Although science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives have received increased attention in recent years (Bybee 2011), the focus is often on science and mathematics (Thornburg 2009). Yet, engineering has been referred to as "the glue that holds the other STEM subjects together" (Thornburg 2009). With the release of…

As well-developed as they may be, standards are not curriculum. It is the job of teachers and curriculum teams to use the Standards as the basis for designing the specific pathway for teaching and learning. In this article, the authors explore the use of Understanding by Design (UbD), a widely-used curriculum development framework, for honoring…

Makerspaces are collaborative workplaces equipped with a variety of high- and low-tech tools and materials that individuals can use to create physical and digital products. In this article the authors take the perspective that integrating a makerspace into a school is a proactive, thoughtful, and time-consuming process. To help meaningfully…

The typical elementary classroom hosts a range of diverse students. Not only do students bring varying academic readiness levels, background experiences, interests, personalities, and learning preferences to the classroom, but some students also have physical disabilities that must be considered when designing science instruction. The formerly…

K-12 teachers of science have been digging into the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") (NGSS Lead States 2013) to begin creating plans and processes for translating them for classroom instruction. As teachers learn about the NGSS, they have asked about the general structure of the standards document and how to read…

In this article, the authors provide an overview of engineering and the engineering design process, and describe the steps they took to develop a fifth grade-level, standards-based engineering design task titled "Getting the Dirt on Decomposition." Their main goal was to focus more on modeling the discrete steps they took to create and…

Science notebooks are an individual portfolio of a child's development and comprehension over the course of each unit as well as the entire year. Using notebooks reflectively in inquiry learning enables students to review their own ideas about a topic while creating opportunities for teachers to make formative assessments. Teacher reviews of…

This article describes how a teacher integrates science observations into the writing center. At the observation station, students explore new items with a science theme and use their notes and questions for class writings every day. Students are exposed to a variety of different topics and motivated to write in different styles all while…

Making time for science is a genuine complaint among classroom teachers. As a former fifth-grade teacher and district curriculum coordinator, the author's moment of truth came one morning while juggling classroom housekeeping tasks. Her students were set to work on their "bell work," which consisted of some type of assignment that required little…

Formative assessment probes are used not only to uncover the ideas students bring to their learning, they can also be used to reveal teachers' common misconceptions. Consider a process widely used in inquiry science--developing hypotheses. In this article, the author features the probe "Is It a Hypothesis?", which serves as an example of how…

"Why would a deer print be in the city?" wondered a student. She had noticed the track near a grocery store that morning with her mother. She was familiar with deer and had noticed their prints on a trip to a local museum; however, she had never seen a deer in the city before this experience. As she retold the story to her classmates, her question…

This article discusses how to promote oral language development through science. The authors describe how they incorporate academic "talk strategies" into science lessons in a nonintrusive and meaningful manner. These talk strategies are adapted from the "Avenues" (2007) curriculum for English learners (ELs), which gives examples of cooperative…

Providing opportunities for students to grapple with collecting and organizing data, struggle with how to represent and communicate ideas emerging from the data, and consider the alignment of these ideas with the science content being learned is reflective of authentic inquiry and supports the development of scientific understanding. The…

Trade books can be used in all phases of the learning cycle to support effective teaching and learning. Romance and Vitale (1992) found that texts and other nonfiction science books can be effective tools for teaching reading, as the science activities give learners a purpose for their reading. In this article, the authors share ways to…