ABSTRACT This study examines a constructionist‐oriented STEAM learning activity in which Grade 11 students used GeoGebra 3D to model bridges. Building on prior work in function art, the project extended mathematical art‐making from two‐dimensional representations to three‐dimensional structures, emphasizing the use of functions, geometric transformations, and digital modeling tools. Ninety‐six students participated in a webinar introducing GeoGebra 3D, followed by a 3‐week independent modeling task. Students' bridge models were analyzed using content analysis to classify design approaches, while survey responses were examined through thematic analysis to identify students' perceived mathematical and nonmathematical learning outcomes. The resulting models were categorized as original with functions, original without functions, and adapted, revealing varying degrees of mathematical engagement and creative extension. The findings suggest that students engaged in the 3D space using GeoGebra, reporting new learning in 3D geometry, coordinate systems, and transformations, while also revisiting and extending prior knowledge of functions and equations. Beyond mathematics, students described perceived gains in digital skills, visualization, perseverance, and problem‐solving. The study highlights how constructionist STEAM tasks that integrate mathematical modeling and digital tools may provide opportunities for interdisciplinary learning, creative expression, and positioning mathematics as a central component of STEAM education.
ABSTRACT There are increasing calls to broaden student participation in STEM education to ensure a diverse and capable future workforce. Both formal and informal STEM education stakeholders recognize that learning occurs across a variety of settings. Libraries have emerged as a place where informal STEM programming is prioritized and offered for K‐12 students. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of STEM, interdisciplinary partnerships have formed, including those between libraries and STEM educators. Little is known about the collaborative process that takes place within these partnerships, especially research‐practice partnerships. The current collaborative self‐study explored the collaborative functioning of an RPP between a district library and two mathematics education professors. Data from interviews, collective reflection interviews, and reflections revealed several factors contributing to the partnership's success as well as factors hindering it. Factors contributing to the collaborative functioning included relational and structural alignment. Factors hindering the success of the partnership included space limitations and funding. Furthermore, the reflective process surfaced subtle antagonism, indicating that partnerships in informal STEM contexts are vulnerable to expertise hierarchies that can underutilize the subject matter knowledge of partners such as librarians. Future research could examine collaborative functioning across different partner configurations.
Stereotypical conceptions of scientists shape how students experience science, develop science identities, and make career choices. While instruments such as the Draw-A-Scientist Test (DAST) have been widely used to elicit these conceptions, fewer approaches focus on actively disrupting them. This paper introduces Prompt-a-Scientist, a pedagogical activity that uses generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support undergraduate students in recognizing and deconstructing their stereotypical views of scientists. In the activity, students first authored detailed narratives of a stereotype-disrupting scientist and then translated these into prompts for AI image generation. Analysis of the resulting narratives, prompts, and images reveals a dual mediation process: students' conscious deconstruction efforts interacted with and were constrained by the AI's own default stereotypes. Results show that while AI can circumvent some clich & eacute;s, it often reconstitutes others and struggles with nuanced identities like nonbinary gender. The subsequent collective reflection proved crucial, enabling students to problematize both the AI's biases and their own internalized assumptions. The activity complements rather than replaces existing instruments such as the DAST by shifting the pedagogical function from diagnostic assessment to a critical formative practice, offering a promising tool for both teaching and future research.
ABSTRACT This exploratory study examined how teachers in North Carolina in the United States provided enhanced summer mathematics enrichment opportunities. Findings indicated that there was a range of mathematics concepts identified as goals for summer programs, great variance in activities, as well as who was invited or allowed to participate. On the whole, teachers and district leaders who participated in this study reported positive outcomes and benefits in hosting summer programs. Implications for practice include a need for more intentional connections between student outcomes from during the school year and the concepts that are emphasized during summer mathematics programs as well as a more focused set of resources to support student learning. Additionally, further research needs to more closely examine specific instances of summer school programs that examine teachers and students' nuanced experiences with specific instructional activities and resources.
