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Teacher productive disposition is considered as one of the key strands of mathematical proficiency. Teacher disposition and positioning (disposition in action) toward mathematics influence student learning. However, teachers' productive disposition does not always translate into productive positioning in the mathematics classroom, and vice versa. In this study, we selected teacher dis/position as the unit of analysis to explore the phenomenon of two middle school mathematics teachers' self-reported affective disposition and observed positioning-by-others. Grounded in positioning theory the relationship between teacher disposition and positioning-by-others was examined utilizing a cross-case analysis. Results of the study indicate that dispositional characteristics such as attitude, self-concept, and nature of mathematics were significantly different between the cases. The study findings also suggest that interconnectedness between teacher core disposition and positional situatedness could potentially contribute to understanding and addressing the complexity of teaching and learning in the mathematics classroom.

This study describes the use of a pictorial-based approach to the exploration of minority preservice elementary teachers' (PSETs) professional conceptions about science teaching and learning. Pictorial representations instead of written reports on prior learning experiences with science were used as a data-gathering tool. In this study, we incorporated worldview theory and bilingual and cultural border crossing constructs as the lens to interpret participants' reports on their personal conceptions about science learning. Implications of this study invite science teacher educators to consider the lived experiences and histories of their preservice teachers as crucial conditions for effective preparation of future teachers working with minority students.

Professional growth of STEM teacher educators remains an underdeveloped topic in educational research. In the current study, STEM teacher educators representing six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and USA completed a survey, which addressed teacher educators' professional trajectories, practices, and challenges they face to meet tenure requirements. This study utilized convergent mixed methods design applying survey research format and as such integrated both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. Descriptive statistics and meaning coding of the survey and interviews allowed identification of emerging themes in professional practices. The main findings suggest that there are common trends as well as country specific professional practices across professional trajectories reported by participants. The study results reveal that the lack of support during the teacher-to-teacher educator transition period was a common feature across the countries. It was also evident among participants that their professional journey begins with an assumption that as teacher educators they should primarily excel in performing teaching tasks.

Birds are one of the most important species that can help protect biodiversity. Although birds are important beings for biodiversity and human existence, there is a relatively less quantity of research that has investigated the interest in and attitudes toward birds. This study aims to investigate the knowledge level of and attitudes toward birds among students in countries at different levels of economic development. To collect the data, a Bird Knowledge Questionnaire and a Bird Attitude Questionnaire were developed and used by the researchers in this study. These questionnaires were administered to a total of 852 students from different countries, including Colombia, Germany, Slovakia, and Turkey. The results obtained in this study showed that Colombian students had the highest interest in birds as compared to students in Slovakia, Turkey, and Germany. Girls had consistently higher interest in birds than boys in all countries, but there were no gender differences in the cognitive domain. Our research suggests that factual knowledge about birds is not a necessary prerequisite for interest in birds, but animal-related activities show strong associations with an interest in birds.

This article introduces "La Escuelita," an after-school health literacy program for youth and families that currently meets in a community center one mile from a port of entry into El Paso, Texas. Through weekly activities that include mediums like art, community-based mapping, and collaborative cooking, participants at "La Escuelita" interrogate notions of health, wellness, and nutrition and engage in discussions about food and environmental justice. Through their discussion of this community-based project, the authors argue that food and environmental justice efforts should center community-knowledge, asset-based frameworks, and reciprocal learning.

This study examined the similarities and differences among 171 Grade 7-12 science teachers from three different countries (54 U.S, 63 Bolivian, and 54 Turkish) with respect to their attitudes toward environmental education (EE) and instructional practices. The instrument employed explored how teachers' knowledge, instructional practices, decision-making process, and cultural features influenced their EE attitudes and praxis. The instrument, which was translated into Spanish and Turkish and then back into English, contained a personal data form that included demographic questions and a three-part questionnaire. Based on the analysis completed, significant differences were found between these three countries with respect to 1) teacher's knowledge about global environmental issues, 2) teachers rationales for including environmental education in their science classroom instruction, and 3) while there were no significant differences in the importance of religion in the teachers lives, there were significant differences in the extent to which teachers reported religion influencing instructional decisions. In addition, there were differences regarding the resources that teachers reported drawing on as they included EE in their classrooms. There were no significant differences found when comparing the three countries with respect to extent to which each country reported including technological and/or environmental problems in science classroom instruction. Finally, generally there was agreement regarding teachers' goals and objectives in science classrooms with respect to EE and the most important global environmental problems/threats. (Contains 8 tables and 3 figures.)

