BSCS Science Learning has developed a nationally-recognized program for teacher learning called STeLLA®, Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis. K-12 science teachers who want to implement research-based curriculum, improve their teaching, or navigate next generation science all have something to gain from this proven program. And so do their students. STeLLA is based on a 17-year line of research and development at BSCS. It has demonstrated impacts on both teacher and student learning above and beyond any impacts from a traditional science teacher professional learning program.
STeLLA’s impact is significant across contexts. It works in preservice and inservice settings for elementary, middle, and high school teachers.
So what’s next? We’re translating research into practice by creating broadly accessible versions of the program.
STeLLA is now available online and will soon be available in hybrid format. We’re currently working to expand STeLLA to different grade levels and science disciplines.
How STeLLA Works
STeLLA helps teachers motivate students to learn science. Specifically, it supports teachers in learning to use effective teaching strategies through a powerful video-based lesson analysis approach. Strategies include engaging student thinking and organizing instruction in a way that connects science ideas. Teachers learn to use these strategies by analyzing classroom videos, and sharing their thinking in facilitated sessions with other teachers. The STeLLA program takes place in-person, online, or in a hybrid format over the course of one school year (typically 90 hours), during which teachers apply what they’re learning in their own classrooms.
A Program Based on Research
Over the last 17 years, STeLLA has demonstrated impacts on both teacher and student learning above and beyond any impacts from a traditional science teacher professional learning program.
See our growing line of research at-a-glance: Development of STeLLA
2021
STeLLA Programs Now Available
BSCS now offers broadly accessible versions of STeLLA. Middle school teachers can register for STeLLA for A Medical Mystery, a fully online program that supports teachers in the enactment of an NGSS-aligned curriculum unit. Elementary teachers can register for STeLLA Online, a fully online program that supports teachers in the enactment of Water Cycle and Earth’s Changing Surface units.
2019
STeLLA Scale Up and Sustainability
BSCS is partnering with leaders and science educators throughout Tennessee and Kentucky to help address a national need for high quality science teacher professional learning. With the largest research grant in the organization’s history, BSCS will test, refine, and scale up its STeLLA model with the goal of making a new hybrid (online and in-person) version broadly available. During this five-year project, BSCS will work with 4th and 5th grade teachers primarily from high needs, rural districts and schools. Regional leaders including PIMSER (the Eastern Kentucky University Partnership Institute for Math and Science Education Reform), the Tennessee Aquarium, and Instruction Partners, will help ensure the new STeLLA model is aligned to state science standards and the impact is sustainable long-term. Meanwhile, BSCS is exploring strategies to provide equitable access to STeLLA across the country.
2019
STeLLA for A Medical Mystery
BSCS developed a fully-online STeLLA course to support middle school teachers in the enactment of a 3D body systems curriculum unit: A Medical Mystery. This NGSS-aligned unit, developed in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting, immerses students in an online environment that challenges them to use scientific reasoning skills and argumentation. For eight weeks, students investigate and ultimately solve, "What's Wrong with M'Kenna?" Field-test teachers participated in 11 weeks of STeLLA professional learning to enhance their enactment of the unit. The ultimate goal is to make STeLLA for A Medical Mystery broadly accessible to middle school teachers across the country.
2018
STeLLA Online
A decade ago, BSCS introduced STeLLA to 144 teachers and 2,800 students across Colorado’s Front Range. BSCS conducted a rigorous experimental study of this entirely in-person professional learning program. As a result, both teacher and student learning improved significantly. Since then BSCS has wondered: would an entirely online version of the STeLLA CO program be similarly impactful? That’s what BSCS is exploring and evaluating today during its STeLLA Online program. The ultimate goal is to support more teachers than ever before by offering STeLLA in an online format that is convenient, accessible, and effective.
STeLLA CO2
BSCS is partnering with University of Colorado, Boulder; University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; and University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. This is the first STeLLA project designed to collaborate with university faculty and cooperating teachers educating preservice middle and high school science teachers. The program has the potential to impact one-third of all new secondary science educators certified in Colorado annually. Research is being conducted to develop a new understanding of the benefits and challenges associated with bringing STeLLA to this new context. And ultimately, research will explore STeLLA’s effectiveness on first-year practice outcomes for preservice secondary science teachers. Learn more here.
