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This paper provides a theoretical perspective of how modeling and simulation on a CAD platform can be used to teach science concepts and inform design decisions. The paper discusses the educational implications of three recent advancements in CAD technologies: system integration, machine learning, and computational design. The challenges to design energy‐efficient buildings that harness solar energy are used as the engineering examples to illustrate the learning and teaching opportunities created by the modeling, simulation, and data mining capabilities of the Energy3D software, which is a CAD tool developed from scratch along the directions of the three advancements to support engineering research and education. Preliminary results from students in a physics classroom and an online course shed light on the effects of these features on guiding student to design cost‐effective rooftop solar power systems for their own home buildings.

Although learning to write for publication is an important outcome of doctoral education, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. Within a socialization and supervisor pedagogy framework, this study uses narratives of faculty who regularly write with their doctoral students for publication to expose challenges students commonly encounter in the writing process. Common challenges include international students' 'writing problem', misconstruing the nature of disciplinary writing and not realizing that 'public' is part of publication.

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Many pedagogical innovations aim to integrate engineering design and science learning. However, students frequently show little attempt or have difficulties in connecting their design projects with the underlying science. Drawing upon the Cultural‐Historical Activity Theory, we argue that the design tools available in a learning environment implicitly shape knowledge development as they mediate students’ design actions. To explore the roles of tools in design‐science integrated learning environments, this study investigated how secondary students’ tool‐mediated design actions were linked with their science learning in a tool‐rich design environment with minimal explicit guidance. Eighty‐three ninth‐grade students completed an energy‐efficient home design challenge in a simulated environment for engineering design supported by rich design tools. Results showed that students substantially improved their knowledge as a result of designing with the tools. Further, their learning gains were positively associated with three types of design actions—representation, analysis, and reflection—measured by the cumulative counts of relevant computer logs. In addition, these design actions were linked with learning gains in ways that were consistent with their theoretical impacts on knowledge development. These findings suggest that, instead of being passive components in a learning environment, tools considerably shape design processes, and learning paths. As such, tools offer possibilities to help bridge the design‐science gap. © 2017 The Authors. Journal of Research in Science Teaching Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 9999:1049–1096, 2017