Sarah Bearchell is a science specialist working with primary-aged pupils and their families, with a passion for making science accessible for everyone. In this article she outlines how allowing children ownership of their hands-on activities leads to more engaged learning.

Technology Education as a discipline is at a historical point of two extremes. On one hand it is clear that what we do in technology education is highly valued; after all, imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. The proliferation of "Makermania," technical competitions, engineering design in Next Generation Science…

Like scientists who keep lab notebooks detailing their experiments, inventors keep invention notebooks that chronologically detail the inception, development, and refinement of their inventions. These notebooks are legal documents that can help prove one inventor's precedent over another. Scenarios like these are very real, as the author has had…

Small-scale science activities provide an opportunity for engagement of diverse, large audiences at settings such as 4-H fairs. We present practical information for implementation of small-scale food science experiences in the Extension education context. Our focus is description of a tool for adaptation of activities for inquiry-based learning…

There are already several articles describing ways to teach physics using smartphone apps, but what are some experiments you can perform immediately without downloading any additional software? In the spirit of increasing the amount of hands-on activities each of us is doing, and to give us backup activities when you have a few extra minutes of…

Visitors to public science festivals have a tremendous amount of free choice to decide how to navigate through the festival, as well as when, where, and how long to stop at an exhibit. This study examines how elementary-aged children individually or collaboratively engaged with festival exhibits at a public science festival in St. Petersburg,…

A wide variety of chemical concepts and principles can be taught and demonstrated with LEGO bricks. They are an excellent teaching tool for reinforcing theoretical and abstract chemical concepts and for conveying structure--function relationships. They are ideal for conceptual learning or problem-based learning and a great way of stimulating…

This study investigated some of the aspects that characterise the understanding of the Nature of Science (NOS) and "Nature of Technology" (NOT) of 20 children and youths from different countries who perform scientific and technological activities in a non-formal teaching and learning setting. Data were collected using a questionnaire and…

Magnetism is traditionally taught within the subject of electromagnetism at the undergraduate and graduate levels in physics courses, with the goal of establishing a solid foundation of the underlying physical mechanisms before advancing to more specialized topics. Oftentimes, a laboratory component of these courses involves practical, hands-on…

National governments are concerned about the disconnection of young people from science, which hampers the development of a scientifically literate society promoting sustainable development, wellbeing, equity, and a green economy. Introduced in 2015 alongside Agenda 2030, the "open schooling" approach aims at enhancing students' science…

Science popularisation festivals attract more and more people every year, showing that there is a need to satisfy public curiosity. Such events are good occasions to disseminate knowledge to a large audience. The results of scientific research bring advances for mankind. Since research mostly depends on public funds, it is important to gain…

Raising awareness on marine environmental issues is crucial to deepen students' knowledge on ocean sustainability. Nonetheless, ocean-related topics have not been adequately addressed through formal education curricula, thus non-formal learning activities were developed to promote Ocean Literacy among students. These include visits to the local…

The use of modeling-based instruction is very effective when learning science content in multiple disciplines for native speakers. However, the benefits of using this pedagogy with students learning English as a second language or English Learners (ELs) have not been widespread, especially at the upper secondary level. This article discusses the…

Virtual water is the amount of water that we ignore in water consumption and is considerably higher than the visible water we see in daily uses. Realizing the water spent in the production processes of objects can cause us to change our consumption habits. In 1979, Joseph Cornell presented a four-step framework called Learning Flow to move nature…

As classrooms increasingly become more diverse, teacher education programs should include opportunities for open discussions and authentic implementation of culturally relevant teaching. However, the current teaching climate no longer involves face to face teaching as much of the curriculum in our colleges has been converted to online teaching. As…