Most middle school students comprehend that organisms have adaptations that enable their survival and that successful adaptations prevail in a population over time. Yet they often miss that those bird beaks, moth-wing colors, or whatever traits are the result of random, normal genetic variations that just happen to confer a negative, neutral, or…

The main areas of difficulty experienced by those teaching and learning organic chemistry at high school and introductory university level in Ireland have been identified, and the findings support previous studies in Ireland and globally. Using these findings and insights from chemistry education research (CER), the Organic Chemistry in Action!…

To capture students' excitement and engage their interest in rocketships and visiting planets in the solar system, the author designed lessons that give students the opportunity to experience the joys and challenges of developing straw rockets, and then observing which design can travel the longest distance. The lessons are appropriate for…

"Leadership in Freshman Physics" is an NSF-funded professional development program designed to support 9th grade teacher leaders in the successful implementation of a "Physics First" or curriculum sequence that places physics prior to biology and chemistry. Leadership is viewed as an essential component in the initial success…

Current instructional and learning models insist that when teachers prepare lessons for their technology and engineering classes, they must begin with a sense of what students already know. In preparing lessons, many teachers use their years of classroom experience as data to inform them about students' prior knowledge and about student…

Students within the Findlay, Ohio, City School District, as well as students across the country, struggle with understanding physical and chemical changes. Therefore, in this article, the authors suggest some standards-based activities to clarify misconceptions and provide formative assessments to measure your students' progress as they determine…

This paper describes a major reform effort of an elementary science curriculum called the Science: Parents, Activities, and Literature (Science PALs) Project. The goal of the project was to move teachers towards an interactive-constructivist model of teaching and learning that assumes a middle-of-the-road interpretation of constructivism where…