The purpose of this study was to survey and report on the empirical literature at the intersection of science education research in Latin American and previous studies addressing international research trends in this field. Reports on international trends in science education research indicate that authors from English-speaking countries are major contributors of publications. Despite the internationalization of the science education community, as represented by the publication of the work generated in non-English-speaking countries, research trends in science education in Latin America are uncommon in the literature. Therefore, it was deemed important to explore the scholarly productivity of science education researchers from Latin America to learn about the research orientations pursued by scholars from this region. Collective review findings are presented with respect to author's nationality, publication volume generated in each country, research type and topic, collaborative research, and areas for future research. Of the ten countries represented in this study, Brazilian authors were the most research active scholars followed by their colleagues from Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina. The History, Philosophy and the Nature of Science (HPNOS) was the topic that most attracted the interest of Latin American science education researchers, and the Empirical Qualitative studies was the most frequent research type combination in the analyzed publications. Findings in this study suggest a relationship between investment power in Research and Development (R&D) and the scholarly productivity not only in science education but also in the scientific field in the countries of the region.

English Language Learners (ELLs) early schooling often involves a mix of their native (L1) and second (L2) languages. Spanglish speakers take this one step further and employ a hybrid language practice to compensate for their lack of fluency in both Spanish and English. Unlike conventional ELLs, these students use the two languages simultaneously because of a lack of proficiency in either. This article offers techniques and strategies for assisting Spanglish-speaking students in the science classroom.

Amphibians play an important role in the functioning of ecosystems and some of them inhabit human gardens where they can successfully reproduce. The decline of amphibian diversity worldwide suggests that people may play a crucial role in their survival. We conducted a cross-cultural study on high school students' tolerance of frogs in Chile, Slovakia, South Africa and Turkey (n = 655 high school students). We found that about 6% of students reported active killing of frogs and 30% reported moving frogs away from their home gardens. Pathogen disgust negatively correlated with frog tolerance suggesting that people who are more sensitive to pathogen connoting cues are less tolerant toward frogs. Tolerance of frogs in parents or other family members appears to significantly influence student tolerance of frogs. Females tended to show higher tolerance of frogs than males. This study highlights the importance of the emotion of disgust in human willingness to protect frogs from a cross-cultural perspective.

Research on environmental action projects in teacher education is limited. Furthermore, projects that emphasize the role of citizens and governments in environmental problem-solving are scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore how participating in a political environmental action project influenced pre-service teachers' environmental citizenship. Following the steps of Project Citizen, an international civic education program, pre-service teachers learned about and proposed policy solutions to address excessive energy usage at their university. Analysis revealed growth in the pre-service teachers' environmental citizenry, including their self-efficacy, values awareness, and ecological and civics literacy. Through critical appraisal of their local energy-yielding system, the pre-service teachers recognized energy conservation as a cultural problem with local and global implications, furthering their commitment to action-oriented environmental education.

As the ethnic and racial diversity in U.S. classrooms continues to grow, myths about the education of English Language Learners (ELLs) persist, while many teachers feel ill-prepared to meet these students' academic needs. This article focuses on myths shared by in-service science teachers enrolled in a master's program at the University of Texas at El Paso on the Mexican border. The authors asked these teachers to describe at least one myth about second-language acquisition they had encountered. This article discusses their responses and offers strategies teachers can use to address these myths based on the authors' previous work with ELLs and the Project Citizen curriculum (Center for Civic Education 2014).