2015
STeLLA High School
BSCS partnered with Jefferson County Public Schools, Kentucky to deliver a version of the STeLLA program to one-third of the district’s high school biology teachers. Louisville is the first region in the United States to benefit from research on STeLLA’s effectiveness at the high school biology level. The PD program took place throughout the 2017–2018 school year. Following a successful intervention, BSCS is spearheading leadership development work to deliver STeLLA at a broader and sustainable, district-wide level.
2015
Minnesota STeLLA
BSCS partnered with Minneapolis Public Schools, St. Paul Public Schools, and the University of Minnesota to bring STeLLA to a broad audience across the state of Minnesota accessed through online resources. This was the first opportunity for BSCS to expand STeLLA beyond elementary school and to incorporate engineering design in alignment with Minnesota’s new academic standards in science. The resulting STeLLA program covered STEM teaching and learning across elementary, middle, and high schools in Minnesota. BSCS has expanded the impact of this state-wide work by building leadership capacity among STeLLA-prepared teachers.
2013
RESPeCT
BSCS partnered with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and a high-needs, urban district in California to test a dissemination model of the intensive STeLLA program. The ultimate goal was for STeLLA to successfully reach and impact every elementary school teacher and their students in the high-needs, urban district, where more than 65% of students are English language learners. BSCS created model units and professional learning materials covering grades K-6 and conducted leadership development programs to prepare the university science faculty and PUSD elementary school teachers to lead STeLLA programs. Research is being conducted to identify the effectiveness of a STeLLA program delivered by trained school district and teacher leaders on both elementary teacher professional learning and student outcomes. Preliminary results are promising. An initial impact study revealed statistically significant improvements in student outcomes that are comparable to results in BSCS-led STeLLA programs.
2012
ViSTA Plus
BSCS partnered with the University of New Mexico and the University of Houston-Victoria on an intensive STeLLA project designed to prepare preservice elementary school science teachers. A much broader and more interactive version of the original ViSTA, this program proved to be a resounding success, demonstrating improvements in teachers’ science content understanding, scientific reasoning skills, and most significantly, an extraordinary advancement in outcomes among these teachers’ students. In their first year of teaching, ViSTA Plus participants performed two standard deviations higher in effectively improving science learning outcomes for students than their university peers who did not participate in the ViSTA Plus program. These findings suggest that the STeLLA approach is effective at preparing new teachers to have immediate and positive impact on student learning.
2011
EMAT
BSCS developed a free online course to help high school science teachers frame complex energy concepts in a relevant and compelling way for students. The STeLLA course covers six units—Coal, Nuclear, Wind, Geothermal, Biofuels, and Solar Energy—and includes 34 engaging classroom videos, 30 content animations, and 20 interactive learning experiences. While originally designed for teachers, EMAT is also a beneficial resource for teacher educators and district PD leaders. Research findings show EMAT to be effective at enhancing teachers’ content knowledge and their ability to reveal, support, and challenge student thinking.
2009
STeLLA CO
BSCS partnered with school districts along Colorado’s Front Range in a randomized-controlled experiment involving 144 teachers and more than 2,800 students. BSCS compared outcomes for 4th and 5th grade teachers in the STeLLA program with outcomes for teachers who participated in a more traditional science teacher PD program focused only on content deepening. The students of teachers in both groups learned as a result of their teachers' participation in PD. However, there was a substantial difference in the learning of students whose teachers were in the STeLLA group compared with those in the comparison group. The difference in scores is equivalent to 23 percentile points. Test results also showed STeLLA students were able to answer questions involving more-complex scientific reasoning.
2004
ViSTA
BSCS explored the value of a STeLLA-inspired program for preservice elementary science teachers by developing and studying the impact of online, videocase-based modules designed as tools to support teacher education courses. As a result, 30 participating university instructors and their students, the preservice teachers, significantly increased their science content knowledge and ability to analyze video-recorded classroom lessons for powerful instruction practices. Though a small-scale study, ViSTA’s results were promising and inspired future investigation on the effectiveness of science teacher preparation.
