By bringing everyday phenomena into the classroom, teachers can more readily engage students in authentic scientific inquiry. When working with young children, the best phenomena are those that students can directly experience and investigate. Meaningful phenomena can be identified by watching children at play, listening to the conversations they…

There is a movement afoot in the nation--one that goes against the trend toward more testing, less recess, and too many standards to fit into the school day. This movement does not ignore standards; rather, it weaves the standards with the places and meanings that are ever-present outside of the classrooms. Place-based education connects students…

A lesson plan is provided for a formative assessment probe entitled "Is It a Rock?" This probe is designed for teaching elementary school students about rocks through the use of a formative assessment classroom technique (FACT) known as the group Frayer Model. FACT activates students' thinking about a concept and can be used to…

From children's viewpoints, what they experience in the world is what the world is like--for everyone. "What do others experience with their senses when they are in the same situation?" is a question that young children can explore by collecting data as they use a "feely box," or take a "sensory walk." There are many ways to focus the children's…

A notebook is perhaps the single most important piece of equipment a naturalist takes into the field. But notebooks are not only for use by field scientists: They are also excellent tools for helping students record observations outdoors, develop communication skills, and mirror the work of real scientists. They may contain observations and…

In this article, the author shares her experience in successfully teaching elementary students how to create a tornado using a guided-inquiry approach. The guided-inquiry approach is a form of teaching in which the teacher poses the question, but lets the students decide how to answer the question. Students were so excited about the process they…

Presents three lesson scenarios using inquiry/discovery and lecture/discussion methods and discusses the specific instructional strategies that each employs. The first two scenarios demonstrate how these strategies and their supporting tools and activities are applied in a single content area while the third one shows how inquiry/discovery…

Discusses the incompatibility of fast-paced questioning techniques and inquiry-oriented science instruction. Encourages increasing the time allowed for students to construct responses to teacher questions, and utilizing a system of rewards and punishments that supports students working out their own ideas with experiments. (DDR)

Presents an argument for inquiry-based activities and defines science as talking to the material world. Discusses the notion that a hands-on activity is an inquiry-based activity only if a dialog with the material world takes place. (DDR)

In describing the professional development journey of science teachers, the National Science Standards (NRC 1996) provides a useful cartography. Inquiry, those standards suggest, is the central strategy for the teaching of science. By illustrating the parallels between inquiry as a form of scientific investigation and inquiry as a classroom…

Discusses inquiry and discovery methods in elementary school science education; emphasizes the importance of teachers knowing whether they are using the inquiry approach and to what extent. Presents a chart listing the steps involved in problem solving, indicating whether a step is teacher- or student-controlled. (BC)

Describes some of the advantages of an elementary science activity in which students discover that blowing through a straw into a bromthymol blue solution changes the color to yellow. Directions are provided for preparing the bromthymol blue solution. (JR)

A lot of good elementary science involves studying solids, liquids, and gases, and some inquiry-based activities that are easy to set up and do. In this article, the author presents activities pertaining to simple phase change. Using water as the example, these activities introduce upper-grade students to the idea of the arrangement of molecules…

The value of involving children in experiencing environmental phenomena and observing living organisms is advocated. Suggestions are presented for offering a richer set of science experiences for children. (SA)

Presents activities that utilize balloons to encourage students to explore questions related to scientific concepts. Concepts explored include light, heat, charged ions, polarization, and the sense of smell. (MDH)