White lab coat buttoned, glasses perched firmly on his head, eighth-grade science teacher Todd Munoz lies flat on the classroom table. Atop his stomach is a bowling ball. Next to him is a student ...

In a drab hearing room in Austin, Tex., members of the State Board of Education, seated at small desks arranged in a broad, socially distanced circle, debated whether eighth grade science students ...

Science is usually one of the more hands-on subjects in middle school: Students design research questions, draw diagrams, and conduct experiments. But the country’s 8th graders are less likely to do ...