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1. A Guided-Inquiry Activity for Introducing Students to Figures from Primary Scientific Literature

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c00605  

   Maxwell, Danielle N.; Spencer, Jeffrey L.; Teich, Ethan A.; Cooke, Madeline; Fromwiller, Braeden; Peterson, Nathan; Nicholas-Figueroa, Linda; Shultz, Ginger V.; Pratt, Kerri A. (May 2023, Journal of Chemical Education)

   Holme, Thomas (Ed.)

   Reading and understanding scientific literature is an essential skill for any scientist to learn. While students’ scientific literacy can be improved by reading research articles, an article’s technical language and structure can hinder students’ understanding of the scientific material. Furthermore, many students struggle with interpreting graphs and other models of data commonly found in scientific literature. To introduce students to scientific literature and promote improved understanding of data and graphs, we developed a guided-inquiry activity adapted from a research article on snow chemistry and implemented it in a general chemistry laboratory course. Here, we describe how we adapted figures from the primary literature source and developed questions to scaffold the guided-inquiry activity. Results from semi-structured qualitative interviews suggest that students learn about snow chemistry processes and engage in scientific practices, including data analysis and interpretation, through this activity. This activity is applicable in other introductory science courses as educators can adapt most scientific articles into a guided-inquiry activity. 

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2. A review of how we study coastal and marine conflicts: is social science taking a broad enough view?

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-023-00319-z  

   Dahlet, Lol Iana; Selim, Samiya A; van_Putten, Ingrid (September 2023, Maritime Studies)

   Abstract Conflict in the marine environment is of increasing relevance as blue growth boundaries are pushed and resource access and use are in dispute. Social science disciplines have a long history and a wide range of approaches for studying conflict. However, understanding the approaches used to study marine conflict is challenging since the literature is large, broad, difficult to navigate, and there is little connection between conflict themes and the associated methods used to analyze these conflicts. In the present study, we take a first step to address this by systematically reviewing 109 peer-reviewed articles that employ empirical social science methods to study marine conflict. We find that studies on marine conflicts have centered on disputed space, mainly at local scale, and natural resources, such as fish. The main parties at the center of the conflicts are small-scale fisheries and public authorities, although with a growing presence of blue growth sectors. Most studies employed qualitative approaches to study marine conflicts. Current gaps in the understanding of marine conflict include gaps in understanding relational interactions and historical causal events. The need for social science research into marine conflict and the application of multiple social science methods is ongoing as different constellations of conflict actors emerge and as disputed ocean spaces expand beyond EEZs, to include polar regions, and the sea floor. 

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3. Integrating engineering in K-12 science education: spelling out the pedagogical, epistemological, and methodological arguments

   https://doi.org/10.1186/s43031-019-0010-0  

   Purzer, Senay; Quintana-Cifuentes, Jenny Patricia (December 2019, Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Science Education Research)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract This position paper is motivated by recent educational reform efforts that urge the integration of engineering in science education. We argue that it is plausible and beneficial to integrate engineering into formal K-12 science education. We illustrate how current literature, though often implicitly, discusses this integration from a pedagogical, epistemological, or methodological argumentative stance. From a pedagogical perspective, a historically dominant argument emphasizes how engineering helps make abstract science concepts more concrete. The epistemological argument is centered on how engineering is inherently interdisciplinary and hence its integrative role in support of scientific literacy and more broadly STEM literacy is natural. From a methodological perspective, arguments focus on the engineering design process, which is compatible with scientific inquiry and adaptable to answering different types of engineering questions. We call for the necessity of spelling out these arguments and call for common language as science and engineering educators form a research-base on the integration of science and engineering. We specifically provide and discuss specific terminology associated with four different models, each effectively used to integrate engineering into school science. We caution educators against a possible direction towards a convergence approach for a specific type of integrating engineering and science. Diversity in teaching models, more accurately represents the nature of engineering but also allows adaptations based on available school resources. Future synthesis can then examine student learning outcomes associated with different teaching models. 

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4. Representing Percents and Personas: Designing Syncretic Curricula for Modeling and Statistical Reasoning

   Radke, Sarah C.; Vogel, Sara; Hoadley, Christopher; Ma, Jasmine Y. (June 2020, International Conference of the Learning Sciences)

   Syncretic literacy can link everyday and scientific concepts in student learning. In this paper we describe the design and implementation of a curricular unit in a bilingual middle school science class developed to help students link everyday conceptions, conceptions from math, science, and computer science, and their own broad linguistic repertoires to support syncretic literacy in modeling and statistics in a unit on post-Hurricane Maria outmigration from Puerto Rico. The unit invited students to use printed maps, physical objects, computer code, and simulations to explore concepts such as percentages and scientific models, framed by an approach from translanguaging pedagogy. Qualitative study showed that this approach supported students to engage productively in the tensions between scientific and everyday conceptions as described in Gutiérrez (2014), while using language resources from across communities and disciplines. 

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5. A Flood of New Water Cycle Resources

   https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2024.86.4.242  

   Nixon, Ryan S; Hill, Sophie K (April 2024, The American Biology Teacher)

   In this paper we present a flood of new water cycle resources created by a team of scientists, educators, and creatives to address existing limitations in water cycle resources. These resources can be used to add more details to your instruction, add context to the water cycle, be more intentional about including humans, and teach science literacy skills. 

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