When students begin the study of Newton's laws they are generally comfortable with static equilibrium type problems, but dynamic examples where forces are not constant are more challenging. The class exercise presented here helps students to develop an intuitive grasp of both the position-velocity-acceleration relation and the force-acceleration…

Teachers are required to provide appropriate science instruction to all students, including children with special needs. However, educators are often left on their own to figure out how to effectively differentiate lessons and activities. This timely, practical guidebook shows general and special educators how to retool science activities and…

Within the paradigm of Sociocultural Theory, and using Activity Theory as a data-gathering and management tool, this microgenetic case study examined the processes--the growth, change, and development--engaged in by student-teachers in a foreign language education program as they worked together to complete an activity. The activity involved…

This case study reviewed the collaborative efforts of university engineers, teacher educators, and middle school teachers to advance sixth- and seventh-grade students' learning through a series of project-based engineering activities. This two-year project enriched regular school curricula by introducing real-world applications of science and…

Graphing is a key skill in the study of Physics. Drawing and interpreting graphs play a key role in the understanding of science, while the lack of these has proved to be a handicap and a limiting factor in the learning of scientific concepts. It has been observed that despite the amount of previous graph-working experience, students of all ages…

Chemists have used computational science methodologies for a number of decades and their utility continues to be unabated. For this reason we developed an advanced lab in computational chemistry in which students gain understanding of general strengths and weaknesses of computation-based chemistry by working through a specific research problem.…

Animal species identification is often emphasized as a basic prerequisite for an understanding of ecology because ecological interactions are based on interactions between species at least as it is taught on the school level. Therefore, training identification skills or using identification books seems a worthwhile task in biology education, and…

Dilated canine hearts were used to teach undergraduate students internal and external cardiac anatomy. The specimens were dilated using hydrostatic pressure and then fixed using 5% formalin. These specimens provided the students with an alternative to prepackaged embalmed hearts and anatomical models for studying the external and internal cardiac…

The following experiment describes an easy experiment for children 11-12 years old, performed during spring in a compulsory school near Karlstad, Sweden. Four different ripe fruits were placed under flowering plants of Impatiens New Guinea (Impatiens hawkeri) for four days on a table and with plastic bags around both plants and fruits. For one of…

There is now broad agreement that learners in primary and secondary school science need to know how to interpret and construct subject-specific ways of representing science activity and knowledge. There is also growing recognition that students are more motivated and learn more when they have opportunities to refine understandings through revising…

This paper describes the implementation of an open-ended inquiry experiment for high-school students, based on gas chromatography (GC). The research focuses on identifying the level of questions that students ask during the GC open inquiry laboratory, and it examines whether implementing the advanced inquiry laboratory opens up new directions for…

Discover discovery bottles! These wide-mouth plastic containers of any size filled with objects of different kinds can be terrific tools for science explorations and a great way to cultivate science minds in a K-2 science classroom. In addition, the author has found them to be a useful, inexpensive, and engaging way to help students develop skills…

In this inquiry-based, integrative art and science activity, Grade 5-8 students use multicolored Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) crystallizing solutions to reveal beautiful, cylindrical, 3-dimensional, needle-shaped structures. Through observations of the crystal art, students analyze factors that contribute to crystal size and formation, compare…

These science activities for elementary students focus on the external structures and functions of the human eye with hands-on object box activities based on the Montessori theory (1966) of concrete learning through manipulation of objects and focus of attention through touch. Object boxes are sets of items and corresponding cards housed in a box.…

To help make science relevant to student's everyday lives, the authors required their 10th-grade summer school students to read selections from a popular nonfiction science book. By doing so, they were able to promote literacy and provide an authentic portrayal of the nature of science in a way that was fun and interesting for their students. This…