This activity provides an opportunity for gifted secondary school 6th grade students to play a Lego game focused on sustainable development goals. Ten gifted students (four girls and six boys) who are enrolled in 6th grade at science and art centers participated in the activity. In the activity, students uncovered new insights about sustainable living. They examined their daily habits and the effects on their ecological footprints. Many were taken aback by the significant negative impact they have on nature, as shown by their footprint calculations, which revealed the extent of their impact on the environment. The activity helped students discover concepts such as sustainable development, global sustainable development goals, and ecological footprints. The use of Lego bricks in education for sustainable development is recommended by this study.
This study aimed to design, implement, and evaluate the applicability of activities enriched with technology-supported design-based instruction on the topic of friction force. The study was conducted with 20 fifth-grade students at a public middle school in a large city in western Turkey. The implementation process lasted 12 lessons. Students designed three- dimensional (3D) models using the Tinkercad program in line with engineering design processes to observe the effect of friction force and printed their designs using a 3D printer. Students' designs were evaluated using the Design Evaluation Rubric. Furthermore, data related to the teaching process was collected using the Activity Worksheet and Activity Evaluation Form, and the applicability of the activity was discussed. As a result, it was observed that the activity had positive results in learning the subject and developing students' skills such as engineering and design. In further studies, activities that support students' design skills can be carried out.
Cultivating environmental literacy from an early age is a core priority in contemporary pedagogical research and educational practice. This qualitative classroom-based case study examines an educational intervention implemented within the framework of the "Skills Labs" for 3rd-grade primary school students, aiming to support the development of environmental literacy, active participation, and digital skills through the production of collective educational products. The intervention focused on the design and production of a printed school newspaper created by the students, using digital tools for collaborative writing, design, and layout, thus transforming theoretical knowledge into an experiential and collaborative learning process. The implementation was structured into four stages across seven two-hour sessions: (a) exploration of prior knowledge and local environmental issues through discussion and collective mapping, (b) engagement in hands-on environmental actions such as area clean-ups and tree planting, (c) collaborative article writing and digital content creation, and (d) final layout and production of the printed newspaper. Evaluation was based on qualitative data student-produced work, focusing on the quality of environmental content and the range of digital tools used. The findings suggest that the production of a tangible collective artifact supported student engagement and made visible students' emerging environmental understanding and digital practices.
In this article, we describe a collaboration between two university science educators, a first grade teacher, and a special education teacher to modify a unit focused on carnivorous plants. Given the large number of students in the class with special education needs (SEN), additional supports were put in place to help students succeed in their understanding and use of the academic vocabulary associated with the unit. We will describe the unit activities, the supports, and how they impacted the students' experiences.
Robotics and computational thinking have been increasingly recognized as powerful tools in physics education because they let learners test models, visualize dynamic systems, and practice algorithmic problem-solving in concrete and authentic ways. This article presents a 5-E lesson plan that integrates educational robotics and computational thinking to teach kinematics concepts in classroom settings. It introduces the mBot2 robotics kit and its mBlock programming environment, outlines a detailed 90-minute 5-E sequence with three scaffolded challenges, and aligns the activities to NGSS three-dimensional learning. The lesson plan emphasizes hands-on engagement, inquiry-based learning, and the development of computational thinking skills. The lesson was implemented with 82 preservice science and mathematics teachers during the 2024-2025 academic year and the findings indicated the lesson was engaging, fun, and effective in helping participants link hands-on robotics activities to kinematics concepts (e.g., displacement, velocity, acceleration, motion graphs) while fostering computational thinking skills such as decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithmic thinking. The article concludes by highlighting the practical implications for physics teachers to incorporate robotics-enhanced learning activities in their instruction.
