Understanding the nature of scientific inquiry is considered a critical component of scientific literacy [Michaels, S., Shouse, A. W., & Schweingruber, H. A. (2008). "Ready, set, science!: Putting research to work in K-8 classrooms." National Academies Press]. What do elementary students already know about scientific inquiry? Using…

Reconceptualized Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science (RFN) explains science as a cognitive, epistemic, and social institutional system. The aim of this study is to examine the inclusion of Nature of Science (NOS) in the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Turkish middle school science textbooks. The "content," "activity,"…

Promoting a functional scientific literacy entails preparing people to effectively engage and make decisions regarding real-world socioscientfic issues (SSI) through consideration of the relevant products and processes of science, as well as social, cultural, environmental, and ethical factors. Students can develop a functional scientific literacy…

The worldwide scientific community has been promoting science communication from colleges and universities to schools, and different tools for communicating scientific discoveries have been created. Among this variety of tools, our choice fell on a storybook. The book, entitled "The Curious Case of Ants That Live in Galls," is directed…

There is a call in science education for students to be in the business of "doing science," rather than "doing the lesson" (Jimenez-Aleixandre et al., 2000). Developing explanatory models is one important strategy for sensemaking in science. Teachers' knowledge plays a critical role in how classroom interactions are framed and…

Mobile learning is an incredible way to engage students in activities that encourage exploration and critical thinking. This type of learning is defined by the use of portable technology, such as laptops, tablets, and smart phones, to support learning in various environments and in various ways. Depending on the technologies and resources already…

In this article, the authors describe a fourth-grade lesson where 3-D printing technologies were not only a stimulus for engagement but also served as a modeling tool providing meaningful learning opportunities. Specifically, fourth-grade students construct an argument that animals' external structures function to support survival in a particular…

My research comparing different curriculum models has confirmed the necessity of using STEAM within a science classroom to promote conceptual understanding of the content. The curriculum inquiry model of teaching science using the scientific method is insufficient to promote academic growth compared to the STEAM curriculum model that utilizes the…

The purpose of this paper is to explain how to use the scientific method as the framework to introduce mathematical model. Two interdisciplinary activities, targeted for students in grade 6 or grade 7, are explained to show the application of the scientific method while building a mathematical model to investigate the relationship between the…

The purpose of this paper is to explain how to use the scientific method as the framework to introduce mathematical model. Two interdisciplinary activities, targeted for students in grade 6 or grade 7, are explained to show the application of the scientific method while building a mathematical model to investigate the relationship between the…

A study is presented that explores how students' knowledge structures, as related to the scientific method, compare at different student ages. A word association test comprised of ten total stimulus words, among them "experiment," "science fair," and "hypothesis," is used to probe the students' knowledge structures.…

Sound is typically thought of something that is heard. Can it be seen or felt? Most students experience the noises that surround them in everyday life, but few stop to think about what sound is, how it travels, and the biological challenges associated with perceiving sound. Since students are already familiar with everyday sounds, inquiry-based…

The "Next Generation Science Standards'" ("NGSS") eight scientific and engineering practices invite teachers to develop key investigative skills while addressing important disciplinary science ideas (NGSS Lead States 2013). The "NGSS" can also provide direct links to "Common Core English Language Arts…

Several studies found that direct instruction and task structuring can effectively promote children's ability to design unconfounded experiments. The present study examined whether the impact of these interventions extends to other scientific reasoning skills by comparing the inquiry activities of 55 fifth-graders randomly assigned to one of…

Archaeology provides the chance to ask questions about human culture, past and present, using artifacts as evidence. By studying archaeology, students learn about how people in their region found and prepared food, responded to changes in their environment (e.g., flooding, earthquakes, droughts), and interacted with other peoples. This article…