Curriculum analysis, modification, and enactment are core components of teacher practice. Beginning teachers rely heavily on curriculum materials that are often of poor quality to guide their practice. As a result, we argue that preservice teachers need to learn how to use curriculum materials for effective teaching. To address this concern, the authors conducted a study in which three teacher educators taught elementary science methods courses incorporating a major focus on curriculum analysis and modification based on Project 2061 Instructional Analysis Criteria. Analysis of pre -post assessments, classroomCorrespondence to: Christina

ABSTRACT:Teachers are increasingly faced with questions of how to teach the students in diverse classrooms in ways that are responsive to their experiences outside of the classroom. This paper presents a case study of how one 6th-grade teacher in a midwestern city enacts the Choice, Control, and Change (C3) curriculum, a curriculum based on the concept of dynamic equilibrium (energy in/energy out) in science-rich and culturally relevant ways. We analyze how she used what we call "transformative boundary objects" to leverage students' cultural knowledge and experiences of food and activity practices and systems to support the learning community in (a) developing an awareness of and trying on the norms and practices of science and (b) legitimizing the values, discourses, and practices of their everyday lives, the first two tenets of Ladson-Billings (1995a, 1995b culturally relevant teaching, to transform the traditional discourses and practices of school science. We particularly focus on Ladson-Billings third tenet, (c), the development of critical consciousness, showing

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The approach of integrating art with STEM, also known as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), has gained tremendous popularity over the last several years, in large part due its potential to enhance science learning and broaden participation in science (Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). However, the field is still nascent with respect to a guiding set of best practices. Unless close attention is paid to using meaningful STEAM practices, including those that support identity development and equity, STEAM is unlikely to fulfill its promise. In this essay, we present a new model for thinking about STEAM, including proposing a set of core STEAM practices that draw on disciplinary practices of art and science. We then provide two examples of STEAM practices in action with respect to activities that integrate biology and chemistry with art. Finally, we offer a set of design recommendations to those wishing to develop impactful STEAM activities. These principles are broadly applicable to science learning in diverse contexts and settings, both in and out of school.

Creativity is at the heart of both art and science, yet art is commonly viewed as more creative than science. A STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) approach to education has the potential to increase understandings about creative practices and dispositions that are common to both fields. In this paper, we examine how 5 th -7 th grade girls attending a summer STEAM academy viewed creativity in both art and science. We draw on existing concepts of creativity, with a focus on the 4P framework (person, press, process, product) (Rhodes, 1961), to frame and explain similarities and differences in the girls' notions of creativity. We found a number of similarities in views about creativity in art and science, as well as some important differences: Girls view creativity as it relates to art as associated with the person, while they more often view creativity as it relates to science as associated with specific practices or processes. Further, the girls viewed art, and creativity in art, as essentially an unstructured enterprise with no rules. We discuss the implications for STEAM instruction that can help support the development of authentic views of creativity in art and science, which in turn may foster interest and engagement with both fields.