The "Next Generation Science Standards" call for engaging students in practices that scientists and engineers use (NGSS Lead States 2013), but it's also important to explicitly teach thinking approaches that scientists and engineers use. One way to help children think and act like scientists and engineers is to engage them with…

Formative assessments serve to engage students in active sense-making, making them critical tools for both teachers and students. Though formative assessments may be an informal mode of assessing, they are one of the most important, especially when teaching science. As a subject, teaching science does not have the same kind of beginning-middle-end…

Scientists' writing includes organized data, calculations, sketches and models, inventories and lists, timelines, detailed descriptions, locations, conditions, actions, schedules, information about variables, goals, hypotheses, research, notes, summaries of experiments, and reports to others (Fulton and Campbell 2014). By using scaffolded science…

As every elementary teacher knows, an elementary classroom is a busy place. While literacy and mathematics command the majority of hours of the school day, many schools are left with an inadequate amount of time to devote to science. In an urban district, students in grades K-5 receive a mere 30 minutes a day for science and social studies. There…

Art and science help students investigate light energy and practice fair testing. With the goal of finding a way to save "Beady Kid" from invisible rays, students used science practices to investigate the transfer of light energy from the Sun. During this art-integrated science lesson presented in this article, upper elementary (grades…

To discover how misconceptions occur and how teachers deal with them when they occur, fifth-grade students (N=229) and teachers (N=14) were observed during units on light and photosynthesis. Results suggest that curriculum developers consider childrens' misunderstandings of phenomena and design materials explicitly contrasting these…

Presents activities that utilize balloons to encourage students to explore questions related to scientific concepts. Concepts explored include light, heat, charged ions, polarization, and the sense of smell. (MDH)

Describes an activity in which young children explore the concepts of light by predicting the shape of shadows. Different configurations of light sources are used and objects are held in different positions. Sample questions to be asked of the children before, during, and after the activities are included. (TW)

Illustrates the concept of phototropism and the development of root systems using a classroom-constructed clinostat. Provides instructions to construct the clinostat and tips to promote plant growth. (MDH)