This article describes a project that integrates English Language Arts (ELA) and coding into environmental science. For this project, students researched science content about human impact on the environment, communicated their findings through a traditionally formatted narrative story, and then used a coding program called Scratch to create an…

Are you interested in using argument-driven inquiry (ADI) for elementary instruction but just aren't sure how to do it? You aren't alone. "Argument-Driven Inquiry in Third-Grade Science" will provide you with both the information and instructional materials you need to start using this method right away. The book is a one-stop source of…

Physical World is a one-semester course designed for elementary education majors, that integrates earth science, astronomy, and physics. The course is part of a four-course set that explores science concepts, processes, and skills, along with the nature of scientific practice, that are included in state and national standards for elementary school…

An instructional unit incorporating some of the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) hydrology protocols provides an excellent way to connect academic learning, scientific inquiry, multiple subjects, and the values required for concerned citizenship in a democracy. This article describes the GLOBE hydrology protocols…

Presented is a unit composed of activities for teaching weather. Topics include cloud types and formation, simple weather instruments, and the weather station. Illustrations include a weather chart and instruments. A bibliography is given. (MA)

Presents activities that allow students to think about the Earth in a contextual manner and become familiar with constructive and destructive processes as they relate to sand - its origins, cyclical processes, and yielding of new products. Explores the bigger idea with a developmentally appropriate study of water, rocks, sand, physical phenomena,…

Rock Cycle is one of the units of a K-6 unified science curriculum program. The unit consists of four organizing sub-themes: (1) chemistry (introducing the topics of matter, elements, compounds, and chemical bonding); (2) characteristics (presenting hands-on activities with rocks and minerals); (3) minerals (emphasizing the aesthetic and economic…

Presented are lessons which bridge the gap between concrete and abstract ideas by introducing students to the valuable idea of scale as it relates to space science. Included are information and activities on relative size, position, and orbital patterns of planets using mathematics to construct models. (RT)

The purpose of this book is to suggest an alternative approach to the teaching of elementary science in light of more contemporary definitions of both reading and science. This method utilizes well-selected and conceptually and factually correct works of narrative children's literature. Although the method is most easily applied with picture books…

Originally designed for gifted students, these reproducible geology units emphasize the use of higher order thinking skills and are appropriate for use in any classroom. Interdisciplinary in content, the units provide a broad view of geology. Included are two complete units, one created for the upper elementary gifted student and the other for the…

Originally designed for gifted students, these reproducible paleontology units emphasize the use of higher order thinking skills and are appropriate for use in any classroom. Interdisciplinary in content, the units provide a broad view of paleontology. Included are two complete units, one created for the upper elementary gifted student and the…

Originally designed for gifted students, these reproducible volcanology units emphasize the use of higher order thinking skills and are appropriate for use in any classroom. Interdisciplinary in content, the units provide a broad view of volcanology. Included are two complete units, one created for the upper elementary gifted student and the other…

Describes Project COLD (Climate, Ocean, Land, Discovery) a scientific study of the Polar Regions, a collection of 35 modules used within the framework of existing subjects: oceanography, biology, geology, meterology, geography, social science. Includes a partial list of topics and one activity (geodesic dome) from a module. (Author/SK)

Plate Tectonics Cycle is one of the units of a K-6 unified science curriculum program. The unit consists of four organizing sub-themes: (1) volcanoes (covering formation, distribution, and major volcanic groups); (2) earthquakes (with investigations on wave movements, seismograms and sub-suface earth currents); (3) plate tectonics (providing maps…

Universe Cycle is one of the units of a K-6 unified science curriculum program. The unit consists of four organizing sub-themes: (1) earth (providing activities on the physical shape of the earth and landform formations; (2) geography (emphasizing map reading skills); (3) universe (exploring the components, processes and future projects for the…