Approaches to Learning (AtL) is widely included in many state standards for preK, as a process-oriented disposition that describes how children learn. Play is one pedagogical strategy teachers can employ to support the development of AtL. This paper uses Vygotsky's depiction of two kinds of play, object play and socio-dramatic play, to provide the…

Following the frameworks for research and inquiry-based learning, this paper describes a series of activities that can be used in undergraduate management classrooms to expose students to management research. The focus of these activities on finding reputable article summaries allows instructors to introduce management research, explain how to…

This article describes an unexpected playground experience that occurred between the author, a reading educator and former middle grades teacher, and his six-year-old granddaughter. The experience became the inspiration and impetus to provide an introduction to, and a rationale for, the concept of text clusters to middle grades teachers. The…

This paper is a practical how-to guide to help you start using active learning or to have greater success and more fun with it. We categorize active learning techniques as Think, Pair, Share, Composite, Group, Move, or Lead and discuss how to implement activities in each category, along with advice on creating engaging, effective, and equitable…

The mathematical egg hunt is a hands-on activity designed to help students understand mathematical relations in an Introduction to Proofs course. This activity gives students the opportunity to practice selecting which ordered pairs do and do not belong to a given relation in a moderately competitive egg hunt. It is designed to be low-stakes, yet…

This article introduces a flexible and easy-to-implement open-ended scientific inquiry activity called the Paper Towels Challenge. After experimentally determining which of three unbranded paper towels is the most absorbent, students discuss their results and methods. The teacher facilitates the discussion of epistemological issues. This activity…

Minerals and metals are part of everyday existence, including in the air people breathe. They are either in, or have a hand in creating, nearly all of consumer products. As essential as they are, minerals and metals are too often unseen, unappreciated, and unnoticed. In the teaching of preservice primary and secondary teachers as well as high…

In addition to the continuing need for citizens who can address the challenges of "human" communities, growing concerns have arisen regarding "all" life on the planet. Indeed, one of our most urgent conditions is the decline of the environment upon which all life depends. Yet, despite our concerns, there remain vastly differing…

Large data sets invite students to engage in scientific practices such as question asking, identifying correlations, using visualizations, and practicing data literacy in an authentic context. However, authentic data sets are rarely introduced in the biology classroom. We prepared an online inquiry activity based on authentic gross characteristics…

The comprehensive practical activity curriculum can be said to be created to cater to children's curiosity and nature of exploration. Through the creation of problem situations, children are guided not only to explore what the world is, but also to pay close attention to what the world will be and cultivate children's key competencies in the real…

Atomic orbitals represent an essential construct used to develop chemical bonding models, upon which other more advanced chemistry topics are built. In this article, we share a series of active-learning activities and a gamified approach to develop students' representational competence about atomic orbitals and to engage students in learning the…

Science centers provide an engaging way for young learners to explore related concepts. The hands-on nature of each exercise secures the stimulation necessary to maintain focused attention. In this article, the authors describe a multi-day 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) lesson on nocturnal and diurnal animals with science…

This experiential exercise teaches students what constitutes Appreciative Inquiry and how it is different from other feedback models, along with giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge. Students practice giving Appreciative Inquiry to their peers' presentations through the use of an online platform that allows for written words…

Although the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) have three dimensions, the crosscutting concepts are often the forgotten dimension. One reason teachers may not emphasize the crosscutting concepts might be because they are broad, domain-general constructs that can be difficult to conceptualize in a meaningful way. Yet, when taught…

This article discusses four exemplary activities to highlight imaginative approaches that encourage critical literacy: building a jackdaw, responding to text through multimodal journaling, engaging in dramatic roleplay, and practicing multi-genre writing. Each activity connects imaginative approaches to critical literacy as learners view the world…