In this article we describe La Escuelita Afterschool Program, an interdisciplinary, inter-institutional, after-school literacy partnership on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Escuelita Program used food pedagogy to tap into funds of knowledge, bridging home and school literacies. In doing so, the program challenged deficit thinking and enhanced K-6 students' curiosity and engagement around traditional subjects: science, math, reading, and writing. Through a process of experimental curriculum design and a variety of qualitative data collection methods, we discuss how food pedagogy can help to change deficit-based narratives and how it helps expand the scope of literacy acquisition.

In recent years, citizen science projects have emerged as a means to involve students in scientific inquiry, particularly in the fields of ecology and environmental science. A citizen scientist is "a volunteer who collects and/or processes data as part of a scientific inquiry" (Silverton 2009, p. 467). Participation in citizen science fosters an appreciation for the diversity of scientific fields (i.e., conservation biology, ornithology). The National Science Foundation (NSF) supports citizen science projects as a means to recruit future generations into the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by directly involving students in scientific research. Teachers have expanded citizen science projects to include not only gathering and analyzing data but also civic participation and action (Zaikowski and Lichtman 2007; Ryken et al. 2008). This effectively merges hard sciences with social sciences. In this article, the authors present the multidisciplinary Project Citizen approach to teaching and learning science and engaging students in action-oriented citizen science. Project Citizen, a curricular program administered by a national network of coordinators in every state, promotes competent and responsible civic participation by giving students a vehicle to influence and monitor public policy (Center for Civic Education 2009). High school teachers can adapt Project Citizen as an approach for teaching a variety of subject areas. English teachers can use Project Citizen to emphasize speech and writing skills; social studies teachers can emphasize civic ideas and practices; and mathematics and science teachers can focus on analytical thinking and scientific inquiry. (Contains 3 figures and 2 online resources.)

All too often, subjects in schools present disjointed phenomena as a compilation of data or facts that seem isolated from students' lives. However, current science education pedagogy clearly emphasizes integration of knowledge and skills in real-world settings (NRC 2007). This integrated instructional approach addresses fundamental process skills as described in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NRC 2012). This alignment can be observed in practices 4, 6, 7, and 8 (analysis and interpretation of data, constructing explanations, engaging in argument from evidence, and communicating information). To illustrate this, the authors describe an activity that integrates science and art concepts around the theme of cell organelles, using the exciting and somewhat unusual medium of painted silk batik, which has a "wow" factor of beautiful results beyond typical school-based media. The challenge presented to students in this activity is based on the well-known assumption that abstract thinking supports a better understanding of nature phenomena. (Contains 4 figures, 2 online resources, and an activity worksheet.)

Background and purpose: The purpose of this study was to record and measure the level of involvement and appreciation that prospective teachers in art and science education programmes demonstrated during a four-session integrated activity. Art and science education prospective teachers from a Rocky Mountain region university in the US worked in partnership to produce a science-related art piece using a silk batik painting technique. This project incorporated the use of two hands-on activities (a sampler and a final piece). In addition, pre- and post-activity surveys helped researchers investigate whether an integrated activity led to changes in attitudes towards collaborative instruction among students from art and science education. A practical implication of these results could guide students' teaching assignments and professional careers. Sample: This project involved the participation of 34 prospective teachers enrolled in secondary art and science education pedagogical content courses at a public university in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Design and method: Prospective teachers in art and science education programmes worked together in a four-session integrated activity for three consecutive years. Participants were tasked with the design of art pieces addressing a core concept from the secondary school science curriculum using the batik painting technique. This project included two hands-on activities (a sampler and a final piece). In addition, they responded to pre- and post-activity surveys. Results: Overall, the data show significant variation at pre- and post-survey, indicating that students had more knowledge after the study than before regarding the integration of art and science in the secondary school curriculum. The mean of interdisciplinary teaching ratings increased on all four target survey items according to the 10-point rating scale. Based on the results, the integrated art and science instructional approach significantly influenced prospective teachers' attitudes about collaborative practices. Conclusion: In general, students' responses on survey items addressing content skills and previous experience of art or geological/biological images in the classroom were affected by their major area. Our experience suggests that an integrated learning experience is an effective way to improve prospective teachers' self-ratings of knowledge and ability to develop and engage students from secondary school classrooms with interdisciplinary connections. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

