Elementary

There are few guidelines related to how to implement integrated STEM education in the K-12 science classroom. It is important that teachers have opportunities to reflect on integrated STEM instruction when implemented so that they may further develop their practice. This research aimed to understand how the STEM Observation Protocol (STEM-OP) may be used as a way for teachers to reflect on their integrated STEM practice. This exploratory case study was designed to better understand secondary science teachers’ reflections on the STEM-OP by addressing the following research questions: 1) What are secondary science teachers’ reflections on integrated STEM practices as measured by the STEM-OP? and 2) In what ways do secondary science teachers envision using the STEM-OP as a tool in their practice?

Learning science in the context of local phenomena and problems can be powerful for young people. Yet, designing place-based instructional materials is resource intensive, limiting broad access. This study investigates how instructional materials designed for widespread use can support teacher localization through phenomenon adaptation, whereby teachers add or swap phenomena relevant to students' interests, identities, and community.

This study examines the demographics, qualifications, and turnover of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri—two contiguous, predominantly rural states in the Midwestern region of the United States. The existing literature lacks detailed insights regarding U.S. STEM teachers, especially with recent economic and social changes over the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is particularly limited evidence regarding STEM teachers in the U.S. Midwest. Utilizing large-scale administrative longitudinal data, we filled part of this gap by documenting the characteristics and turnover patterns of STEM teachers in Kansas and Missouri over a 13-year period, from 2010 through 2023.

In this article, we present a framework of culturally relevant science and mathematics pedagogy (CRSMP), which is grounded in the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy. It delineates practices ranging from the most accessible and easy-to-implement, to the most challenging and often contentious ways to teach mathematics and science.

Building on the literature, we designed a practical framework to support attention to equity and justice in science teacher education coursework. This framework presents four approaches for including justice moves in elementary science lessons, from increasing opportunity and access in science, to increasing identity and representation in science, to expanding what counts as science, to seeing science as a part of justice movements. We analyzed the lesson plans of 16 preservice elementary teachers who were using the practical justice framework in their very first lesson planning experience.

Research incorporating either eye-tracking technology or immersive technology (virtual reality and 360 video) into studying teachers’ professional noticing is recent. Yet, such technologies allow a better understanding of the embodied nature of professional noticing. Thus, the goal of the current study is to examine how teachers’ eye-gaze in immersive representations of practice correspond to their attending to children’s mathematics.

Elementary teachers require support through professional learning activities to enhance their climate change literacy and bolster their self-efficacy for teaching climate change. This study explores methods for supporting in-service elementary teachers’ self-efficacy in climate change teaching by examining the impact of professional learning activities that incorporate learning technologies on climate change literacy.

Learning trajectories in early mathematics instruction have received increasing attention from policymakers, educators, curriculum developers, and researchers. They are generally deemed useful for guiding curriculum standards, instructional planning, and assessment. However, the specific contributions of learning trajectories to education and children’s learning are unclear. We review research over the last five years to describe what is known and what still needs to be learned about methods of development, refinement, and validation of the goals, developmental progressions, and instruction of learning trajectories in early mathematics and possible advantages and disadvantages in the educational application of learning trajectories.

Learning trajectories in early mathematics instruction have received increasing attention from policymakers, educators, curriculum developers, and researchers. They are generally deemed useful for guiding curriculum standards, instructional planning, and assessment. However, the specific contributions of learning trajectories to education and children’s learning are unclear. We review research over the last five years to describe what is known and what still needs to be learned about methods of development, refinement, and validation of the goals, developmental progressions, and instruction of learning trajectories in early mathematics and possible advantages and disadvantages in the educational application of learning trajectories.

Mathematics is a core component of cognition. Unfortunately, most young children and teachers cannot access research-based early childhood mathematics resources. Building on a quarter-century of research, we are developing and evaluating an innovative, integrated, intelligent, and interactive system of technologies based on empirically validated learning trajectories that provide the best personal and digital tools for assessing and supporting children’s mathematics learning.