In our experience, providing students with opportunities to explore outdoors has benefited them greatly in appreciating the outdoors and learning more about the environment. Similarly, researchers recognize that participants of outdoor schoolyard instruction have a more significant increase in cognitive understanding of ecological science concepts…

This activity is designed to teach prekindergarten to second grade students about the concept of sink or float through an inquiry activity. Students will use familiar objects to predict and test the properties of sink and float. Background information is offered to teachers to assist them with this activity. This lesson begins with an engaging…

This interdisciplinary activity promotes science, technology, and language arts and is well suited for upper elementary grade students. In the activity, students' research about a teacher-assigned weather phenomenon facilitates their study of the weather. When they have completed their research, students word process a paper summarizing their…

Although the teaching of photosynthesis occurs yearly in elementary classrooms, one thing that makes it challenging is the inclusion of English language learners (ELLs). This article presents several activities for teaching and assessing of photosynthesis in a third grade classroom. The activities incorporate the photosynthesis content, teaching…

The No Child Left Behind Act (2001) placed pressure on elementary teachers to raise standardized test scores in reading and mathematics. Unfortunately, the focus on reading and math has led to reduced time for science instruction. Mandatory standardized testing in science began in elementary schools across the United States in 2007. Instructing…

This article presents an activity in which students pool their knowledge and creativity to make a song presenting what they have learned in a unit on the rock cycle. This highly motivating, integrated performance assessment incorporates multiple intelligences, reinforces learning, and is a student favorite in the elementary and middle grades.