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…

One author shares the unique opportunity to be immersed in the science of "sound at work" through participation in NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Teacher at Sea Program. A third- through fifth-grade learning outcome within the Nature of Science section of the "Next Generation Science Standards"…

Within the field of science education, there remains little agreement as to the definition and characteristics of classroom inquiry. The emerging emphasis on scientific practices in science education reform discourse is underpinned by a need to better articulate the constituent elements of inquiry-based science. While a small number of…

The new standards for K-12 science education in the United States call for science teachers to integrate engineering concepts and practices within their science teaching in order to improve student learning. To accomplish this, teachers need appropriate instructional materials as well as the knowledge and skills to effectively use them. This mixed…

The Conceptually Oriented Program in Elementary Science (COPES) Test of Science Concepts was administered to all children in a grade four and a grade six class after completion of a unit from the COPES materials. A semi-standardized interview schedule was used to interview selected pupils. Tapes of these interviews were rated independently by…

This sourcebook provides direction for the elementary school teacher in working with Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) materials. It focuses on providing insight into the underlying rationale for these materials and on providing suggestions for the implementation of the program in the classroom. Part One provides a brief overview of the…

This Teacher's Guide is designed for use with the Science Curriculum Improvement Study's (SCIS) unit Population. Populations is the third of a six-unit sequence of SCIS's Life Science Program for grades K-6. The Populations guide consists of activity outlines along with suggestions for guiding children's observation and manipulations of living…

This teacher's handbook provides information about the philosophy, rationale, and teaching strategies of the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) program, as well as information about the SCIS physical and life science sequences to provide teachers with an understanding of the program's overall content and structure. Much of the material in…

Discusses the ELEMENTARY SCIENCE program for grades K-6, describing concepts that the program emphasizes and materials used for each grade level. (CS)

Reported is a study to evaluate the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) program at the fourth-grade level, in particular the unit, "Relativity." To avoid the problems of a written test, an alternative test involving examples of relative position and motion was developed. This 30-item planetarium test was used as a pretest and…

The interrelation of science content and process is discussed in terms of analytic and systemic concepts. Analytic concepts identify the type or form of systemic concepts found in particular disciplines. In terms of analytic concepts, science processes such as observation, deduction, and prediction can be identified and defined as operations…

Provided are the printed instructional materials for the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS) Unit Position and Motion. This unit is a continuation of the part of the teaching program centering on space-time relations. The principle new idea introduced in this unit is that of the reference frame, a systematic selection of reference objects…