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1. 3D plants: The impact of integrating science, design, and technology on high school student learning and interests in STEAM subjects and careers

   Arango-Caro, S; Langewisch, T; Ying, K; Arellano_Haberberger, M; Ly, N; Branton, C; Callis-Duehl, K (July 2024, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research)

   STEM education is often disconnected from innovation and design, where students self-identify as solely scientists, artists, or technophiles, but rarely see the connection between the disciplines. The inclusion of arts (A) in STEM education (STEAM) offers an educational approach where students see how subjects are integrated through learning experiences that apply to everyday, developing personal connections and becoming motivated learners who understand how skills from each subject are needed for future careers. This project addresses both the disconnect between science, design, and technology and how high school students can benefit from innovative learning experiences in plant science that integrate these disciplines while gaining invaluable skills for future STEM careers. We used the Science-Art-Design-Technology (SADT) pedagogical approach, characterized by its project-based learning that relies on student teamwork and facilitation by educators. This approach was applied through a STEAM educational 3D plant module where teams: 1) investigated plants under research at a plant science research center, 2) designed and created 3D models of those plants, 3) experienced the application of 3D modeling in augmented and virtual reality platforms, and 4) disseminated project results. We used a mixed-method approach using qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess the impact of the 3D modeling module on students’ understanding of the intersection of art and design with science, learning and skills gains, and interests in STEAM subjects and careers. A total of 160 students from eight educational institutions (schools and informal programs) implemented the module. Student reflection questions revealed that students see art and design playing a role in science mainly by facilitating communication and further understanding and fostering new ideas. They also see science influencing art and design through the artistic creation process. The students acknowledged learning STEAM content and applications associated with plant science, 3D modeling, and augmented and virtual reality. They also acknowledged gaining research skills and soft skills such as collaboration and communication. Students also increased their interest in STEAM subjects and careers, particularly associated with plant science. The SADT approach, exemplified by the 3D plant module, effectively integrates science, art, design, and technology, enhancing student literacy in these fields, and providing students with essential 21st century competencies. The module's flexibility and experiential learning opportunities benefit students and educators, promoting interdisciplinary learning and interest in STEAM subjects and careers. This innovative approach is a valuable tool for educators, inspiring new ways of teaching and learning in STEAM education. 

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2. Do students recognize design features that promote interest in science and engineering?

   https://doi.org/10.29333/ijese/15811  

   Calabrese, Julia E; Aina_Jr, Daniel Kalani; Cordner, Holly; Songer, Nancy Butler (January 2025, Interdisciplinary Journal of Environmental and Science Education)

   Unfortunately, most of the world is experiencing a shortage of employees for careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Few students express interest in pursuing these fields, indicating that this shortage has no clear end. Thus, researchers and educators are grappling with ways to increase student interest in STEM fields. One suggestion is to include four critical curricular design features: (1) providing choice or autonomy in learning, (2) promoting personal relevance, (3) presenting appropriately challenging material, and (4) situating the investigations in socially and culturally appropriate contexts. In this mixed-methods study, we explore whether students recognize the incorporation of these curricular design features within a given curriculum and in what ways. 

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3. Socioscientific issues: promoting science teachers’ pedagogy on social justice

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-024-00118-4  

   Macalalag, Jr., Augusto_Z; Kaufmann, Alan; Van_Meter, Benjamin; Ricketts, Aden; Liao, Erica; Ialacci, Gabrielle (December 2024, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research)

