Toys are designed to be fun and playful and are highly motivating for both children and adults. Commercial toys and child-designed toys can be used both in the classroom and at home to encourage creativity and to teach science concepts. Much of what children can do with toys involves tinkering, defined by Merriam Webster as "to repair,…

This study aims at investigating the barriers encountered by science teachers in laboratory activities in Rwandan teacher training colleges (TTCs) using questionnaires and interviews. The results confirmed that teachers face barriers like time limitation, material scarcity and lack of improvising skills in their everyday science teaching life.…

This study aims to investigate the geology learning performance of preservice teachers. A total of 31 sophomores (including 11 preservice teachers) from an educational university in Taiwan participated in this study. The course arrangements include class teaching and hands-on science inquiry activities. The study searches both quantitative and…

The aim of this study is to identify the views of the teachers on the use of drama as a teaching method in the science and technology courses. In the current study, qualitative research method was used. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The participants of the study were selected via maximum variation sampling. The…

Elementary science is chock-full of wonderful experiences for students. Do children see iPads as a tool for learning about science? Using Prensky (2010) as a guide, the researchers decided to see if "assessing students with their own" tools (p.178) using iPad apps would support learning discrete knowledge for electricity and light…

The purpose of this study is to design different hands-on science activities and investigate which activities could better promote female students' learning motivation towards science. This study conducted three types of science activities which contains nine hands-on activities, an experience scale and a learning motivation scale for data…

Skilled scientists in all fields of study are critically needed to begin resolving ecological problems resulting from human impact. Time is an essential element in creating a proper conceptual foundation and training should begin early in a student's education. As of 2010, the California State Standards for Science for grades six through eight do…

This seven to eight week hands-on Marine Debris Clean-up Project used a service project to provide an introduction of marine science ecology, watershed interrelationships, the scientific method, and environmental stewardship to 8th grade middle school students. It utilized inquiry based learning to introduce marine debris sources and impacts to…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 590 Culminating…

Students in elementary classrooms are not receiving science instruction that is engaging and challenging. The review of the literature indicates that the way that the information is presented has more of an impact on the students than simply whether they comprehend the information. Studies show that hands-on science instruction allows success…

The National Science Foundation has a long supported the use of "Wisconsin Fast Plants" (rapid cycling "B. rapa") in the teaching of Biology (K-12). I believe that the opportunity is at hand for biologists to significantly extend past efforts made by our colleagues at the K-12 level to higher education. Biology faculty can realize the many…

Conceptual change as a professional development model has moved elementary science teaching beyond lecture and the memorization of facts to science instruction congruent with the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). However, research on the effectiveness of conceptual change teaching reveals some of its…

This document represents a sample collection of master's theses from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Teacher Education Program, spring semester, 2005. The majority of these student researchers were simultaneously student teaching while writing their theses. Studies were empirical and conceptual in nature and demonstrate some ways in…