Aligned with United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG-13: Climate Action), this study examined levels of climate change awareness, beliefs, and pro-environmental behavior among high school students in Israel. The sample consisted of 360 students, including 139 Environmental Science (ES) majors and 221 students from other science disciplines. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, MANOVA, hierarchical regression, mediation analysis, and Pearson correlations. Results indicated moderate awareness of climate change across majors, however no significant differences in knowledge, beliefs, or behavior were found between ES and other majors. Students' beliefs in their ability to mitigate climate change were generally strong and served as the primary predictor of pro-environmental behavior. In contrast, awareness exerted a positive, but weaker, influence. Gender differences were significant, with females scoring higher across all dimensions. Correlation analysis further revealed a strong positive relationship between beliefs and behavior as well as a moderate association between awareness and behavior. These findings suggest that affective and motivational factors, particularly students' sense of efficacy, appear to play a central role in translating knowledge into sustainable action. The study suggests that strengthening the belief-action link in climate education may be a productive focus for future research and curriculum development.
Contemporary science instruction guided by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) requires instructional shifts, driving an urgent need for curriculum-based professional development (PD). This urgency is compounded by the growing population of multilingual learners (MLs), necessitating PD that effectively integrates science and language learning. While NGSS-based PD programs are emerging, few studies have examined the impacts of such programs on teachers' instructional practices, especially in ways that elevate teacher voice. This study examined the impact of a 2-year curriculum-based PD intervention on elementary teacher professional learning. Specifically, we analyzed teachers' perceptions of the intervention's effects on their (a) science instruction, (b) science instruction with MLs, and (c) general instructional practices. We conducted a qualitative, thematic analysis based on focus group interviews. Following the intervention, teachers reported shifts in their science instruction toward making learning real and authentic, leveraging the mutually supportive nature of science and language learning, and considering student learning over time. For science instruction with MLs, teachers shifted toward giving students agency over language use and developing a repertoire of scaffolds. Teachers also reported shifts in their general instructional practices, including adapting instruction and fostering collaborative, respectful environments-practices that they described as extending to other content areas.
Integrating technology in mathematics education requires alignment with appropriate pedagogic approaches. This study explores the relationship between mathematics teachers' pedagogic orientations (teacher- or student-centeredness), frequency of technology use [hardware (e.g., IWB, smart screen, laptops/tablets, calculator) and software (e.g., dynamic geometry software, Open Education Resource platform, spreadsheet, word processor, AI language models)], and specific pedagogic practices involving technology in the classroom across two distinct contexts: Slovenia and T & uuml;rkiye. Survey data from 179 Slovenian and 1810 Turkish lower and upper secondary mathematics teachers were analyzed to examine technology use in relation to pedagogic practices. The findings reveal notable cross-country differences, with widespread use of Open Education Resource platforms but generally low levels of pedagogically targeted software use. Correlation analyzes show that teachers with more student-centered orientations report more frequent use of technology in mathematics instruction. Findings highlight the need for professional development that aligns with teachers' pedagogic orientations to support technology integration in mathematics instruction.
Despite consistent efforts for change in mathematics education aligned with ambitious and equitable teaching practices, many preservice teachers continue to enroll in teacher-preparation programs having learned mathematics in traditional, teacher-centered ways. If mathematics teacher educators are to support preservice teachers in breaking the cycle of teaching in the traditional ways that they themselves were taught, a greater understanding of how the mathematics learner identities and mathematics teacher identities of preservice teachers interrelate is needed. In this paper, we explore a conceptual distinction of between identities and within identities to better understand the interrelated nature of preservice elementary teachers' mathematics learner identities and mathematics teacher identities in the context of a problem-solving focused mathematics content course. We collected data from 21 preservice elementary teachers who were in their first year enrolled at a university and deductively analyzed their self-reported experiences in the problem-solving focused mathematics content course. We share our findings of several ways that the mathematics learner identities and mathematics teacher identities interrelated in this study. Ultimately, we suggest that these findings support progress toward supporting preservice elementary teachers to take up ambitious and equitable teaching practices.
