A fifth grade life science lesson was implemented through a lesson study approach in two fifth grade classrooms. The research lesson was designed by a team of four elementary school teachers with the goal of emphasizing engineering practices consistent with the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) (Achieve Inc. 2013). The fifth…

"Soil, Seeds, and the Pumpkin Patch!" is an integrated unit designed to provide elementary school teachers with ideas for using hands-on activities, fostering inquiry and valuable discussion, and using technology as a learning tool. This unit integrates science with language arts, mathematics, literature, and technology. During this unit, students…

This inquiry-based activity designed for the fifth through 12th grade allows students to engage in an outdoor, place-based experience, working collaboratively both in groups and as a class to accomplish the class goal of creating a local tree map linked to student-collected data about each tree. During Local Tree Mapping, students explore the…

Students investigate energy conversions by collaborating to develop a free standing track of plastic tubing through which a ball bearing moves at the fastest possible speed. Friendly competition leads to discussion of what worked and did not work and to the identification and investigation of underlying principles. (Contains 4 charts.)