School-based citizen science (SBCS) provides opportunities for teachers to purposefully integrate mathematics and science content and practices throughout the year. With SBCS projects, students have countless opportunities to apply their mathematics skills within the context of science data collection and sense making. This article details how a…

Global climate change and its effects are real and immediate. Students must gain an understanding of climate science so they can participate in public debate about how to reduce the emission of heat-trapping gases and how their communities can mitigate the effects of global warming. In this activity, students model these effects on Earth's oceans…

Mobile device accelerometers are a simple and easy way for students to collect accurate and detailed data on an amusement park ride. The resulting data can be graphed to assist in the creation of force diagrams to help students explain their physical sensations while on the ride. This type of activity can help students overcome some of the…

In this article, the authors describe an investigative activity in which their eighth-grade students reconstructed past environmental change in the New England area using data from lake varves in central Vermont to examine evidence of climate change. The investigation uses an authentic paleoclimate record (Ridge 2011) from the Pleistocene epoch,…

We apply a "tutorial design process", which has proven to be successful for a number of physics topics, to design curricular materials or "tutorials" aimed at improving student understanding of important concepts in a university-level introductory materials science and engineering course. The process involves the identification…

Presents a study that introduces data logging using portable computers as part of an investigative approach to science. Working with control and experimental classes of 14- and 16-year-olds, results suggest that data logging can have an impact on graphing skills at age 14 which is not necessarily repeatable at age 16. (Author/AIM)

Graphs and charts are discussed in terms of levels of applications and skills necessary for effective use. Five activities, most appropriate for upper-elementary or junior high students, are suggested. (MK)

Describes a hands-on lesson in magnetism designed to be used with upper elementary grade students. Emphasizes structured experiences which involve the student in measuring, data collecting, graphing, and extrapolating information. (TW)

Presents a lesson plan detailing an interdisciplinary mathematics/science activity in which students take a home survey of light bulbs and then design an energy-saving lighting system for a home. Contains reproducible student worksheets. (MKR)

Describes an activity for determining how long and when a tree lived by comparing its ring sizes with local precipitation records. Suggests benefits for this type of dendrochronology activity. (TW)

Data loggers use sensors to collect environmental data that can be graphed instantly via computer software. A study used four groups of British elementary students to determine the educational benefits of data logging in field situations. Results indicate that data loggers excited the pupils and saved them time recording temperature readings. That…

Presents an experiment that measures the acceleration and velocity of a model rocket. Lift-off information is transmitted to a computer that creates a graph of the velocity. Discusses the analysis of the computer-generated data and differences between calculated and experimental velocity and acceleration of several rocket types. (MDH)