Students in the intermediate grades love to talk--but not necessarily about making sense of what they are learning. How do teachers design classrooms that cultivate productive discourse? How do they get out of the way and teach children to learn? First, let's give them something to talk about. Second, teachers need to teach them how to engage in…

Dramatic inquiry is a teaching approach where students explore science through differentiated learning experiences, so that students can engage in learning in multiple ways (e.g., through gesture, song, written and spoken language). It positions students as competent problem solvers and draws upon students' strengths through collaborative learning…

In this article, Mann and Pynes describe a five-day mini-project-based learning (PBL) unit about organisms and their environments that addresses the "Next Generation Science Standards" (3-LS4-3). Third-grade students were asked how they could determine which animals live in their neighborhoods. In teacher-determined collaborative groups,…

As an instructional framework, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can guide science teachers to purposefully apply evidence-based instructional practices to increase engagement and learning of students with disabilities (Israel, Ribuffo, and Smith 2014; Marino et al. 2014; Ok et al. 2016). This article describes how to use the Universal Design…

The happy chatter and clatter of students bounce off the lunchroom walls at a Northside Elementary School in Sandpoint, Idaho as children eagerly gobble their food and slurp their drinks. Boys and girls with crinkled brown bag lunches filled with disposable products sit next to students with trays heaped with hot lunch and all manner of synthetic…

Engaging children in authentic investigation opens the doors for them to gain deep conceptual understanding in science. As students engage in investigation, they experience the practices employed by scientists and engineers, as highlighted in the Next Generation Science Standards (Achieve Inc. 2013). They also begin to understand the nature of…

A kindergarten class learns about inventions, inventors, and how to be an inventor. Engaging students in learning about pencil sharpeners led to researching and developing a lesson plan designed so students could learn how inventions are solutions to problems. Through identifying, researching, and brainstorming new inventions, the students…

Many times students are given the task of keeping a science notebook, but do not fully understand the process or purpose of this endeavour. Science notebooks contain not only data but also questions, predictions, observations, and reflections from their experiences in science. To maximize the effectiveness of the science notebook, teachers must…

This article describes the steps incorporated to teach an engineering design process in a fifth-grade science classroom. The engineering design-based activity was an existing scientific inquiry activity using UV light--detecting beads and purposefully creating a series of engineering design-based challenges around the investigation. The…

"We really need to get the government involved," said one student, holding his graph up to USDA scientist Steve Seefeldt. Dr. Steve studies methods to control "invasive" plants, plants that have been introduced to an area by humans and have potential to spread rapidly and negatively affect ecosystems. The first grader and his…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

Students are using the tools of scientists when keeping a science notebook. They are also keeping track of their thinking and the changes to their original ideas. To bring students' existing ideas out for examination, the author implemented a "quick-write," which entails asking an open-ended question and having the students write all they know in…

How can you connect teachers in two different school districts, separated by more than 50 miles, on a weekly basis to provide ongoing professional development (PD)? The answer: videoconferencing. In this article, the authors describe their use of videoconferencing technology to support ongoing PD both within and across two school districts.…

Students love a mystery. So what do America's most majestic bird, a bag of habitat clues, and a soft-shelled egg have in common? This easy-to-do inquiry activity engages students as they connect clues to problem-solve how the bald eagle reached the brink of extinction in the 1960s in the lower 48 states. It was designed to give students an…

As argumentation is weaved into classroom lessons, students know what to ask, how to analyze the given information before forming a conclusion, and are able to support their reasoning with solid evidence. They will hold firm to their conclusions until proven wrong. Whether it's a discussion about whether air is matter or how speed and friction are…