Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Multiple Case Study Of Science And Engineering Integration In Secondary School Across Six School Districts, Elizabeth Hasseler, Elizabeth B. Lewis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A multiple case study was conducted to investigate six districts’ approaches to integrating science and engineering curricula in their secondary education programs. Data collected included classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, college transcripts, professional development, and curriculum, as well as how, and how district personnel supported, and teachers enacted classroom instruction to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Six districts were chosen due to their ranges in their size, urban or rural context, and demographics. There were 25 participants in the study who were either district personnel or secondary teachers. All school districts in the study incorporated …

Secondary Science Teachers’ Curricular Use Of Ngss Engineering Practices, Elizabeth Hasseler, Amy Tankersley, Ana M. Rivero, Lyrica L. Lucas, Elizabeth B. Lewis

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

We investigated how often teachers integrated engineering into science lessons to address Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations using data from a multi-year study of secondary science teachers. Only 7.14% of middle school (MS) lessons contained engineering practices. Engineering was included in lessons for students to apply or support the learning of scientific content.

Presider: Amy Tankersley

Fifth Graders’ Creativity In Inventions With And Without Creative Articulation Instruction, Darcie K. Kress, Audrey C. Rule

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Industry and authors of 21^st Century Skill Frameworks are calling for student proficiency in creativity, problem-solving, innovation, collaboration, and communication skills. This project involved 13 fifth grade gifted students in inventing products for a specified audience with a set of given materials, time limit, and topic constraints. The complex, challenging project supports Next Generation Science Engineering Process Standard 3-5-ETS1-2 and applies concepts of plant and animal adaptations. The study had a counterbalanced, repeated measures design in which student made an initial invention during the pretest, then participated in two trials with one in the control condition and the other …

Teaching Kindergarten Students About The Water Cycle Through Arts And Invention, Latisha L. Smith, Deepanee Samarakoon

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

Research evidence for the benefits of arts integration is mounting. The purpose of this study was to determine if integration of the arts was an effective strategy for teaching the water cycle to kindergarten students. The study included lessons that supported both a science and an engineering standard of the Next Generation Science Standards and national arts standards. The phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of children as they learned and demonstrated understanding through drawings, watercolor paintings, dramatization of a water cycle poem, and the invention and testing of a waterproof boot. Participants were 12 kindergarten students (7 male, 5 …

Three- And Four-Year Olds Learn About Gears Through Arts Incorporation, Dessy Stoycheva, Leann M. Perkins

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

This research paper explores art integration into a science lesson unit that follows the Next Generation Science Standards (K-PS2-1) and focuses on the effects on memory retention of key concepts along with levels of enjoyment. An experiment was conducted with children ages 3 and 4 teaching scientific concepts about gears while incorporating student-made art products. The children were assigned to alternating experimental (art-integrated) or control (no art) conditions during the four stages of the lesson. The results did not show statistically significant differences at the alpha = 0.05 level between conditions in the amount of information retained based on the …

Designing An Earthquake-Proof Art Museum: An Arts-And Engineering-Integrated Science Lesson, Anastasia Carignan, Mahjabeen Hussain

Journal of STEM Arts, Crafts, and Constructions

In this practical arts-integrated science and engineering lesson, an inquiry-based approach was adopted to teach a class of fourth graders in a Midwest elementary school about the scientific concepts of plate tectonics and earthquakes. Lessons were prepared following the 5 E instructional model. Next Generation Science Standards (4-ESS3-2) and the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards for fourth grade (Visual Arts: Creating 1.14a, Visual Arts: Creating 2.1.4a, and Visual Arts: Creating 3.1.4a) were addressed challenging students to create an earthquake-resistant structure to support a clay sculpture in a model of an art gallery for an earthquake-prone area. First, content knowledge …