Elementary science education calls on teachers to facilitate student learning of the content of science while they engage in the work of scientists. Additionally, recent national and state standards incorporate the practices of engineering into science education throughout grades K-12. However, many practicing teachers receive little to no…

The need for scientifically literate citizens is an urgent priority, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. Despite the importance of scientific literacy, elementary schools across the nation have not made science instruction a priority in their school day. On average, elementary students spend 40% less instructional time in science…

In her current role as an elementary science methods instructor at a small midwestern university, Dena Harshbarger wanted to help teachers restructure traditional science fairs into "science conventions" to more accurately reflect how scientists share their findings within a scientific community (Barth 2008). Traditional science fairs…

This study applied four frameworks from academic literature in the areas of leadership, change process, 21st-century skills, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) to understand the various factors providing for success and participation of a school in the national science fair initiative (Programa…

These teacher-tested ideas will guide students in creating true inquiry-based projects. Two of the ideas, the Topic Selection Wizard and Science Project Timeline, are appropriate for all science fair programs, even new ones. For existing programs, the Black Box of Project Improvement and After-School Project Clinic improve project quality and…

This book provides information to help create a themed science fair for childen in grades 4-6. Illustrated instructions and checklists for each of the 100 plus experiments are provided, plus ideas for teachers and students to vary experiments for additional scientific discovery. The experiments are written in age-appropriate language so that…

Conference attendees arrive at the registration desk at 9:00 a.m. sharp, eager to start their day. While standing in line, they talk excitedly about the sessions they've chosen to see, the original investigation they'll be presenting, off-site field trips for which they've registered, and the businesses scheduled to have booths in the Exhibitor's…

By changing the venue from festival to a required academic exposition, the traditional science fair was transformed into a "Science Expo" wherein students were guided away from cookbook experiments toward developing a question about their environment into a testable and measurable experiment. The revamped "Science Expo" became a night for students…

Brains Rule! Neuroscience Expositions, funded through a National Institute on Drug Abuse Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award, has developed a successful model for informal neuroscience education. Each Exposition is a "reverse science fair" in which neuroscientists present short neuroscience teaching modules to students. This…

Students are usually quick to draw conclusions about their surroundings. Their generalizations, however, are often based on a single experience or even a story recounted by a friend. An individual's ability to reason inductively improves as he gains more experience in the world. The ability to draw broad conclusions also improves with an…