This article describes a first-grade research project that incorporates trade books and challenges misconceptions. Educators see the power of their students' wonder at work in their classrooms on a daily basis. This wonder must be nourished by students' own experiences--observing the moon on a crystal clear night--as well as by having…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

The authors created an interactive reflective log (IRL) to provide teachers with an opportunity to use a journal approach to record, evaluate, and communicate student understanding of science concepts. Unlike a traditional journal, the IRL incorporates prompts to encourage students to discuss their understanding of science content and science…

By thinking about the concept of density and taking into account the research on children's ideas about this concept, the authors were able to unpack the typical sink or float activity and realize that it has students unscientifically making comparisons between objects by changing two independent variables (mass and volume) at one time. With this…

It is common practice for elementary classes to plant seeds so that students have the opportunity to observe them germinate and grow. Beyond introducing plant anatomy, this relatively simple activity has the potential to engage children as young plant scientists who investigate the basic needs and behaviors of plants. In this article, the authors…

This article describes the experience of a group of first-grade teachers as they tackled the science process of classification, a targeted learning objective for the first grade. While the two-year process was not easy and required teachers to teach in a new, more investigation-oriented way, the benefits were great. The project helped teachers and…

The setting: the science classroom. The characters: you and your students. The scene: Your students acting out scientific discoveries, modeling a frog's life cycle, mimicking the transition from liquid to solid. This is "dramatic science", a teaching approach that uses acting techniques to explore and develop young children's ideas about…

Developing good record-keeping habits is essential for organizing, processing, and communicating experimental results objectively. Therefore, the authors designed an interactive method of teaching first graders to record, organize, and interpret data as they studied the life cycle of the spotted salamander ("Ambystoma maculatum"). In their…

In this article, the authors' kindergarteners and a fellow first-grade class turned their hallway into a forest! Not just any mural, this culmination of a month-long project was based on observing, questioning, taking field trips, conducting library research (including the internet) and asking experts. The students developed skills in forming…

The dawn of a new school year is the perfect time to reflect on last year's successes while setting even higher expectations for the upcoming year. For several years, many new-school-year resolutions have revolved around a common theme: improving the introduction of inquiry skills to young (kindergarten through second grade) learners, particularly…