Presents a lesson on introducing writing into the science curriculum by using an experiment to illustrate the detrimental effect of tobacco smoke on human lungs. Outlines the materials, procedures, a summary of the project, extension activities, and additional information about the writing process. Two handout sheets are included. (RT)

Describes a project where students were involved in finding the most suitable site for a landfill in their community. This two-month project was conducted using team teaching. Two twelfth grade geoscience classes were involved. (PR)

Provides instructions for making telescopes. The design and instruction sheets given to students are provided. (PR)

Describes a contest where sixth-grade students observe the results of a week of planning, folding, testing, and comparing their best paper frog designs and hopping techniques. This integrated unit helps children unleash their imaginations and develop problem-solving skills. (PR)

Presents an alternative to the competition fostered through traditional science fairs. The Science Expo is an all-day event meant to show students and the community that science is fascinating and fun. (PR)

Presents an alternative to the traditional science fair. The Science Expo features students projects, science games, teacher demonstrations, and business and organizational exhibits. (PR)

This paper describes a simple, rapid and low-cost technique for growing bacteria (or other microbes) in an environmental gradient, in order to determine the tolerance of the microbial population to varying concentrations of sodium chloride ions, and suggests how the evolutionary response of a microbial population to the selection pressure of the…

In delivering chemistry courses by distance, a key challenge is to offer the learner an authentic and meaningful laboratory experience that still provides the rigour required to continue on in science. To satisfy this need, two distance general chemistry laboratory courses appropriate for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) students, including chemistry…

This article describes how a university and a museum have worked together to create a "How science works" workshop entitled "What's in our water?" The workshop teaches students about the continuing pollution from a disused coal mine, how the pollution is cleaned up using a state-of-the-art treatment works and how scientists…

In the continuing debate about American competitiveness in the global economy, politicians and educators alike have pointed not to students' test scores, but to their creativity and ingenuity, as models for the rest of the world. Teaching creativity has been a hot-button topic this fall, from the National Academy of Education's annual meeting in…

Open-ended, inquiry-based multiweek laboratory exercises are the key elements to increasing students' understanding and retention of the major biological concepts. Including original research into undergraduate teaching laboratories has also been shown to motivate students and improve their learning. Here, we present a series of original…

In collaboration with preservice elementary teachers and in-service kindergarten teachers, the authors engaged in small-scale, demand-side production of educational software focused on numeracy skills. That is, the authors built applications designed to address children's specific learning needs as they surfaced in the classroom and were…

This article examines the merits of WebQuests in facilitating students' in-depth understanding of science concepts using the four principles of learning gathered from the National Research Council reports "How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School" (1999) and the "How Students Learn: Science in the Classroom" (2005) as an analytic…

The first (exploratory) phase of the Learning in Science Project (Primary)--LISP(P)--focused on science teaching/learning in New Zealand primary schools. Project goals included the identification of major problems of classroom teaching and learning and the study of factors which promote or limit individual children's learning of science. This…

Reports on the evaluation of a district's science fair. Describes the procedure, literature and questionnaire findings, the effects of the study, and a summary. States that as a result, changes were made in the objectives, project awards, judging criteria, and guidelines for judges. (RT)