Photovoltaics is a term that refers to thin cells that have the ability to directly convert sunlight into electricity. This process occurs without the use of any moving parts, and the sunlight is free for the taking if it can be captured for useful purposes like heating water or air or producing electricity. As the cost of installing a…

It's common knowledge that light can produce chemical and electronic changes (photography is based on those effects); however, many people consider light to have no mechanical effect. Some are familiar with the novelty of a radiometer that spins when placed in the light. Fewer are aware that a cymbal will vibrate audibly if hit by the light from a…

A rainbow reveals the colors of sunlight in a breathtaking way, but the formation of this natural event cannot be controlled by human beings. Transforming this out-of-class experience into a teaching activity is a challenge for science educators. This paper outlines two activities for rainbow formation in the science classroom in cases of good…

We are currently on the verge of several breakthroughs in nanoscience and technology, and we need to prepare our citizenry to be scientifically literate about the microscopic world. Previous research shows that students' mental models of friction at the atomic level are significantly influenced by their macroscopic ideas. Most students see…

This research is a study about the possibility to promote experimental design skills to elementary school pupils. Experimental design and the experiment process are foundational elements in current approaches to Science Teaching, as they provide learners with profound understanding about knowledge construction and science inquiry. The research was…

In recent science education, experimentation features ever more strongly as a method of inquiry in science classes rather than as a means to illustrate phenomena. Ideas and materials to teach inquiry abound. Yet, tools for assessing students' achievement in their processes of experimentation are lacking. The present study assumes a basal,…

School science practical activities have been criticised for exposing learners to a series of phenomena disconnected from the conceptual frameworks needed to understand them. Such activities are successful in the "domain of observables" but not the "domain of ideas". Few resources exist for classroom teachers wishing to improve…

Rapid changes and developments in education have also changed the content and the scope of the activities carried out in schools. Learning and teaching through experiencing and practicing process carried out after the transition to the constructivist approach in recent years has started and expedited the performance of new activities in several…

The main purpose of this study is to design an interactive non-formal chemistry environment and investigate its effectiveness on high school students' attitudes towards chemistry. Besides that, it is tried to determine to what extent students correlate these concepts with daily life. 14 voluntary students (5 female, 9 male) from different levels…

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. The formative assessment probe in this month's issue can be used as an initial elicitation before students are introduced to the formal concepts of weathering and erosion.

This paper focuses on the notable heightening of underrepresented students' engagement in STEM education through project-based learning CincySTEM iTEST projects. The projects, funded by an iTEST NSF grant, were designed and facilitated by teachers at a new STEM urban public high school serving low-income African-American students. Student…

This study aimed to explore lower secondary teachers' negotiation of the meaning of laboratory work in a professional development program. A total of 15 in-service teachers participated in the program. In the program, tensions between key ideas concerning traditional way of addressing laboratory work -- with emphasis on subject content and skills…

The "Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)" for K-12 have three dimensions--science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts (NGSS Lead States 2013). "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" states, "Crosscutting concepts have value because they provide students with connections and…

In this paper, we examine a first-year torque and angular acceleration problem to address a possible use of the forelimbs of "Tyrannosaurus rex." A 1/40th-scale model (see Fig. 1) is brought to the classroom to introduce the students to the quandary: given that the forelimbs of "T. rex" were too short to reach its mouth, what…

Electricity can be a fun topic in a primary school class. It includes many practical experiments and links to real life contexts. However, teachers can feel daunted by the subject as they think they do not know enough about the science behind it to answer off-topic questions. The reason for the difficulty is that much of the science takes place…