The natural sciences, by their very nature, are based on the exploration of the physical world, and digital mobile devices are considered appropriate to support this exploration (Suárez et al., 2018) since they offer the tools that make this investigation more accessible but also ubiquitous (Crompton et al., 2017). Inquiry-based learning is a…

Technology and globalization in education have dramatically changed the landscape for teachers. New roles for teachers include resource providers, content specialists, learning facilitators, and lifelong learners. This is especially true in the ever-changing fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Therefore, colleges…

"Learning by doing" involves completing a practice activity through the method of inquiry. This study combined the predict-observe-explain (POE) inquiry method and hands-on doing processes to develop a cycle-mode POED (predict-observe-explain-do) model with an e-learning system to help students complete a practice activity using…

Scientific laboratories are among the most challenging course components to integrate into online instruction. Available technology restricts the design and nature of experiments, and it can be hard to replicate the collaborative lab environment where frequent and immediate instructor feedback is the norm. Here we report on technological and…

Inquiry-based learning can be an effective approach when students are provided with sufficient guidance. However, there is an ongoing debate among practitioners about the nature, type, and level of such guidance. This study investigated the effects on middle school students' (N = 116) conceptual knowledge and inquiry skills acquisition of…

Investigating real-world phenomena in a playful, exploratory setting is a natural process for young children. Teachers can capitalize on children's curiosity to foster their understanding of science ideas and their engagement in science practices, such as predicting, experimenting, observing, comparing, and contrasting. Force and motion…

A highly simplified variation on the do-it-yourself spectrophotometer using a smartphone's light sensor as a detector and an app to calculate and display absorbance values was constructed and tested. This simple version requires no need for electronic components or postmeasurement spectral analysis. Calibration graphs constructed from two…

In this article, we examine whether an inquiry-based, hands-on physics lab can be delivered effectively as a distance lab. In science and engineering, hands-on distance labs are rare and open-ended project labs in physics have not been reported in the literature. Our introductory physics lab at a large Canadian research university features…

This article presents a lesson that was designed to explore the scientific descriptions of matter through both the intensive and extensive properties that students successfully added to their vocabulary. Students' examples demonstrated that there were places where their reasoning about matter faltered as related to how the material is the same…

Note taking applications for tablet devices offer the potential for meaningful integration of science and technology through the use of digital notebooks. This case study examined one pre-service teacher candidate's thoughts on using a digital notebook during a STEM methods course and how she transferred this knowledge and practice to a summer…

In this study, two groups of 11th grade chemistry students (n = 210) performed a sequence of hands-on and virtual laboratories that were progressively more inquiry-based. One-half of the students did the laboratory sequence with the addition of a teacher-led discussion connecting student data to student-generated visual representations of…

"Soil, Seeds, and the Pumpkin Patch!" is an integrated unit designed to provide elementary school teachers with ideas for using hands-on activities, fostering inquiry and valuable discussion, and using technology as a learning tool. This unit integrates science with language arts, mathematics, literature, and technology. During this unit, students…

This paper takes a multimodal approach to analysing embodied interaction and discourses of scientific investigation using an interactive tangible tabletop. It argues that embodied forms of interaction are central to science inquiry. More specifically, the paper examines the role of hand actions in the development of descriptions and explanations…

Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and SRI International conducted an independent study of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) KIDS "Play & Learn Science" app, which includes in-app and direct hands-on science explorations for children ages 3 to 6 and their parents. This study explored the impact of the PBS KIDS "Play…

Using an ALTA II reflectance spectrometer, the USGS digital spectral library, graphs of planetary spectra, and a few mineral hand samples, one can teach how light can be used to study planets and moons. The author created the hands-on, inquiry-based activity for an undergraduate planetary science course consisting of freshman to senior level…