Project-based learning (PBL) is centred on a challenging, yet meaningful, driving question and culminates in a product that students create or do to showcase their learning to a public audience. Other essential elements of a true PBL experience include: sustained inquiry, authentic tasks, opportunities for students to make decisions about their…

A "Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") are intended for all students, hence "all standards, all students" (NGSS Lead States 2013). To make this vision a reality, the "NGSS" highlight three key instructional shifts: (1) explain phenomena or design solutions…

This article describes an 8-10 week problem-based learning unit for fifth graders that introduced them to the facts underlying global climate change. This unit was inspired by the lack of awareness in our national population around this clear threat to our global ecosystem and takes on this goal: to provide students (our future advocates and…

The purpose of this study was to examine how the use of didactic games in teaching science affects the learning environment, achievement, and motivation among primary school students. The research population consisted of 188 5th grade students from two primary schools. This group was divided into an experimental group and a control group. The…

Project-based learning (PBL) is a long-standing curricular model that has been argued to support equity-based goals in science learning. Yet, little is known about how PBL can be implemented effectively and equitably in the context of virtual instruction. This comparative case study follows two elementary science teachers as they transition to…

This study explored the effect of arts integration into science during an instructional unit on force and motion and one addressing natural weather disasters. Seventy-eight elementary students in four classrooms (grade 5, grade 4, and two at grade 3) participated in the study. This study assessed content retention, student-made products…

Engaging students in elementary science is often done within the confines of the classroom. Citizen science projects, however, bring students, families, teachers, and communities together to help scientists with their research. Students become active participants in real research, use their three-dimensional understanding of science, and…

With the rapid progress of technology, the popularity of tablet computers and the development of e-book applications have brought the use of e-books as a learning tool under the spotlight. In the meantime, the aim of school education lies not only in providing students with knowledge but also in encouraging them to construct knowledge actively.…

In this article, Sandra Wentworth invites science teachers to ask a group of students to write the names of three famous scientists on a piece of paper within one minute. Chances are that most students will mention Einstein and be unable to name another scientist, specifically a woman, except for an occasional Marie Curie response. This article…

It was a hot summer day. Naomi and her cousin walked into the community center. She said, "Miss Jones, our moms need to work. They told us to come here and stay for couple hours." This is a common occurrence in communities with low socioeconomic status during the summertime; parents need to go to work, but children are on summer break.…

This article describes the steps incorporated to teach an engineering design process in a fifth-grade science classroom. The engineering design-based activity was an existing scientific inquiry activity using UV light--detecting beads and purposefully creating a series of engineering design-based challenges around the investigation. The…

A classroom discussion started after a student noticed three days of accumulated trash in the wastebasket and exclaimed, "Wow, look at the trash! If it keeps piling up like this, it will soon be everywhere!" His statement motivated the authors' class to research about the trash, or solid waste, we create and what can we do about it.…

Hopscotch, basketball, or hide-and-seek? Children have many choices at recess, and while making these choices they must consider and make trade-offs. The way they make these decisions is not that different from the thought processes engineers use when making design trade-offs. Engineers have to make trade-offs because a design that meets all…

The messages students receive through popular media such as movies, television, the internet, and music videos have a powerful influence and can shape their thinking. A national survey of media use by 8- to 18-year-olds found the average adolescent spends over seven and a half hours daily with entertainment media (KFF 2010). Rather than viewing…

Boulder Creek runs literally in the backyard of Donnelly Elementary School and happens to be on the EPA list of impaired water bodies. Therefore, a unique opportunity for problem solving opened the door to an exciting chance for students to become scientists, while also becoming active in their community. With the help of the Idaho Department of…