The recently released document "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" emphasizes the importance of engaging students in practices of science and engineering to help them understand how scientific knowledge about the natural world develops. The document identifies eight essential…

In this article, the author presents the science and engineering practices from the recently released "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011). The author recognizes the changes implied by the new framework, and eventually a new generation of science education standards will present new…

In traditional classroom discourse, the teacher controls the discussion, asking most of the questions and calling on students to respond. This model does not work well for the inquiry-based classroom, which depends on engagement, peer interaction, and student ownership of learning. In this article, the authors present an alternative framework for…

This article describes an instructional model that science teachers can use to promote and support student engagement in scientific argumentation. This model is called the evaluate-alternatives instructional model and it is grounded in current research on argumentation in science education (e.g., Berland and Reiser 2009; McNeill and Krajcik 2006;…

Based upon the models of differentiated instruction (Tomlinson and Edison 2003) and Layered Curriculum (Nunley 2004), the author created the Unit Pages strategy. Just like Layered Curriculum, the pages can be handed directly to students, allowing them to take charge of their own learning rather than requiring the teacher to individually monitor…

As both classroom teaching practice and literature show, many students have difficulties learning science concepts such as density. Here are some investigations that identify the relationship between density and floating through experimenting with successive dilution of a liquid, or the systematic change of concentration of a saltwater solution.…

Describes different teaching methods and explains the advantages and disadvantages of experiential learning as compared to traditional instructional techniques. Discusses the steps of the experiential learning model. (YDS)

As science teachers, they understand the importance of gaining student interest to promote learning. They know how challenging it is to spark the curiosity to truly engage students in the processes of "doing science." One often-used method of motivation is the demonstration of science in action. Demonstrations such as "discrepant events". They are…