In this article, the authors focus on students constructing observations of patterns to understand how surfaces affect the motion of an object. Students will use the patterns they observe to predict future motion of marbles (NGSS Lead States 2013). Students then apply their learning by engaging in an engineering task. By giving students a task to…

When teachers first wrap their heads around scientific modeling, it can be a bit tricky to distinguish scientific models from diagrams and three-dimensional models. If a fifth grader draws and labels a food web, it's a model. Right? Not necessarily. When creating a model, students should be representing a system inspired by an inquiry or…

At Education Development Center, the authors developed professional learning for teachers that reflects the vision of the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") and makes explicit connections between science and language. In the authors' recent project, Literacy and Academic Success for English Learners through Science…

Curriculum and lesson planning require the consideration of many things. With a shift to the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"), integrating the dimensions of science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts becomes a focus of that planning. The author, Betsy O'Day, an elementary…

In this featured lesson, entitled "Fishy Feeding Frenzy," fourth-grade students engage in a classic science activity that requires them to experience the interdependent relationships of organisms in an ecosystem. The students explore how adaptations increase the survival of a member of a species by participating in an active "fishy…

This lesson addresses the three dimensions of science learning as laid out in the "Next Generation Science Standards"--science and engineering process skills, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas--in addition to embedding practical exposure to NOS tenets in an inquiry-based activity. In addition to the efficiency component,…

The authors present a program where students and family members were involved in a taste-testing to select the items to be planted in the school's garden at Stephenson Elementary. A simple rubric of facial recognition is used. Smiles for the favorites; frowns for the disqualifiers. With the help of the school's leadership team consisting…

Establishing classroom routines that provide students with the opportunities to learn and successfully apply the language of science is a daunting task. With minor variations, research has shown that effective and comprehensive vocabulary programs share four common elements: they are rich and varied language experiences; they teach well-selected…

This article presents the experiences of Miss Felecia McLaughlin, a fourth-grade teacher from the island of Jamaica who used the model proposed by Bass et al. (2009) to assess conceptual understanding of four of the six types of simple machines while encouraging collaboration through the creation of learning teams. Students had an opportunity to…

In standards-based science fairs, children learn more about what they are interested in. They deepen understandings of how science works and improve inquiry skills--including the ability to communicate and share research results. Parents learn more about science inquiry and their child's science abilities. The standards-based science fair builds…

In the STEM classroom, students can work in collaborative teams to build those essential skills needed for the 21st-century world. In project-based learning (PBL), teams of four to six students are often randomly selected to describe a realistic situation that may occur in today's workplace; this may be done by counting off in fours, fives,…

English language learners (ELLs) bring a wealth of knowledge to science classrooms, yet often that knowledge is untapped by traditional instruction and assessment. As classrooms become increasingly diverse, it is critical to recognize the depth of understandings ELLs bring to classrooms to explain the scientific world around them. English language…

How many scientists throw out their notebooks at the end of each year and start over no matter how many empty pages remain? How many of them approach a new research question or experiment without using knowledge gained from the previous years? The answer to each of these questions is of course, few if any, yet we ask our students to do that every…

Categorizing organisms as living or nonliving things may seem to be intuitive by nature. Yet, it is regulated by scientific criteria. Students come to school with rules already in place. Their categorizing criteria have already been influenced by their personal experiences, also known as observations and inferences. They believe that all things…

Reports on the use of 3D topographic models to teach Earth Science. Relates how students at a middle school made cardboard cut-out models to illustrate plateaus, a volcanic mountain, and other landforms. Provides teaching suggestions for the activity and a grading rubric. (MM)