Video games have emerged as a medium for learning by creating engaging environments, encouraging creative and deep thinking, and exposing learners to complex problems. Unfortunately, even though there are increasing examples of video games for many basic science and engineering concepts, similar efforts for higher level engineering concepts such…

Imagine handing out assessments that spark enthusiasm rather than dread. In six easy-to-follow steps, this book empowers science teachers to create tasks that guide students to use their knowledge, not just memorize facts. The NGSA design process transforms assessments into valuable classroom tools that teachers can use to chart how students'…

Abstract concepts, such as gravity, may provide the perfect opportunity to bring phenomena into the classroom. As a knowledge generation strategy, summarizing can foster that opportunity. Using phenomena and summary writing together might help student learning since it requires making connections between their ideas and words to explain the…

A key aspect of learning in K-12 education is the idea that what students know and are able to do grows and evolves over time. Simple ideas learned in the early elementary grades gain levels of detail and complexity as students progress in their education. Connections between different topics and disciplines are made. Therefore, a key feature of…

Early experiences with planning and guiding children's learning can be exciting for preservice teachers in undergraduate teacher training programs. In this article, observations of a preschool play session guide four preservice teachers to design a series of play-centered lessons addressing serious science concepts (Hall 2010). While the concepts…

The domain of motion or kinematics is important because it forms the basis of mechanics, an important branch of physics. By studying kinematic phenomena in the laboratory, high school students are likely to develop a better understanding of kinematics concepts as well as elements of the scientific approach to study natural and constructed…

This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses using the 5E learning cycle to create coherent storylines. The 5E learning cycle provides an important framework to help teachers organize activities. To realize the full potential of the 5E framework for student learning, lessons must also…

A distinguishing feature of all the formative assessment probes in the "Uncovering Student Ideas" series is that each probe has two parts: (1) a selected answer choice that usually mirrors the research on commonly held ideas students have about concepts or phenomena; and (2) an explanation that supports their answer choice. It is this…

Classification is a vital science-process skill for all students to master. Understanding dichotomous keys as a means of classification enables students to better comprehend large amounts of information and understand how to organize, compare and contrast, and analyze that information. To biology students, mastering the dichotomous key provides an…

With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games prominent in the media, children were exposed to images of athletes skiing down snow-covered slopes, coasting furiously on bobsleds, and skating gracefully across the ice. Therefore, the authors capitalized on their children's natural curiosity about the world around them by exploring the concept of motion in a…

"Watch out, the stove will burn you," "Ooh, ice cream headache!" Students construct their conceptions about heat and temperature through their own intuitions about daily life experiences. As a result, misconceptions can be born from these constructed concepts. The activity described here addresses student misconceptions about thermal insulation…

Modeling is being used in teaching learning science in a number of ways. It will be considered here as a process whereby children of primary school age exercise their capacity of organizing recognizable and manageable forms during their understanding of complex phenomenologies. The aim of this work is to characterize this process in relation to…

In order to develop successful teaching approaches to transformations of matter, we need to know more about how young students develop an understanding of these processes. In this longitudinal study, we followed 25 students from 7 to 13 years of age in their reasoning about transformations of matter. The questions addressed included how the…

This article describes a twist on the basic "Science 101" investigation of having students observe a birthday candle before, during, and after burning. It engages students in exploring the attributes of a candle, introduces them to the concepts of empirical observation and investigation, and involves them in developing and conducting a burning…

The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which the characteristics of two teaching interventions can bring about cognitive progress in preschoolers with regard to the factors rolling friction depends on, when it is applied to an object that is freely rolling on a horizontal surface. The study was conducted in three phases: pre-test,…