This article addresses issues that are related to the empowerment of elementary teachers through teaching and learning science in socially and culturally meaningful contexts. It is based on the analysis of the attitudes and relationship to science of 10 elementary school teachers from inner city schools in Caracas, Venezuela. In the context of a workshop, teachers were asked to come up with a scientific explanation of a familiar physical phenomenon observed on a daily basis and related to their everyday tasks. The data were the teachers' discourse and were both written (a description of an ideal science class) and oral (semi-structured interviews). Academic/epistemic, professional, and social dimensions were used to analyze the discourse. These categories were based on two theoretical frameworks: an empirico-realistic one, held by the majority of teachers, and a socioconstructivist one, held by the researcher. The results illustrate how familiar contexts bring meaning and raise teachers' confidence to teach science, which contributes to the development of a more empowering attitude towards science.

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N HIS speech accepting the Republican nomination in 2000, George W. Bush spoke of the "soft bigotry of low expectations." 1 His No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative has since become a far-reaching piece of national legislation intended to raise those low expectations and give equal learning opportunities to all children. What we now know from research conducted in various states is that the curriculum emerging in response to NCLB's testing mandates lowers, rather than raises, expectations. 2 Teachers have become deliverers of a standard curriculum, geared toward the tests, with a pacing schedule designed to finish the material in time for the tests. However, to offer real educational equity, teachers need to employ differentiated instructional practices that can help children develop the cognitive processes, the skill sets, and the social capital that give rise to successful engagement in our society. Research on learning tells us that students reach a deep understanding of fundamental concepts incrementally as teachers assess and respond to their perceptions in real time, which is why curriculum needs to be contextualized and not standardized. Sadly, today's educational mandates are not based on today's understanding of how people learn. Spaces of Liberty: Battling the New Soft Bigotry of NCLB Despite the strictures of NCLB, teachers need spaces in which they can negotiate the curriculum in response to students' individual progress. Similarly, students need spaces in which they can pursue their own ideas and thus help their teachers shape the curriculum. But such conditions cannot exist without the policies and funding to support them.

I didn't like science, but when I came to STEM Studio, that changed my mind," said Jasmine. "We got to learn where patterns start. For example, a starfi sh!" said Janae. "STEM Studio made me smart," said Karem.After a year in a teaching and learning lab based on real-world, multidisciplinary design challenges, 4th graders Jasmine, Janae, and Karem have learned more about how to think creatively and critically. They did this as part of the STEM Studio at Hofstra University School of Education.In 2012, Hofstra created STEM Studio, a "space of liberty" (Brooks, Libresco, & Plonczak, 2007) where preservice teachers learn to effectively offer instruction that teaches children to think more reasonably, write more cogently, and compute more carefully. STEM Studio spreads successful teaching practices and classroom structures by engaging teachers in honing their skills by analyzing their students' performances and artifacts. Schools and teachers learn and grow from practices that help their students learn and grow. Innovation generates innovation. What is STEM Studio?STEM Studio was born out of a problem: Preservice teachers were not transferring pedagogical understandings and practices learned in university methods classes to their practice. A starting point was creating a vibrant classroom on campus that brings together elementary pupils with preservice elementary teachers and secondary pupils with secondary preservice teachers in a setting that offers problem-based curriculum and just-in-time instructional mentoring. STEM Studio provides real-world math, science, and engineering design challenges that integrate literacy, social studies, multiculturalism, and the arts. The setting integrates teacher education and student learning by providing:• Classroom structures using multidisciplinary STEM tasks as platforms for learning; • Design challenge templates for diverse student populations; and • Inclusive, just-in-time, multiple career stage professional learning community.STEM Studio offers problem-based, distinctive curricula where pupils learn concepts at deeper levels with transferable skills, and preservice and in-service teachers learn instructional strategies rooted in the research (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2002). STEM Studio WHERE INNOVATION GENERATES INNOVATIONChildren and teachers discover new ways of teaching and learning in a university lab setting.IRENE PLONCZAK (Irene.Plonczak@hofstra.edu) is an associate professor of teaching, literacy, and leadership and codirector of STEM elementary education at Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., where JACQUELINE GRENNON BROOKS is a professor of teaching, literacy, and leadership, director of the Institute for the Development of Education in the Advanced Sciences, and director of secondary science education; GLORIA LODATO WILSON is an associate professor and director of special education secondary programs; ROSEBUD ELIJAH is an associate professor of teaching, literacy, and leadership; and JULIA CALIENDO is STEM Studio administrative coordinator.C ommon C ore

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