Despite the importance of bees, there is a gap in the public's understanding of them. To help address this gap, we developed the outreach tool Experience Bees, a series of simple learning and hands-on activities to teach community members about bees and their importance in our landscapes. Program evaluation showed that participants learned about…

As young children encounter animal and plant life, they are eager to figure out where plants and animals come from, which plants are edible, and which animals like to eat different plants. Gardening experiences provide ample opportunities to explore how plants grow, what plants need to grow, how to care for plants, and how to harvest the edible…

Native plants are not typically the kinds of plants that are used in elementary classroom studies of plant biology. More commonly, students sprout beans or investigate with fast plants. At the time the authors started their plant unit (November), the school-yard garden had an abundance of native plants that had just started seeding, including…

Many young children come to school with prior experiences planting seeds in a garden or in a pot, watering them, and seeing them grow. These early scientific investigations are designed to help children understand that seeds need water, something to grow in (such as soil), and the right temperature to sprout--if these conditions are met, a seed…

Many household gardeners accumulate considerable knowledge of plant biology through a range of informal learning sources. This knowledge seldom relates to school biology and is driven by interest, keen motivation and what is termed here "vital relevance." A small opportunity sample of 12 gardeners (6 M, 6 F) is interviewed in terms of…

This article addresses how we can develop learning environments that establish a need for scientific practices and provide a context for developing content knowledge through practice. It argues that Pickering's (1995) notion of "The Mangle of Practice" informs these efforts by focusing our attention on how resistance, or push-back from…

If life continues from generation to generation, then all plants and animals must go through a life cycle, even though it may be different from organism to organism. Is this what students have "learned," or do they have their own private conceptions about life cycles? The formative assessment probe "Does It Have a Life Cycle?" reveals some…

A piece of children's literature can be a powerful tool for teaching and learning science; however, it takes more than reading about a topic to qualify as "doing science." Inspired by the book, "The Gift of the Tree", the author developed an in-depth interdisciplinary lesson for her sixth-grade students without diluting the science. Through this…

Raising consciousness about the environment and learning ways to care for our planet are important for all citizens of the world. Young children are particularly receptive to learning new concepts; thus the preschool years are an ideal time to teach lessons about the environment. It is often the case that the information learned when children are…

Using the seasons in the science classroom increases student observation skills as they focus on subtle differences such as shades of color and differences in structures. In this article, the author presents a variety of activities that can help students identify and demonstrate patterns and changes in leaf or plant development. The ability to…