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The central pedagogical principle on which the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) are built is that of three-dimensional learning. This principle posits that it is through meaningful integration of the disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs) that students will attain an understanding of both the knowledge and processes of science. The purpose of this article is to bring the value of CCCs to the foreground and to provide suggestions and resources for purposefully integrating them into curricula and instruction. As such, this article will supplement previous entries in this journal (Duschl 2012; Metz 2013; Talanquer 2019) that have specifically addressed CCCs and focused more on what they generally represent and how, in a broad sense, they can be utilized by teachers. Science Scope also has included several articles (Fick, Arias, and Baek 2017; German 2017; Mohl et al. 2017; Plonczak and Zwirn 2015) that support teachers in employing the CCCs. To augment these previous works, for each CCC, this article offers: (1) specific facets of the CCCs that teachers should consider explicitly addressing; (2) resources that support use of the CCCs, and (3) sample activities that show the CCCs in action.

This paper presents important findings that were observed as interconnected key elements of high-quality co-teaching of a physics course for pre-service science teachers while the collaborating faculty experienced a pedagogical convergence. This pedagogical convergence is akin to the conceptual convergence that Roschelle (1992) has described as being a central mechanism in conceptual change learning. Four elements of that pedagogical convergence are identified and discussed: two found within Roschelle's framework and two recognized by the faculty members through their reflection on the course. This pedagogical convergence had a significant positive influence on the design and, more importantly, the implementation of the co-taught physics course, resulting in a productive and impactful collaboration between the two faculty members. The paper includes perspectives from both faculty members on each element of the pedagogical convergence and students as well as on the teaching context and critical aspects of practice. The ideas in the paper should provide college faculty members meaningful directions as to how co-teaching could be implemented across a range of science disciplines and the framework can serve as a foundation for creating a co-taught college science course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past three decades, researchers have noted the limitations of a problem-solving approach that overemphasizes algorithms and quantitation and neglects student misconceptions and an otherwise qualitative, conceptual understanding of chemical phenomena. Since then, studies and lessons designed to improve student understanding of chemistry has overwhelmingly targeted introductory level, high school and first-year college students. In this article, we present a model-based learning cycle approach with upper-level undergraduate and beginning graduate students that investigated their ability to model the adiabatic and isothermal compression/expansion of a gas in a syringe. We were interested to observe, given the extent of their previous chemistry coursework, how students struggled to connect macroscopic observations with particulate representations. Analysis of laboratory reports, reflective journal entries, and classroom discourse transcripts indicate the learning experience was efficacious in uncovering and addressing student conceptual challenges with using models appropriately to describe gas behaviour under the experimental conditions for this investigation.

Five high-school chemistry teachers were asked to enact a lesson in which they posed a problem for which students were likely to generate solutions based on reasoning that was not aligned with accepted principles of chemistry. Four teachers selected a problem related to the stoichiometry of a reaction; the fifth chose a problem associated with periodic trends. The goal of the research was to understand the kinds of strategies used by these teachers to support students' progress towards more sophisticated conceptualizations of the phenomena being explored. Transcripts of teacher interviews and the discourse contained within the videotapes of the lessons were analyzed to identify similarities and differences in the strategies teachers employed. The data suggest that all of the teachers operated off a common lesson schema that caused them to implement certain pedagogical practices--especially certain discourse moves. This "traditional cognitive conflict" schema from which the teachers' discursive practices seemed to be derived reduced the opportunities for them to gain full access into their students' thinking related to the principles underlying the problems posed. Moreover, it eliminated possible pathways the teachers could have laid down between the conceptions of students and those of chemists. For researchers this study suggests the need to further explore the prevalence of such practices and what prompts their utilization; for teachers this study shows the influence their choice of certain discourse moves can have on a lesson's conceptual trajectory. (Contains 3 tables and 4 notes.)

This research study focused on understanding changes that were taking place in Promotion and Tenure (P and T) practices in eight selected institutions of higher education in the state of Georgia and examined factors, if any, that were acting as a catalyst for change. The research team used both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the P and T dossier reviews. The study did broaden our understanding of important and complex issues in higher education. The results have implications for higher education faculty and administrators as they contemplate tenure and promotion decisions and policies, and complete future research studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The very word education means a drawing out and bringing forth of critical characteristics, and as such, learning science should involve teachers seeking to draw out and refine student understandings. Providing opportunities for students to reflect on what has happened during a demo is not only an effective method of assessment but has also been shown to improve student learning of the science content that is being demonstrated (Crouch et al. 2004). Demos serve many roles in the science learning process, including fostering student engagement, modeling concepts that may be difficult or impossible to observe in the classroom, providing assessment opportunities, and supporting storylines. We encourage teachers to widen their repertoire of science demos, especially ones when it is just you, the teacher, the materials, and your audience. [Extracted from the article]