It is critical today that schools, teachers, and parents encourage young learners' interest in the subjects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in this global and artificial intelligence (AI) focused world we now live in. This article presents findings of a study examining how undergraduate students' goals, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning predict students' interest in pursuing math-related STEM majors and careers in college. Participants included 748 participants enrolled in undergraduate math coursework at a large southeastern university in the United States. The results of mediation analyses indicated that while students with mastery-approach goals are more likely to be interested in a STEM major and STEM career, these relationships can be explained by how these goals influence their self-efficacy for math-related tasks or their self-regulated learning. In addition, parents' involvement while growing up influences students' interest in a STEM major and career by influencing students' self-regulated learning. There were no gender differences for any of the above mediation effects. Implications are discussed for how encouraging students' mastery goals, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning-supported by meaningful parental involvement-can strengthen students' interest in pursuing STEM pathways.
The STEM+ approach extends traditional STEM education by integrating disciplines such as the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Although combining history and mathematics in classroom settings can be challenging, out-of-school environments-such as museums and field trips-offer valuable opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement. Mosaics, with their rich historical and mathematical features, provide a meaningful context for exploring concepts such as geometry and number sense. This study examines a mosaic-based workshop and field activity conducted with 40 mathematics teachers. In the first phase, a 75-min workshop was held in which participants explored the relationships between mosaics and mathematical concepts, including numbers and algebra. In the second phase, teachers participated in a field visit to the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, where they engaged in hands-on experiences within an authentic historical setting aimed at supporting the transfer of mathematical ideas into classroom practice. Following the activities, participants responded to open-ended questions, and the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that cultural heritage-based learning environments enhance teachers' pedagogical awareness, promote interdisciplinary content development, and strengthen meaningful connections between history and mathematics.
This study examined how participating in an elementary mathematics methods course influenced preservice teachers' developing mathematical identities, both as learners and as future mathematics educators. Specifically, the researchers sought to understand how the course structure, which emphasized discourse, hands-on experiences, and practicum-based learning, shaped preservice teachers' confidence, beliefs, and instructional perspectives. In addition, the researchers aimed to identify which instructional components preservice teachers perceived as most effective in supporting the development of their pedagogical confidence and identity as mathematics teachers.
This descriptive quantitative study investigates the relationship between gardening activities, parental encouragement for outdoor time, and middle school students' interest in STEM careers. These variables are of interest because of the increased number of females pursuing biocentric STEM fields. Using multigroup path analysis, we examined how home experiences predict career interests, with a focus on potential gender differences. Our findings reveal that time spent gardening positively predicts nature identity, which also predicts STEM career interests. However, this pathway varies between male and female students. Surprisingly, parental encouragement negatively predicts nature identity, suggesting complex interactions between home experiences and identity formation. We also observed gender-specific differences in how nature, science, and mathematics identities connect to STEM interests. These results highlight the potential importance of gardening during adolescence in fostering interest in STEM careers. Our study contributes to the understanding of factors influencing STEM career interests and provides insights for educators and policymakers seeking to promote STEM engagement among youth.
Students' opportunity to learn (OTL) is a central theme in recent discussions of educational equity. Building on prior research, we argue that students' effective participation in scientific practices serves as a key indicator for measuring OTL and that model-based inquiry (MBI) offers an instructional framework to support such participation in K-12 science classrooms. However, most studies exploring students' experiences with scientific practices rely heavily on qualitative methods, and the lack of robust measures for students' OTL constrains efforts to address educational equity issues. Accordingly, we employed a quasi-experimental design using the next generation science classrooms questionnaire to examine students' opportunities to engage in scientific practices across MBI and non-MBI units. The questionnaire captures students' participation across four strands: understanding scientific explanations, generating scientific evidence, reflecting on scientific knowledge, and participating productively in science. The research question is: "To what extent do MBI units offer students an OTL across four strands of science proficiency?" Results indicate that MBI significantly enhances students' OTL, particularly in generating scientific evidence and reflecting on scientific knowledge. These findings demonstrate MBI's potential in promoting students' participation in scientific practices and offer both a framework for equity-focused curriculum design and an empirical approach for measuring OTL.
