The activities presented in this paper, which are addressed to elementary school, are focused on the pioneering work of the Portuguese King Carlos I in oceanography and involve the exploration of the exhibits belonging to two different science museums, the Aquarium Vasco da Gama and the Maritime Museum. Students were asked to study fish…

This guided inquiry activity was developed to help students "view" an equilibrium system from the particulate level and make connections to their macroscopic observations. Part I helps students observe a physical equilibrium system in which water is transferred between two larger containers. In Part II, students examine what happens to a chemical…

During the fall semester of 2010, mechanical engineering students from Edison State Community College and Wright State University shared their skills and knowledge with students from the Upper Valley JVS (UVJVS) pre-engineering technology program in a highly motivating robotics activity. The activity culminated in 47 teams from regional high…

The term "restriction endonuclease mapping" covers a number of related techniques used to identify specific restriction enzyme recognition sites on small DNA molecules. A method for restriction endonuclease mapping of a 1,000-basepair (bp)-long DNA molecule is described in the fictitious experiment of this test. The most important fact needed to…

What bird species live in your area? Which migrate and which stay year-round? How do bird populations change over time? Citizen science provides the essential tools to address these questions and more. With ever-growing databases such as Project FeederWatch and eBird, students can connect with people around the world as they make observations,…

Following on from taking part in the successful "Getting Practical: improving practical work in science across the primary-secondary transition" CPD project, Uplands Community College with Wadhurst and Ticehurst Primary Schools in East Sussex worked together on developing the CPD--focusing on effective practical work across the…

With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), ITEEA members will contribute to the development of a hybrid professional development program designed to facilitate the scale-up of an innovative underwater robotics curriculum. WaterBotics[TM] is an underwater robotics curriculum that targets students in middle and high school classrooms…

This open-ended practical series titled "Molecular Identification of Unknown Food Bacteria" which extended over a 6-week period was designed with the aims of giving students an opportunity to gain an understanding of naturally occurring food bacteria and skills in contemporary molecular methods using real food samples. The students first isolated…

Human rhinovirus (HRV) is one of the most common human respiratory pathogens and is responsible for the majority of upper respiratory illnesses. Recently, a phylogeny was constructed from all known American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) HRV sequences. From this study, three HRV classifications (HRVA, HRVB, and HRVC) were determined and techniques…

Building a human-powered flying craft can be much more complicated than one would first imagine. There are no "premade" plans available for this type of craft. In addition, the crafts needed to be built with some "style," or in other words, they should represent something other than a flying machine. The concept of launching a…

As a yearlong exploration of air quality and its relation to respiratory health, the "Air Toxics Under the Big Sky" program offers opportunities for students to learn and apply science process skills through self-designed inquiry-based research projects conducted within their communities. The program follows a systematic scope and sequence…

Student researchers in physiology courses often interact with human subjects in classroom research but may be unfamiliar with the professional ethics of experimenter-subject interactions. This communication describes experiences related to an interactive video used in exercise science and general biology courses to help students become aware of,…

In this article, the author suggests a classroom challenge that will engage students in designing a house on the hill. He suggests teachers ask a local builder to come to the school to discuss the kinds of concerns that must be dealt with when building homes in cold environments. The use of dioramas and cardboard scale models would be very useful…

We describe an investigative laboratory module designed to give college undergraduates strong practical and theoretical experience with recombinant DNA methods within 3 weeks. After deducing restriction enzyme maps for two different plasmids, students ligate the plasmids together in the same reaction, transform "E. coli" with this mixture of…

As the United States strives to achieve energy independence, students need to be literate about energy and environmental issues. In this article, the authors present a lesson about the nation's electricity resources that is part 1 of a free, comprehensive unit on coal and energy that is available online (http://tinyurl.com/coalenergyunit). The…