In recent years, the integration of science and mathematics has become popular among educators because of its potential benefits for student learning. The purpose of this study is to introduce a two-day interdisciplinary lesson that brings science and mathematics concepts together, actively engaging students in working with percentages of the…

Sunscreens have different levels of protection, measured most commonly with the sun protection factor (SPF). Students initially believed higher SPF factors mean greater sun protection and learned through this activity that higher SPF does not mean greater protection. Students analyzed the amount of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protection and…

Why does a balloon deflate when it is left in a cold car; or why does one have to pump up his or her bike tires in the spring after leaving them in the garage all winter? To answer these questions, students must understand the relationships among temperature, pressure, and volume of a gas. The purpose of the Predict, Share, Observe, and Explain…

Pressure increases rapidly with depth in a water body. Ocean and Great Lakes scientists often use this physical feature of water as the basis of a fun pastime performed aboard research vessels around the world: the shrinking of polystyrene cups. Depending on the depth to which the cups are deployed, the results can be quite striking! Capitalizing…

Elementary, middle-level, and high school science teachers commonly find their students have misconceptions about heat and temperature. Unfortunately, student misconceptions are difficult to modify or change and can prevent students from learning the accurate scientific explanation. In order to improve our students' understanding of heat and…

Reaction time, the time between a stimulus and a person's reaction to it, is a concept familiar to most teenagers, particularly in the context of driving. We describe a simple inexpensive activity that utilizes students' creativity and invokes the scientific method in order to explore reaction time. The goal of the activity is to give students a…

This article describes the use of project-based instruction in activities and labs intended to develop higher-order thinking skills with high school students and pre-service teachers through the use of soap making.

This lab activity uses inquiry to help students define heat. It is generic in that it can be used to introduce a plethora of science content across middle and high school grade levels and across science disciplines that include biology, Earth and space science, and physical science. Even though heat is a universal science phenomenon that is…

Flowering plants that live underwater in marine and estuarine habitats (seagrasses) are important because they support human food sources, such as crabs and fish, as well as endangered animals, such as turtles and manatees. Seagrasses are now known to be declining globally, largely as a result of increasing pressure from human populations living…

For curriculum content-related reasons, inquiry activities can be difficult in classrooms unless the activities are approached in a manner that makes variations among student group findings understandable in the context of the study. Studies of individual animals and plant reactions to stimuli, such as insect exploratory behavior, allow the…

Even though photosynthesis is an obligatory part of the science curriculum, research has shown that students often have a poor understanding of it. The authors advocate that classroom coverage of the topic of photosynthesis should include not only its biochemical properties but also the role of photosynthesis or photosynthetic organisms in matter…

The authors illustrate an effective lesson-planning technique known as unpacking for the broad topic of water. Interconnections among science disciplines are shown for numerous possible subtopics. Two lesson sets are included, the first dealing with properties of water and the second dealing with water as a resource. (Contains 1 table and 4…

The main goals of these activities are to help students learn how a convex lens can serve as a magnifying lens and how light travels and creates images. These explorations will introduce middle school students to different types of lenses and how they work. Students will observe and describe how lenses bend light that passes through them and how…