Using cross-grade peer mentoring as an integral component to field trip experiences can help educators realize the learning potential of nature-based experiences. When young students are paired with older students, Socratic peer dialogue deepens interest, investment, and ultimately ownership of new learning. Using peer-supported inquiry…

The Puppy Love problem asked fifth and sixth grade students to use their prior knowledge of measures of central tendency to determine a data set when given the mean, mode, median, and range of the set. The problem discussed in this article is a task with a higher level of cognitive demand because it requires that students (1) explore and…

Using a dog's paw as a basis for numerical representation, sixth grade students explored how to count and regroup using the dog's four digital pads. Teachers can connect these base-4 explorations to the conceptual meaning of place value and regrouping using base-10.

Emperor penguins, the largest of all the penguin species, attain heights of nearly four feet and weigh up to 99 pounds. Many students are not motivated to learn mathematics when textbook examples contain largely nonexistent contexts or when the math is not used to solve significant problems found in real life. This article's project explores how…

Getting students to think deeply about mathematical concepts is not an easy job, which is why we often use problem-solving tasks to engage students in higher-level mathematical thinking. Mathematical modeling, one of the mathematical practices found in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM), is a type of problem solving that can…

All classrooms are active social systems; the middle school classroom involves complex interactions between and among peers as well as between students and teachers. In the elementary years, attention is often given to nurturing students and fostering relationships, yet when young adolescents transition to the middle school, a focus on control and…

Evolution and inheritance appear in the new National Science Curriculum for England, which comes into effect from September 2014. In the curriculum documents, it is expected that pupils in year 6 (ages 10-11) should be taught to: (1) recognise that living things have changed over time; (2) recognise that living things produce offspring of the same…

The trend toward encouraging adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in schools has increased in the last decade. Because IPM helps reduce risk of human pesticide exposure, reduce allergens and asthma triggers, save energy, and protect the environment, it's essential that IPM awareness continue not only with current school administrators,…

The sixth-grade art curriculum includes world cultures and the art-history timeline. This lesson was created as the authors were developing relevant projects. They also presented it at an Ohio Art Education Association fall conference as part of their thematic unit, "Art of the Himalayas." As teachers, they were fascinated by the annual…

In this article, the author describes a texture and pattern project. Students started by doing an outline contour drawing of an animal. With the outline drawn, the students then write one of their names to fit "inside" the animal.

No person, place, or thing can capture the attention of a class of sixth graders like "man's best friend." To prompt students' interest in a series of lessons on proportional relationships, the authors brought in a unique teaching aid--a dog. A family dog was used to supply the measurements for scatter plots and variables so that students could…

Using migration as a springboard, students can begin to understand patterns of survival and interdependence that exist within nature, as well as humankind's role in modifying these patterns. This mini-unit involves a series of integrated activities designed to take middle school students (fifth through eighth grades) on a journey of the eastern…

The authors combined content-driven and inquiry-based lessons into the framework of problem-based learning (PBL). They did this in eight third- through sixth-grade classrooms--two each from grades 3-5, one from sixth grade, and one mixed-grade special education. These older elementary students explored a local problem of lobsters infected by…

Children are naturally curious about the world in which they live. To focus this sense of wonder, have your students investigate their local habitat as it changes over the year. This multiseason study will build connections and add relevance to the habitats that children learn about. This series of activities for grades 4-6 explores the changing…

Meat thermometers can be awkward to use in terms of placement and avoidance of bones. Because of these problems, each year 30 million Thanksgiving turkeys have a built-in thermometer that pops up when the turkey is properly cooked. Turkey timers are an example of how engineering solved a common, everyday problem. The following 5E learning cycle…