Students frequently struggle when scientific instruction seems divorced from personal experience, especially in the physical sub-disciplines, like climatology, where exercise books often present historical or abstracted case studies. In contrast I present a three-phase project involving student input on experimental design, data collection, and…

This paper examines a non-equivalent quasi-experimental research effort, wherein two versions of a two week Project Based Learning unit were developed, implemented, and assessed. Students used a collaborative GIS or paper maps to support data analysis activities in this eighth grade Earth science unit. Attitude and self-efficacy in science as…