2003
STeLLA I
Researcher Kathy Roth laid the foundation for the signature line of STeLLA research that continues at BSCS today. Roth’s team at LessonLab Research Institute partnered with California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in a study involving 32 upper elementary school teachers in California. Researchers compared outcomes for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade teachers in the STeLLA program with outcomes for teachers who participated in a more traditional science teacher professional learning (PL) program focused only on content deepening. Despite a relatively small sample size, the STeLLA study provided strong evidence that elementary teachers can improve their science instruction and deepen their science content knowledge in ways that directly impact students’ learning by participating in a videocase-based, analysis-of-practice program.
Hire Us
High quality science education is more important than ever. Teachers must prepare students to succeed in a 21st century society, where scientific reasoning and critical thinking skills are essential. To prepare teachers to achieve this goal, BSCS is working to bring the STeLLA approach to teachers nationwide through partnerships with schools, districts, teacher educators, and funders. Learn more.
Place-Based Learning for Elementary Science at Scale (PeBLES2) supports educators in making science learning experiences meaningful for their students—by connecting to local phenomena, communities, and cultures.
Project Inspiration
What do today’s science learners find interesting and relevant?
This is a question we consistently wrestle with at BSCS Science Learning—particularly when we are developing instructional materials programs for broad audiences nationwide. Our goal is to create materials that engage, inspire, and prepare all learners to use science effectively throughout their lives. And to do that, we must anchor the materials in compelling, real-world phenomena.
But what is compelling—for all learners? Realistically, there is not one phenomenon that will resonate with everyone in exactly the same way. Our world is made up of individuals with different backgrounds, cultures, and everyday lived experiences that shape their perspectives and interests. Still, we feel strongly about reaching all learners, especially those from underserved communities.
At BSCS, we want to support educators in tailoring science learning experiences for their specific contexts—so that all kids get to learn science through the lens of what really matters to them. We’ve partnered with the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) to do just that.
About the Project
In the PeBLES2 project, we are working with MMSA to support equitable access to place-based science learning opportunities. This entails collaborating with upper elementary educators to make science learning meaningful for students—by connecting to local phenomena, communities, and cultures.
BSCS is leading the development of phenomena-driven units for grades 3–5. These units are designed for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and are grounded in phenomena that can be adapted for various local contexts. MMSA is guiding teachers in incorporating locally or culturally relevant phenomena into these units through a two-year enactment study.
We’re currently exploring how teachers adapt units over multiple years as well as the impact of this intervention on teacher self-efficacy and agency in science teaching and students’ perceptions of relevance.
2020-2022
BSCS develops 4th grade unit, MMSA leads unit pilot, BSCS revises unit.
2023-2024
MMSA leads professional learning for 50 4th grade teachers. Participating teachers adapt and teach units over the course of two years.
2024
BSCS revises units and MMSA revises professional learning, based on teacher feedback and research findings, for public release.
What’s Next
A tested and revised 4th grade Earth Science unit and accompanying professional learning materials will be freely available by December 2024. This unit focuses on weathering erosion and deposition.
What works best for teachers and students in science education interventions? Statistics can provide some insight—but only if interpreted in context. For instance, the way a study is conducted may impact the outcome, independent of the actual effectiveness of the intervention.
To help researchers understand study results in context, BSCS Science Learning reviewed hundreds of studies in science education while taking into account the various factors contributing to the outcomes. This work resulted in published findings for student outcomes (AERA Open Journal) and teacher outcomes (The Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness) and online tools for researchers to use when planning or evaluating studies of science education interventions.
The online tools, POWER Calculator for Student Outcomes, and POWER Calculator for Teacher Outcomes use data from the studies BSCS reviewed to estimate the likely effect size for a new study based on its characteristics, such as the nature of the study, the scientific discipline, characteristics of teachers or students, and other key variables.
When planning a study, researchers can use the POWER calculators to determine how many participants will be required to obtain a statistically significant result, giving researchers and funders increased confidence that they will obtain such a result without spending money and time unnecessarily on participants that are not needed. Once a study is completed, the tool enables users to interpret the size of their study’s effect in the context of similar studies.
In addition to the research findings and POWER calculators, BSCS has published the two data sets related to student and teacher outcomes. Researchers who want to do their own meta-analyses of the studies can explore the data from different angles, while efficiently using BSCS’s coding system.
Results from these meta-analyses are published in AERA Open and the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness.
Plants are all around us. They are essential to our existence. Yet despite their ubiquity, how many science teachers truly understand plant biology and know how to effectively teach it to their students?
