This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue discusses using the 5E learning cycle to create coherent storylines. The 5E learning cycle provides an important framework to help teachers organize activities. To realize the full potential of the 5E framework for student learning, lessons must also…

A distinguishing feature of all the formative assessment probes in the "Uncovering Student Ideas" series is that each probe has two parts: (1) a selected answer choice that usually mirrors the research on commonly held ideas students have about concepts or phenomena; and (2) an explanation that supports their answer choice. It is this…

With the world population recently surpassing seven billion people, it is critical for students to consider how such growth can lead to limited resources. Both the idea of diminishing resources and the magnitude of enormous numbers can be difficult for children (and many adults) to fully comprehend. For this particular lesson, the authors chose to…

How can a teacher simultaneously teach science concepts through inquiry while helping students learn about the nature of science? After pondering this question in their own teaching, the authors developed a 5E learning cycle lesson (Bybee et al. 2006) that concurrently embeds opportunities for fourth-grade students to (a) learn a science concept,…

In sixth grade, students understand that Earth gets visible light from the Sun, but students may also believe the Earth gets heat from the Sun. This last part is incorrect because the Sun is too far from the Earth to heat it directly. So, how does the Sun heat the Earth? When light strikes an object, it can be reflected or absorbed. Absorbed light…

Collecting "bugs" is an authentic, engaging approach for students to learn about various arthropods and their habitat. Students are able to construct knowledge from field notes involving direct observation, drawing, and classification of these animals. This activity has continuously provided successful measurable content outcomes in which students…

Describes exploratory activities for a young child seeking to become acquainted with the world in which he lives. (EB)

Describes a unit on the physical properties of minerals. The unit, based on the learning-cycle approach, encourages students to move from single to more complex reasoning patterns. Concepts fostered are orderlines, quantification, and replication. (JN)

Describes how an elementary teacher can incorporate science into the classroom even if he/she feels unsure in the realm of science. Emphasis is on using processes of science. (SA)

Opportunities for science learnings at a woodworking bench are listed and described. Scientific inquiry is promoted through free experimentation; opportunities to grasp spatial and mathematical understanding are two examples presented. Helpful information related to use of this instructional procedure is included. (Author/EB)

Discusses inquiry and discovery methods in elementary school science education; emphasizes the importance of teachers knowing whether they are using the inquiry approach and to what extent. Presents a chart listing the steps involved in problem solving, indicating whether a step is teacher- or student-controlled. (BC)

Suggestions are given relating to having plants and animals in the classroom to stimulate development of the understanding of the concept of being alive, a concept not really understood by children under age nine. The research reviewed promotes firsthand experiences to help form concepts of living and nonliving, of identity and causality. (EB)

Some ways in which exploratory activities of the preschool child involve science concepts are described. The role of adults knowledgeable about both science and child development is stressed. Emphasis is placed on hands-on experiences. (EB)

Hands-on experiences are encouraged and some examples given to promote discovery learning for the very young. (EB)

Provides an explanation of guided inquiry. Questioning techniques, time involved, and inferences drawn from guided inquiry are discussed with applications for the elementary science classroom. (DS)