Although most elementary students have had experiences with magnets, they generally have misconceptions about magnetism (Driver et al. 1994; Burgoon, Heddle, and Duran 2010). For example, students may think magnets can attract all metals or that larger magnets are stronger than smaller magnets. Students often confuse magnets with magnetic…

A researcher-developed questionnaire regarding the importance and developmental appropriateness of 12 specific elements of the nature of science (Alshamrani, 2008) for early elementary (kindergarten through fourth grade [K-4]) science instruction was mailed to a random sample of U.S. K-4 teachers. At least half (N = 377) of the respondents…

An investigation was conducted to determine whether the level of social studies interview questions second graders formulate and use can be increased with questioning instruction in terms of quality, which is defined as depth of response, and in terms of quantity. This was a quantitative study using both qualitative and quantitative data in which…