district that offered both course sequences. The Texas state end-of-course exams in biology, chemistry, physics, algebra I and geometry were used as the instruments measuring student achievement in math and science at the end of each academic year. Various statistical models were used to analyze these achievement data. The conclusion was, for students in this study, the sequence in which students took biology, chemistry, and physics had little or no impact on performance on the end-of-course assessments in each of these courses. Additionally there was only a minimal effect found with respect to math performance, leading to the conclusion that neither the traditional or &ldquo;physics first&rdquo; science course sequence presented an advantage for student achievement in math or science.</p>

<p> Committed elementary teachers of science and engineering, members of a professional learning community called Collaborative Conversations in STEM, were studied to elicit their perceptions of experiences that influenced their commitment to, and their pedagogical content knowledge of, STEM teaching and learning. The hermeneutic phenomenological interviews enabled the teachers to express their beliefs in their own words. Data analysis employed a theoretical framework that investigated teacher epistemology and knowledge in light of their experiences. Findings revealed a web of lifelong experiences unique to each individual, and evidential of the committed elementary scientist-teachers&rsquo; present day values, teaching epistemology, lifelong learning, and emotional and intellectual engagement. Scientist-teachers are individuals whose teaching and learning characteristics reflect those of scientists and engineers.</p><p> Evidence indicated that no single transformative learning experience resulted in those elementary teachers&rsquo; commitment to STEM teaching and learning, but recent professional development activities were influential. Formal K-16 STEM learning was not uniformly or positively influential to the teachers&rsquo; commitment to, or knowledge of, STEM.</p><p> Findings suggest that ongoing professional development for STEM teaching and learning can influence elementary teachers to become committed to actively teaching STEM. The Collaborative Conversations in STEM provided intellectual and emotional engagement that empowered the teachers to provide STEM teaching and learning for their students and their colleagues overcoming impediments encountered in a literacy-focused curriculum. Elementary teachers actively committed to teaching science and engineering can undergo further transformation and emerge as leaders.</p>

<p> Science education has undergone multiple reforms over the years, yet each reform continues to produce little change in student success. The latest reform of the standards&mdash;Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)&mdash;look to change that trend by focusing on what students can do, rather than just what they know. Modeling Instruction (MI) is one research-based pedagogy that is in alignment with the NGSS concepts of student-led classroom instruction. This proven strategy has been used across the U.S., but often in isolation, rather than as the routine classroom instruction throughout a school&rsquo;s science department. </p><p> Changes in new teaching methods, such as those needed to implement MI or NGSS, are not easy for schools to make. They require entire organizations to shift their beliefs in how education appears, with students actively working and presenting content, while the teacher walks to the students, facilitating and asking questions. Leadership within the school can help this transition take place, by providing structures and processes that support others attempting to make changes in their practice. Effective leaders not only provide a plan, but they also create a supportive climate in which goals can be achieved. </p><p> This qualitative case study looked at the leadership of schools that have implemented MI across the science curriculum, which includes Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Characteristics of the leaders, such as leadership style and structures, provided information on how to make a successful change in instruction. Data was collected via interviews with school leaders and school faculty, and observations taken at the school. This data was then coded to identify common themes and trends. </p><p> Results of this research showed that leadership played an important role in the implementation of MI in secondary science classrooms. Key attributes were provided by school leadership to help with the implementation. Professional development provided the staff with the tools needed to learn the techniques of the new methods. Time for collaboration was also given, which allowed the staff to help each other with any problems that had arisen along the way. Finally, support was given by the leadership when teaching staff had problems with their implementation. These characteristics allowed for the change from traditional instruction to MI at two high schools, while minimizing problems and creating an atmosphere, which inspired creativity. </p><p>

<p> <i>Objective:</i> This study explored views of outstanding leadership among the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals working in the United States within the business and industry sector. U.S. STEM occupations are projected to experience 11.1% growth between 2016 and 2026, higher than the projected 7.4% growth for all occupations (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017a). The U.S. has undertaken aggressive STEM educational reform and recruiting, to ensure the nation&rsquo;s continued prosperity and national security (National Science Board, 2018b; U.S. Department of Education, 2018). A shift in U.S. STEM demographics will present challenges for business leaders, human resources (HR) practitioners, and educators who prepare leaders for the increasingly cross-cultural workplace. <i> Method:</i> This correlational study applied the GLOBE leadership scales to explore study participants&rsquo; views according to gender, age, national origin group, number of years worked in the U.S, and workforce category. <i> Results:</i> The five leader attributes rated as most contributing to outstanding leadership were: (a) trustworthy, (b) clear, (c) sincere, (d) inspirational, and (e) diplomatic. There were 64 statistically significant correlations of low strength and 1 of moderate strength.</p><p>