   Abstract Socioscientific issues (SSI) are problems involving the deliberate use of scientific topics that require students to engage in dialogue, discussion, and debate. The purpose of this project is to utilize issues that are personally meaningful and engaging to students, require the use of evidence-based reasoning, and provide a context for scientific information. Social justice is the pursuit of equity and fairness in society by ensuring that all individuals have opportunities to challenge and address inequalities and injustices to create a more just and equitable society for all (Killen et al. Human Development 65:257–269, 2021). By connecting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts to personally meaningful contexts, SSI can empower students to consider how STEM-based issues reflect moral principles and elements of virtue in their own lives and the world around them (Zeidler et al. Science Education 89:357–377, 2005). We employed a qualitative research design to answer the following questions: (1) In what ways, if any, did teachers help students grow their knowledge and practices on social justice through socioscientific issues? (2) In teachers’ perceptions, what components of SSI did students learn and what are their challenges? (3) In teachers’ perceptions, what are students’ stances on social justice? After completing the first year and second-year professional development programs, grades 6–12 STEM teachers were asked to complete a reflection on classroom artifacts. Teachers were asked to select student artifacts (e.g. assignments, projects, essays, videos, etc.) that they thought exemplified the students’ learning of SSI and stance on social justice. Based on 21 teacher-submitted examples of exemplar student work, we saw the following example pedagogies to engage their students on social justice: (a) making connections to real-world experiences, (b) developing a community project, (c) examining social injustice, and (d) developing an agency to influence/make changes. According to teachers, the most challenging SSI for students was elucidating their own position/solution, closely followed by employing reflective scientific skepticism. Moreover, the students exemplified reflexivity, metacognition, authentic activity, and dialogic conversation. Using SSI in classrooms allows students to tackle real-world problems, blending science and societal concerns. This approach boosts understanding of scientific concepts and their relevance to society. Identifying methods like real-world connections and examining social injustice helps integrate social justice themes into science education through SSI. Overall, SSI promotes interdisciplinary learning, critical thinking, and informed decision-making, enriching science education socially. This study highlights the value of integrating SSI in science education to engage students with social justice. 

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4. Towards a formative feedback generation agent: Leveraging a human-in-the-loop, chain-of-thought prompting approach with LLMs to evaluate formative assessment responses in K-12 science.

   Cohn, Clayton; Hutchins, Nicole; Biswas, Gautam (October 2023, dl.acm.org)

   This research explores a novel human-in-the-loop approach that goes beyond traditional prompt engineering approaches to harness Large Language Models (LLMs) with chain-of-thought prompting for grading middle school students’ short answer formative assessments in science and generating useful feedback. While recent efforts have successfully applied LLMs and generative AI to automatically grade assignments in secondary classrooms, the focus has primarily been on providing scores for mathematical and programming problems with little work targeting the generation of actionable insight from the student responses. This paper addresses these limitations by exploring a human-in-the-loop approach to make the process more intuitive and more effective. By incorporating the expertise of educators, this approach seeks to bridge the gap between automated assessment and meaningful educational support in the context of science education for middle school students. We have conducted a preliminary user study, which suggests that (1) co-created models improve the performance of formative feedback generation, and (2) educator insight can be integrated at multiple steps in the process to inform what goes into the model and what comes out. Our findings suggest that in-context learning and human-in-the-loop approaches may provide a scalable approach to automated grading, where the performance of the automated LLM-based grader continually improves over time, while also providing actionable feedback that can support students’ open-ended science learning. 

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5. Implications of Gamification in Learning Environments on Computer Sci-ence Students: A Comprehensive Study

   Zahedi, L. Ross (June 2019, 126th Annual Conference and Exposition of American Society for Engineering Education)

   Computers are used in almost all the fields in our daily life –they are used in various occupations and do the tasks with greater precision and as a result, made the life more comfortable. As such, more than 500,000 computing jobs remain unfulfilled in the US (Reported by app association), and many nations need more computer scientist. Therefore, this urge the need for engineering education community and researchers to focus more on underrepresentation of women in CS due to the fact that women currently comprise only 15.7% of computing degrees awarded ; Computer Science has one of the most considerable gender disparities in science, technology, and engineering and the number of female students choosing computer science as their major remains underrepresented regardless of recent improvements; and the reason behind this statistic is the challenges that lessen students’ motivation in CS majors; Programming courses have always had a negative image among students and usually need more practice. In order to increase the number of female students in CS and ensure the health of the community, there is a need to better understand and discover a mechanism that can improve women’s participation in computer science which leads to attracting more female students in computer science. Researchers have explored various engagements strategies in the fields of computer science. One of the strategies that have seen an increase and garnered attention in the last two decades is the use of video game elements or gamification in different fields such as education. Gamification -which usually refers to using video game mechanics in activities not related to video games - aims to increase participants’ engagement and enjoyment. This notion has been increasing popularity over time especially among especially education researchers because game elements -which provide challenges to the players and motivate them to set goals- can be used in learning environments appropriately to enhance the motivation of learners. While there is a strong body of literature around the implications of gamification on student learning, there are inconsistent results in the literature with regards to the interests or attitudes of women. This review aims to provide a critical evaluation of the use of gamification in the application in the existing literature in 1) education 2) computer science and 3) women in computer science to provide a basis for more targeted learning engagement strategies to motivate and retain more women in computing fields and build on the literature on gamification and gender. 

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