In this article, I review recent findings in cognitive neuroscience in learning, particularly in the learning of mathematics and of reading. I argue that while cognitive neuroscience is in its infancy as a field, theories of learning will need to incorporate and account for this growing body of empirical data.
Youth participants in an informal after school science program created a multimodal digital video public service announcement video. This paper considers the counterstories that emerge within the video and during the making of the video that challenge existing definitions of science literacy. The investigation suggests youth engage in expansive learning where vertical knowledge and horizontal knowledge inform their actions toward community based energy issues. Vertical knowledge describes the scientific knowledge youth engage while horizontal knowledge refers to the locally situated knowledge
There is a movement afoot to turn the acronym STEM—which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—into STEAM by adding the arts. Science educators have finally begun to realize that the skills required by innovative STEM professionals include arts and crafts thinking. Visual thinking; recognizing and forming patterns; modeling; getting a "feel" for systems; and the manipulative skills learned by using tools, pens, and brushes are all demonstrably valuable for developing STEM abilities. And the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts have gotten
Out-of-school time (OST) programs can benefit the growing population of English learners in U.S. public schools by giving them the gift of time in which to learn both English and subject matter content.
This study uses an innovative data source--the Youth Data Archive--to follow elementary and middle school students from a single school district over four academic years to discern any links between their afterschool program participation and English language development. Students attending the program had greater rates of gain in English development, but they did not necessarily achieve proficiency gains or redesignation as "fluent English proficient" sooner than non-participating students. These results point to the need for increased examination of the link between in-school and out-of
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Rebecca LondonOded GurantzJon Norman
There is little evidence that the prevailing strategies of science education have an impact on the use and interpretation of science in daily life. Most science educators and science education researchers nonetheless believe that science education is intrinsically useful for students who do not go on to scientific or technical careers. This essay focuses on the 'usefulness' aspect of science literacy, which I contend has largely been reduced to a rhetorical claim. A truly useful version of science literacy must be connected to the real uses of science in daily life-what is sometimes called