Effective Science Instruction: What Does Research Tell Us?
Science education has received renewed attention in the United States in the last several decades, with calls for a scientifically literate citizenry in this increasingly technological society. Science for All Americans (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989) laid out a vision describing the knowledge a scientifically literate person would have. This vision was further elucidated in Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993) and National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). These documents reflect a fairly broad consensus within the science education community of what scientific knowledge students should be expected to learn as they progress through grades K–12.

An Innovative Integrated STEM Program for PreK-6 Teachers
In this article, we describe an innovative, 6-course, 18-credit post-baccalaureate certificate (PBC) program for pre-kindergarten through grade six teachers (PreK-6) in Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (iSTEM) Instructional Leadership. Here, the acronym, "iSTEM," refers to education that not only addresses each of the S, T, E and M subjects, but also emphasizes the connections among them. We collaboratively contributed to the development of the program, and teach courses within it. The program graduated its pilot cohort of teachers in 2015, is running its second cohort, and is recruiting for a third. The article summarizes the program's origins and integration approach and key aspects of program design. Those key aspects include: make-up of the program team; a deliberate course sequence; decrease in structure (and increase in more open-ended, student-centered learning approaches) over time in the program; and movement in the program from growth as an iSTEM teacher towards growth as iSTEM teacher leader. Each of the courses is described in greater detail, followed by a discussion of program assessment and evaluation. The article concludes with our reflections about the program's challenges and successes thus far.