NARST and NSTA have a shared mission to improve science education through research, that comes together around the Research Worth Reading joint initiative and recognition.  Each year, JRST articles from every issue are nominated by the NARST Research Committee for their relevance and applicability to practitioners. Nominees are invited to submit an abstract of their work that highlights recommendations for educators. The abstracts are reviewed and several are selected for recognition by NARST and NSTA.  This page features research by all Research Worth Reading nominees. Enjoy!

Original Articles Published in 2024

Making Science Relevant Through Family Engagement and Everyday Experiences

Idit Adler & Christopher Karam
Original Article: Adler, I., & Karam, C. (2024). Djaji mahsheye, moghrabeye, and labaneh: Making science relevant. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(1), 103-136.  https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21866

Students often see school science as abstract and disconnected from their daily lives. But new research shows that inviting families into the learning process through simple home experiments can help students see science as more meaningful - and more their own. That’s the key finding from a study by researchers at Tel Aviv University, who developed a program called Together with Science. 

Exploring Science Teachers’ Efforts to Frame Phenomena in the Community

Clark, H. F., Gyles, S. A., Tieu, D., Venkatesh, S., & Sandoval, W. A. 
Original article: Clark, H. F., Gyles, S. A., Tieu, D., Venkatesh, S., & Sandoval, W. A. (2024). Exploring science teachers' efforts to frame phenomena in the community. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(9), 2104-2132.  https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21945

By using community-oriented framing, teachers can help students connect science learning to everyday life, social and political systems, and students’ diverse knowledge and experiences—making science meaningful and empowering for all learners.

Computational Thinking for Science: Positioning Coding as a Tool for Doing Science

Ari Krakowski, Eric Greenwald, Natalie Roman, Christina Morales, Suzanna Loper

Original article: Krakowski, A., Greenwald, E., Roman, N., Morales, C., & Loper, S. (2024). Computational Thinking for Science: Positioning coding as a tool for doing science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(7), 1574-1608. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21907

This study introduces the Computational Thinking for Science (CT+S) model, a powerful teaching approach designed to help students develop coding and computational thinking (CT) skills through science learning. The CT+S model offers a scalable, equity-driven approach to STEM education that connects classroom learning to future opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Latinx young women co‐construct science storylines in high school chemistry

Jasmine Nation & Hosun Kang

Original article: Nation, J., & Kang, H. (2024). “We need to step it up—We are basically the future”: Latinx young women co‐construct science storylines in high school chemistry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 61(4), 873-904.  https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21921 

This article shows how co-constructed science storylines can create space for rich scientific thinking. “Co-constructed science storyline” refers to a storyline emerging from the classroom interactions driven by students’ identities, developing ideas, and concerns. Through co-constructing storylines, teachers can support equity and authentic scientific identity construction—especially for Latinx youth and other groups underrepresented in STEM.