ABSTRACT Young learners' lack of motivation to study scientific‐related subjects nowadays is a topic of concern in our society. This study followed a quasi‐experimental design with a predominantly quantitative methods approach, complemented by qualitative data, to investigate how the combination of gamified and problem‐based learning could influence students' scientific knowledge and motivation. During this research, one group of pupils received a web‐based gamified problem‐based learning approach, which was new to them in their regular classroom practice (experimental group), while another group followed a more traditional educational approach (control group). The study was conducted on 6th‐grade students, and over 14 sessions, pupils from the experimental group were involved in a playful, active learning context in which they had to solve different challenges to win a game and escape from inside a human body. The advantages of the proposed approach are discussed in comparison with the control group. The findings revealed that the innovative methodology improved the students' academic and motivational levels in science. Additionally, pupils had positive opinions concerning this active educative approach, with a preference for learning through a website based on gamification and problem‐based learning. This study provides insights into the potential of active learning environments to enhance not only students' interest but scientific knowledge too.

ABSTRACT Extensive research has demonstrated the effectiveness of concept maps in fostering students' conceptual understanding. However, less is known about how cognitive and motivational variables interact to influence chemistry learning outcomes in ecologically valid settings. This study examined the role of effort, prior knowledge, interest, and perceived competence in predicting learning retention and knowledge transfer among undergraduate chemistry students ( N = 647). Hierarchical regression and mediation analyses revealed that effort was a strong predictor of both retention and transfer, emphasizing the importance of active engagement in chemistry learning. Additionally, effort and concept map quality mediated the relationship between prior knowledge and learning outcomes, highlighting the interplay between cognitive resources and motivational engagement. Interestingly, interest was negatively associated with learning retention, suggesting that cognitive load in chemistry learning may impact student motivation. These findings underscore the importance of instructional strategies that combine motivational scaffolding with concept mapping to enhance student learning. Implications for chemistry education, instructional design, and future research directions are discussed.

ABSTRACT The human nervous and endocrine systems are challenging science topics for students because of their abstract and complex structures. In particular, the electrical and chemical transmission processes between nerve cells occur at the microscopic level, making them difficult for students to observe directly. For this reason, incorporating computational thinking (CT), a key STEM skill, is considered important in teaching such abstract biological processes. This study aimed to develop unplugged CT‐integrated activities for teaching the human nervous and endocrine systems and to support the conceptual learning of sixth‐grade students (aged 11–12). A quasi‐experimental design was employed with 60 sixth‐grade students from a public middle school. The intervention was implemented over a three‐week period, consisting of 12 class hours (40 min per class hour). The findings indicated that unplugged CT activities significantly supported students' understanding of concepts related to the human nervous and endocrine systems. In addition, students reported that the activities were engaging and helped them better understand the mechanisms of these systems. Overall, the results suggest that integrating CT into science education—particularly in life sciences, where abstract and complex concepts are common—can enhance learning environments and increase students' interest in STEM fields.

ABSTRACT Teachers' classroom instructional practices are undergirded by a myriad of psychological factors which contribute to pathways for student success. An exploration of teachers' motivational supports for facilitating students' learning experiences, in urban, Title I elementary schools, through integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can provide better understanding about specific instructional practices related to enhancing student engagement, persistence, and achievement, particularly for historically marginalized students who may face systemic barriers to equitable learning opportunities. Through an integrated theoretical framework (need supportive teaching [NST] and culturally responsive pedagogy [CRP]), this qualitative, descriptive phenomenological study answers two questions: What integrated STEM instructional practices do teachers use in urban, Title I elementary schools? How do teachers provide motivational supports for facilitating integrated STEM instruction in urban, Title I elementary schools? The teachers in this study were enrolled in a federally‐funded program to increase teachers' integrated STEM pedagogical content knowledge. A hybrid data analysis process was used to analyze teachers' integrated STEM classroom instruction, yielding key themes: provisions of guidelines and various materials, tactfully posing thought‐provoking questions and statements, and encouraging collaborative problem‐solving between students. This study enhances understanding of teachers' motivational supports in integrated STEM instructional practices in urban, Title I schools, with research implications.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to explore if and how different types of video annotations support pre‐service teachers (PSTs) in learning how to notice student multimodal, or verbal and non‐verbal, mathematical thinking. We implemented a video club intervention in a middle grades mathematics methods class. We asked PSTs to annotate classroom videos using two types of annotations. The first type was a pinning tool, which allowed the PSTs to mark video timestamps. The second type was a drawing tool, which allowed PSTs to draw directly on the video. We found that when PSTs used the pin tool, they largely attended to students' verbal thinking. In contrast, with the draw tool, PSTs began to attend to more of students' non‐verbal thinking. When PSTs attended to verbal student thinking, they mostly interpreted it in terms of students' disciplinary understanding. When PSTs attended to non‐verbal thinking, they reasoned about additional aspects of student thinking including affect, communication goals, and students' processes for learning the content. These findings have implications for PD design that supports teachers in expanding their multimodal noticing.

