Growing up in a small coastal town, students spend a great deal of time outdoors and at the beach. Given the many learning opportunities that such an environment can provide, engaging students in a sustained, environmental service project seemed like a natural complement to lessons focusing on the interaction of organisms within a habitat. This…

This article describes a lesson in which fourth-grade students create a habitat for terrapins while reducing erosion. A client and their needs were presented to the students: The city purchased a piece of shoreline on the bay previously owned by a private company. The company had started to develop the land, exposing soil up to the water's edge.…

This article describes an unit that was created for first-grade students using both the "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in a student-centered, problem-based approach. The multifaceted classroom unit combined with a take-home field study provides students…

This article describes how a farm-based class in the Great Lakes region investigated how plants and animals prepare for winter. Two groups of children, ranging in ages from three to five years old, had a farm, pasture, gardens, forest, and a pond available for exploration. A low teacher-to-child ratio was maintained, with one teacher to…

During a two-week inquiry-based 5E learning cycle unit, children made observations and inferences to guide their explorations of animal traits and habitats (Bybee 2014). The children became "animal detectives" by studying a live-feed webcam and digital images of wolves in their natural habitat, reading books and online sources about…

Place-based education is a form of teaching and learning that allows the teacher to understand the cultural norms of the learners and ensure that cultural norms and local content are reproduced within the classroom so that learning is meaningful, student-centered, and applicable. The traditional definition of place-based education focused on…

The diversity of life on Earth is a fundamental concept in biology, but it can be difficult to explore in the confines of an elementary school classroom. A great place to start is by getting students outside to observe the diversity in their own backyards. The author served as a scientist-in-residence for one year at an elementary school in…

Participating in the Disney Planet Challenge (DPC) program allowed this author's 22 fourth-grade students an opportunity to be involved in a real-world problem: how to protect a threatened species and become its advocate. Using many different technology tools, the students informed their community about a threatened species--the Blanding's…

An introduction to microscopy is common in the elementary curriculum, but microscope work with elementary school children can be a challenge. There is equipment maintenance to consider, as well as the difficulty of using the microscope for many children. These authors have found that using a digital microscope connected to a projector breaks down…

"We really need to get the government involved," said one student, holding his graph up to USDA scientist Steve Seefeldt. Dr. Steve studies methods to control "invasive" plants, plants that have been introduced to an area by humans and have potential to spread rapidly and negatively affect ecosystems. The first grader and his…

Through the construction of arguments, students are invited to make sense of the concept of a species and its connection to both extinction and local biomes. Scientific argumentation is the process by which scientists engage in discourse aimed at developing common knowledge about the natural world (Driver et al. 1994). This article describes a 5E…

A fear of snakes developed into an opportunity to teach students about the process of science: formulating questions, collecting and analyzing data, and communicating findings to the public. By using snakes to help students "think like a scientist," the authors engaged students in a five-day unit on inquiry while providing information about snakes…

Learning about endangered or threatened species can be an extension of an adaptation or biodiversity lesson. It can also be tied into conversation and what students (and the rest of us) can do to help species in need. Before your students head outdoors, they should be aware of the habitats and species around them. Use the Internet resources…

Even though students see plants all around them, they tend to ignore them. Animal studies usually get all the "press." As a naturalist, children's book author, and coordinator for an educational science website for teachers, the author knows from personal experience that observing and charting plant growth can be as intriguing as observing…

Students love a mystery. So what do America's most majestic bird, a bag of habitat clues, and a soft-shelled egg have in common? This easy-to-do inquiry activity engages students as they connect clues to problem-solve how the bald eagle reached the brink of extinction in the 1960s in the lower 48 states. It was designed to give students an…