Illustrations are an inseparable part of science textbooks. To design effective illustrations, the science textbook graphic designers need to understand about how the student"s mind functions. Unfortunately, the lack of training of the graphic designers in Egypt has resulted in a generation of designers who are unable to apply effective cognitive principles of visual design in the textbooks. This study was carried out to examine the effect of a cognitive-based training program for graphic designers on the quality of science textbook illustrations. The training program was prepared to encourage graphic designers to apply effective cognitive principles when designing science textbook illustrations. Nine graphic designers were asked to design a lesson of "density" before and after the training program. A list of criteria was prepared to examine the quality of illustrations. Thirty three science teachers were asked to use this criteria to evaluate the illustrations in the designed lessons. The teachers pointed out that the pre-training illustrations were more compatible with the cognitive principles than the post-training illustrations. These results can serve as a reference for reform of the graphic preparing and training programs.

The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest international scientific project in history. It serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of teaching the experiments of the ISS by using the Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) strategy to develop secondary school students' attitudes towards space exploration and their scientific explanations. A quasi-experimental pretest/post-test experimental/control group design was utilized. The experimental group consisted of 38 grade 11 students, and the control group consisted of 37 students. A Likert-5 scale was created to measure attitudes towards space exploration. An open-ended scientific explanation instrument was prepared to measure students' ability to construct scientific explanations. A unit and a teacher's guide were prepared to help in teaching the ISS experiments by using the POE strategy. The data collection instruments were used as pre-tests before the implementation and as post-tests at the end of the implementation. Results indicated that using the POE strategy to teach the ISS experiments has a positive effect on learners' attitudes towards space exploration and their scientific explanations.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are the key to Egypt"s global economic competitiveness. STEM education prepares skilled workforce, creates critical thinkers, increases science literacy, and enables the next generation of innovators. The purpose of the present study is to examine the effectiveness of a hands-on summer STEM program in developing middle school students' design thinking and conceptual understanding. To accomplish this purpose, a list of bases that should be taken into account while designing the summer STEM program was prepared. An instrument for design thinking and a test for conceptual understanding were developed. These instruments were administered to 28 students-who completed 8th grade-before and after participating in the summer STEM program. The findings showed that students' design thinking developed after the STEM program. On the other hand, the program increased the students' conceptual understanding. These findings indicate that the focus should be on the implementation of informal hands-on experiences to increase interest in STEM disciplines and improve the students' design thinking and conceptual understanding.