While diagrams make the text more visually appealing and provide an image of the text, they also do much more. Subsequently, the authors designed a series of lessons for students to discover the many purposes of graphics in science. A particular utility of these interdisciplinary lessons is that they are used with any science text featuring visual…

The basic aim of this study is to investigate the content of textual and pictorial material of Slovenian science textbooks and notebooks on topic states of matter. The paper presents the results of the analysis of educational material from two randomly selected publishers for students aged 6 to 14 in the Slovenian primary and the lower secondary…

Children are naturally curious about the world in which they live. To focus this sense of wonder, have your students investigate their local habitat as it changes over the year. This multiseason study will build connections and add relevance to the habitats that children learn about. This series of activities for grades 4-6 explores the changing…

A Victorian government initiative called "The Primary Science Specialists Professional Learning Program" is designed to tackle students' falling interest in science by investing in the building of teacher capacity. The aims of the initiative are: to improve the science knowledge base of all teachers and therefore increase teachers'…

The new standards for K-12 science education in the United States call for science teachers to integrate engineering concepts and practices within their science teaching in order to improve student learning. To accomplish this, teachers need appropriate instructional materials as well as the knowledge and skills to effectively use them. This mixed…

While interest is central to learning, considerable disparities have been reported between students' science interests and the science curriculum. This study explores how 5th grade students' (n = 72) competence, relatedness and interest levels changed as a consequence of using two online learning environments, which bridged the students' anonymous…

Intent on building inquiry-based digital science learning experiences for K-5 students, this research study began with the formation of a tight partnership between state and local educational agencies, higher education, and university scientists and researchers. The primary focus of this partnership was to deliver high-quality, inquiry-based…

This qualitative study investigated the experiences of four elementary teachers who have elected to use science to teach math and reading/language arts in an attempt to identify what motivates them to do so. Identifying what experiences have motivated these teachers to go against the gain and teach elementary science in this current era of…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and its reports are a key measure in informing the nation on how well the goal of scientific literacy for all students is being met. The "Science Framework for the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress" sets forth the design of the NAEP Science Assessment. This document is…

Based on the best-selling book "The Parallel Curriculum", this professional development resource gives multifaceted examples of rigorous learning opportunities for science students in Grades 6-12. The four sample units revolve around genetics, the convergence of science and society, the integration of language arts and biology, and the periodic…

Art and science are sometimes viewed as opposing subjects, but are united in many ways. With an increased awareness of the benefits of interdisciplinary studies in education, it is desirable to show students how different subjects impact one another. Visual arts are greatly connected to chemistry in several ways. Pigments are usually synthetically…

This study examined preservice teachers' understanding of biotechnology and its related processes. A sample comprised 88 elementary education preservice teachers at a large university in the Midwest of the USA. A total of 60 and 28 of the participants were enrolled in introductory and advanced science methods courses, respectively. Most…

The paper explores the ways girls appropriate gender through actions, gesture and talk to achieve things in primary school science classrooms. It draws on socio-cultural approaches to show that when everyday classroom practices are viewed from multiple planes of analysis, historical, institutional and in the micro dynamics of classroom…

Taking children out of the classroom to learn in a totally different environment can be very rewarding for both the children and the teacher. Part of the excitement is the unfamiliarity of the place, which has its positive sides but can lead to a lack of focus. As part of the Darwin 200 celebrations in 2009, the Charles Darwin Trust and…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the conceptions and misconceptions of young children (ages 3-8) related to science concepts, skills, and phenomena. These conceptions and misconceptions were investigated within the framework of the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards for Pre-Kindergarten and the Pennsylvania Standards for…