This study examines high school science teachers' perceptions of student engagement in data practices across two instructional contexts: a scaffolded, student-centered environment using the Science Practices Innovation Notebook (SPIN) and a business-as-usual (BAU) teacher-led investigation. Data practices-creating, collecting, preparing, visualizing, and analyzing data-are foundational to scientific inquiry and central to science education standards, yet little research has examined how teachers interpret student engagement with these practices across different instructional designs. Using qualitative interviews with 12 teachers who implemented comparable investigations in SPIN and BAU conditions, we analyzed teacher perceptions of student engagement and the coherence of data practices during instruction. Findings indicate that teachers in both contexts viewed data creation as foundational; however, SPIN teachers more frequently perceived students as engaging mindfully and independently in subsequent practices. They described greater student self-regulation during data collection, iterative attention to data quality, and stronger connections between visualization and analysis. In contrast, BAU teachers more often characterized engagement as procedural and noted a greater need for teacher guidance, particularly during visualization and analysis. These findings suggest that instructional designs that make epistemic processes explicit may influence both student engagement and what teachers notice about students' scientific reasoning.
This study aimed to examine the development and application of a mathematical model for calculating the area of a rectangle among second-grade students (aged 8 years old) while working in groups on a sequence of modeling tasks. Data included video recordings of three groups, students' working drafts, and worksheets. Verbatim transcripts, worksheets, and notes were subjected to a qualitative, fine-grained analysis. Episodes were coded independently and then discussed to reach consensus and the findings were interpreted using both the modeling cycle and learning trajectory (LT) levels for the area measurement. The findings indicate that students developed an area-calculation method within the context of the modeling tasks, progressing from one-to-one counting to composed units and repeated addition, and then to multiplication through coordination of length and width. This reasoning was subsequently consolidated across additional contexts and representations. These results emphasize the potential of integrated modeling tasks to elicit and consolidate young students' method for calculating the area of a rectangle (L & times; W).
Promoting equity in science education is required to address persistent inequities, and the implementation of three-dimensional (3D) science instruction is a small step toward this goal. District science coordinators (DSCs) utilize cultural, social, and economic capital to support K-12 teachers in standards-based reform efforts, including the implementation of 3D science instruction. This exploratory multiple-case study followed three DSCs participating in a professional development (PD) program designed to develop leadership skills and knowledge of 3D science instruction. An equity pre- and post-survey, focus group interviews, and strategic plans developed during the PD program were analyzed using thematic analysis to determine the role of capital in how DSCs promoted equitable 3D science instruction and the barriers they encountered. Findings suggest that cultural and social capital play pivotal roles in how DSCs promote equity and address barriers. Investing in DSCs' cultural and social capital may help facilitate more equitable learning environments within science classrooms.
We have developed and implemented a 6-h lesson plan with a STEM-integrated teaching framework that integrates computational thinking (CT) into science lessons through data practices. The aim of the STEM integrated lesson plan is to teach middle school students climate and weather concepts using data and to increase their understanding and awareness of climate change by supporting ideas with evidence from data. The detailed plan includes six steps. A digital data collection and visualization tool (LabStar) was used to collect, visualize, clean, and sort local data, and create graphical representations of historical data. In the worksheet, data practices (collecting, creating, manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing data) were conceptualized through CT components (decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking) to guide students toward scientific reasoning and data-informed understanding of key concepts. Results showed that the integrated STEM approach with CT practices can facilitate understanding of scientific concepts, support communication through data, and raise awareness of both evidence-based reasoning and climate change.
This study investigated the effects of integrating Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into biology education and how it affects the educational achievements of undergraduate students. A non-equivalent quasi-experimental design was used, involving 39 undergraduate students majoring in Biology. These students were divided into two groups: as an experimental group (EG) who received ICT-integrated instruction and as a control group (CG) who experienced the traditional teaching methods. Data were collected using a carefully designed Biology Achievement Test (BAT), which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.78, calculated using the Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) formula. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, ANCOVA, and two-way ANOVA analysis showed that the EG outperformed the CG significantly in post-test achievement, even after controlling for pre-test scores. Additionally, the results showed that ICT integration did not significantly reduce gender differences in favor of one gender; this suggests potential equitable benefits. Therefore, it is recommended that ICT be utilized in teaching biology to enhance students' academic achievement and promote inclusive outcomes in higher education.
