This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. In this month's issue an upper elementary Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) challenge brings an engineer into the classroom while emphasizing cooperation, communication, and creativity. STEM activities come in various shapes and sizes. Some are quite involved…

Jennifer Miller is a special education preschool teacher at Grant Elementary School in Muscatine, Iowa. In this article, she describes how she created and implemented a learning center with three-to-five-year-old students in an integrated morning class (nine students; four on IEPs) and an integrated afternoon class (10 students; four on IEPs) to…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue shares information about a unit promoting scientific literacy and the engineering design process. The integration of engineering with scientific practices in K-12 education can promote creativity, hands-on learning, and an improvement in students'…

Discusses a child-centered science project in which first-grade students integrate design drawing, construction, mathematics, and language arts to solve engineering problems related to constructing robots. Describes the construction of the robots, follow-up activities, and educational research that supports this approach to teaching. (10…

Describes a contest where sixth-grade students observe the results of a week of planning, folding, testing, and comparing their best paper frog designs and hopping techniques. This integrated unit helps children unleash their imaginations and develop problem-solving skills. (PR)

Describes a contemporary adaptation of the "Footprint Puzzle," whigh was first developed in the 1960s for the Earth Science Curriculum Project. Students sequentially look at three frames of track drawings. For each frame, students first list observations and then make inferences about the observations. (PR)