The way in which students view science and its practitioners, particularly during their late elementary and early secondary grade levels, has been at the core of numerous studies dating back to research by Mead & Metraux (Science 126:384-390, "1957"). In this study, we used the Draw-a-Scientist Test Checklist developed by Finson, Beaver & Cramond (Sch Sci Math 95(4):195-205, "1995") to explore and document Colombian and Bolivian students' perceptions of scientists. Despite the wealth of information from years of study, there is a lack of research on images held by students in Latin American nations. This study involved Colombian and Bolivian students (N = 1,017) in 5th to 11th grades and was aimed at providing an original account of how these students picture scientists and science. Results suggest differences on how students perceive scientists based on nationality, grade and school type. We discuss how features may be associated with educational and socioeconomic status in each school community.

Project Citizen is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's congressionally funded Center for Civic Education, which sponsors both domestic and international programs. The Center for Civic Education's Civitas International Programs pair U.S. states with countries around the world based on a variety of factors; including geographic similarities. In 2005, Wyoming and Bolivia were paired with one another as the Wyoming-Bolivia Partnership. Since then, both partners have shared cultural exchanges centered on the civic education program. The project described in this article allowed the social studies and science teachers to partner in light of the content being addressed (civic engagement and environmental issues). (Contains 3 figures and 1 online resource.)

The central aim of the present paper is to examine, from the Social Studies, Modern Languages, and Science Education perspectives, the role of the Project Citizen initiative in school communities of Bolivia. To that end, Project Citizen in Bolivia, during its first three years of implementation will be discussed, followed by views from each field (Social Studies, Foreign Languages, and Science Education) regarding the effect of this educational approach in Bolivian schools. For this purpose, the four core values suggested by Robinson and Taylor (2007) will serve as a framework to explore student voice: 1. A conception of communication as dialogue, 2. The requirement for participation and democratic inclusivity, 3. The recognition that power relations are unequal and problematic, and 4. The possibility for change and transformation.

A lack of congruency between the teaching and learning of science and the student's personal worlds has long been recognised by the international science education community as an issue deserving space in the research agenda. The purpose of this study was to explore the diversity of student reactions when subcultures such as family, community peers, and personal worldviews are considered along side the subculture of school science. Two-hundred and fifty students from urban and provincial schools in the northeastern region of Colombia (South America) participated. From this group, 18 students were interviewed. It was observed that students adopt a compartmentalisation of knowledge that is evident as both an avoiding strategy in the classroom and as a mechanism to differentiate between the natural world of their everyday situations and the one portrayed by a Westernised science instruction in the classroom. The findings reflect how multiple worldviews correlate with student frameworks as implanted by school science.

A rich amount of research suggests that native-English speaking and linguistically diverse students are equally capable of learning scientific concepts and terminology through collaborative inquiry-based experiences. Yet, a full understanding of how to address English Language Learner (ELL) issues during science instruction and assessment will require further study. In this article, the authors look at possible issues in diverse classrooms and offer some ideas to provoke curiosity and confidence in ELL students. These ideas include: (1) Encourage group work; (2) Incorporate collaboration; (3) Explicitly teach new vocabulary; (4) Use alternative assessment; (5) Promote democratic classrooms; (6) Include the contributions of non-Western scientists; (7) Make sure preservice educators have diverse field experiences; (8) Use technology in the classroom; and (9) Encourage parent involvement.

The purpose of this study was to explore rural and provincial students' conceptualizations of nature in Colombia alongside the science education offered in their school communities. Students' perceptions of nature were produced from interviews that revolved around a focusing event and two eliciting devices to document their views about home, school science, and nature. Eighteen students from two urban and one provincial school communities were invited to participate in an interview. An anthropological approach to education allowed for case descriptions in urban and provincial settings in a northeastern region of Colombia, South America. The findings specifically reflect how multiple worldviews correlate with the framework of school science. (Contains 2 tables.)