ABSTRACT This article describes an approach for integrating the 5E Learning Cycle with the Storyline approach to support three‐dimensional learning of complex scientific concepts, specifically wastewater‐based epidemiology, in elementary rural settings. Developed through collaboration among multidisciplinary experts, this educational design illustrates how inquiry‐based and culturally relevant pedagogy can be used to foster scientific literacy and community awareness around local environmental and public health challenges. Co‐designed by a team of scientists, engineers, public health experts, and STEM researchers, the activities developed focus on scientific accuracy, developmental appropriateness, and relevance to ongoing wastewater surveillance efforts. This paper provides a structure for creating culturally relevant science activities that honor local culture, beliefs, and health priorities while promoting access to meaningful STEM learning experiences, especially for female students in low‐resource settings who are often underrepresented in these fields. We illustrate this approach through a case example from rural Malawi, Africa, where we collaborated with local teachers and students to explore wastewater and public health concepts through locally adapted science activities. This work offers insight into how adaptable, culturally responsive design can make emerging areas of science, such as wastewater‐based epidemiology, accessible and meaningful for young learners in diverse educational contexts.

ABSTRACT This study explores three seventh grade students' engagement with geometric constructions (GCs) involving congruent line segments, perpendicularity, parallelism, and angle bisectors within a dynamic geometry environment (DGE). Although GCs have the potential to enhance geometric visualization and reasoning, their integration into teaching remains complex and often ineffective in promoting geometric thinking. Employing a case study design, the construction processes of three students were examined over a 4‐week period through Smart's construction stages and van Hiele's levels of geometric thinking. Rather than following step‐by‐step guidance, the instructional design emphasized problem‐based construction tasks that promoted conceptual understanding. As students used GeoGebra's compass tool, their operational fluency and comprehension of geometric invariants, particularly properties of circles, improved. The dragging property served as a means of conjecture testing and validation, fostering students' ability to reason deductively and articulate justifications. Findings indicate that students engaged in tasks and completed constructions accurately, reflected on underlying geometric properties. Their discourse revealed progression in geometric thinking, characterized by attention to geometric figures' attributes, relationships, and logical coherence. The study values the potential of DGEs, when integrated with tasks based on a constructivist approach, to support students' conceptual development and foster higher‐level geometric thinking.

ABSTRACT American science education leaders play critical roles in promoting equity in education, but little is known about how they understand everyday classroom interactions where inequities related to intersectionality are evident. This study examines science leaders' sensemaking about a scenario depicting the experiences of a group of American Black girl elementary students in an engineering design lesson, focusing on what leaders notice and how they propose to intervene to address problematic aspects of the students' experience. The responses were part of a survey given to a purposeful sample of 140 science education leaders from 18 states and analyzed by a team guided by an understanding of science as embedded within intersectional systems of oppression linked to race and racism, and gender and sexism. Most leaders noticed the students' experience was problematic; however, few respondents remarked on how racism or sexism might explain the students' experience. Most proposed interventions only with students or teachers, rather than addressing larger systemic issues that might have contributed to the situation. Our data suggest opportunities to support science education leaders and educators to have conversations that develop intersectional interpretations of everyday classroom practices and dynamics, as part of their efforts to promote equity in education.