Digging Deeper, a BSCS Science Learning research and development project, has been investigating this question for the past four years. Building on the success of PlantingScience, Digging Deeper adds a robust professional learning model that engages teachers and scientists as collaborators in teaching and facilitating real-world science experiences for students.
Until now, the impact of bringing teachers and scientists together to learn, reflect on, and implement meaningful science experiences for students has been unexplored. Results of Digging Deeper will help validate methods and protocols that not only serve to eradicate “plant blindness” and prepare future scientists for plant biology challenges facing the planet but are also relevant to developing teacher and student expertise in inquiry-based science in any science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) discipline.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) identifies three equally important dimensions to learning science: science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. This focus on 3D learning has created a critical need for assessments that can measure students’ ability to use these three dimensions together to make sense of real-world phenomena.
BSCS Science Learning is currently continuing a line of research started at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)* to directly address this need. In our ASPECt-3D project, we will develop and validate scenario-based assessment tasks to measure students’ ability to use the three dimensions to make sense of energy-related phenomena. The assessment tasks will consist of multiple-choice and constructed-response items aligned to elementary, middle, and high school NGSS standards. Our assessment study will include a diverse range of teachers and students in grades 4-12 from urban, rural, and suburban locations across the United States.
As a result of this project, we will produce sets of NGSS-aligned assessments for measuring students’ 3D understanding of energy. We will also develop supporting materials for teachers, including the unpacking of the performance expectations, summaries of student misconceptions and difficulties, scoring rubrics, psychometric properties of the assessments, and guidelines for the use of the assessments and interpretation of results. Additionally, we will use our findings to create a professional learning workshop to help support assessment developers and classroom teachers in creating their own three-dimensional assessments. All products will be made available online for elementary, middle, and high school grade levels.
*ASPECt-3D builds on a previously funded IES project (R305A120138) focused mainly on assessing students’ understanding of science content. The researchers developed three vertically equated, multiple-choice instruments to assess students’ progress on the energy concept.
What exactly does a scientist do? How does she collect information and make sense of it all?
Data Nuggets are free classroom activities, co-designed by scientists and teachers, designed to bring contemporary research and authentic data into the classroom. Data Nuggets feature a scientist role model and the story of what inspired their research. In a Data Nugget activity, students are guided through the entire process of science, including identifying hypotheses and predictions, visualizing and interpreting data, supporting claims using data as evidence, and asking their own questions for future research. Because of their simplicity and flexibility, Data Nuggets can be used throughout the school year and across grades K-16, as students grow in their quantitative abilities and gain confidence. Data Nuggets have the potential to improve the understanding of science in society while engaging and motivating the next generation of scientists.
From topics such as “Won’t you be my urchin” to “Sticky situations: big and small animals with sticky feet,” teachers get to pick and choose from numerous options that get their students to think like a scientist, while the scientists who write the curriculum have an opportunity to share their research findings with a new audience in science.
Current research suggests that scientific models can help teachers transform their science instruction and enhance student learning. This premise grounds the Model-Based Educational Resource (MBER)—developed by Dr. Cindy Passmore and colleagues at UC Davis—which engages high school biology students in constructing models to make sense of science. Now researchers are wondering: How effectively can this approach to biology education support next generation science learning?
BSCS Science Learning has been awarded a grant to study the impact of the MBER program through a cluster-randomized trial (CRT) and expand the promise of efficacy and feasibility established in previous work. Throughout this project, we will revise the MBER program, develop associated assessment, and conduct an experimental study with 32 teachers in diverse California schools.
Our General Research Questions
- What is the impact of MBER on high school students’ science achievement?
- What factors influence that impact?
This study will also address a significant gap in the research on next generation curriculum materials. As we seek to advance the field’s knowledge about the impact of innovative materials on student learning, we will examine the following exploratory research questions:
- How does using MBER develop teachers’ vision of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)?
- How is student learning mediated by the fidelity of implementation of the materials?
- How do teachers interact with materials designed to be modified for their classroom context?
- To what extent do MBER materials provide equitable opportunities to learn and close achievement gaps?
In addition to generating important research findings, the materials revised and studied in this project will be open source and freely available to teachers and schools, thereby maximizing the broader impacts of this work.