Developing the problem-solving abilities of elementary school students has been recognized as an important educational objective. Science curricula, because of their practical and experimental characteristics, are thought to be an important way to develop students' problem-solving ability. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in teaching…

The topic 'Animals including humans' runs through the primary science National Curriculum in England (DfE, 2013). Ideally, topics such as inheritance will lead onto adaptation, natural selection and evolution across key stages 1 to 2 (ages 5-11). This article provides nine engaging activities to support the teaching of adaptation and improve…

The social distancing rules during the COVID-19 quarantine period posed new challenges in the teaching of physics especially for the laboratory sessions. One solution, that permitted students to carry on the experimental work during this period, was the 'do it at home' activities using simple materials for setting up the experiment and a…

An experiment for the synthesis of N-acyl derivatives of natural amino acids has been developed as part of the Distributed Drug Discovery (D3) program. Students use solid-phase synthesis techniques to complete a three-step, combinatorial synthesis of six products, which are analyzed using LC-MS and NMR spectroscopy. This protocol is suitable for…

This study examines the initial integration of engineering design in an introductory preservice elementary biology content course using a life science design task focused on composting. The task, informed by a three-dimensional learning approach, required preservice teachers to research and model the process and use of composting to help the…

At any point during the school year, a teacher may find out the gap between what students know and need to learn is not large at all. In fact, formative assessment data may show a handful of students already have mastered the content for a specific unit of study. While some learners will achieve grade-level standards at the pace outline by a…

This study analyses the effectiveness of ethnobotanic activities on learning performance of pre-service teachers about plants' classification. The research design was a quasi-experimental model. The results of the study revealed that the experimental group in which ethnobotanical activities were carried out was more successful for answers given to…

The role that caregivers can play in their child's science education is often overlooked within science education research. Few studies have focused on the capacity and abilities of caregivers to guide science activities. The purpose of this study was to describe how families utilize science activity packs at home. Data indicate that the adults…

Where does our food come from? Such a question may be difficult for some children to answer, especially those living in a city apartment devoid of a backyard with a vegie patch or fruit trees. This article describes a learning experience designed to encourage Year 1 children to think about the foods that humans obtain from plants. The learning…

Research related to the teaching and learning of the lunar phases reveals a low level of understanding of this astronomical phenomenon by most students of all educational levels. Therefore, there is a need to develop didactic materials to promote adequate comprehension of this phenomenon and which have been tried out in the classroom. Presented…

Students with visual impairments face tremendous challenges in daily life while learning life skills as they do not have the benefit of visual cues. The skills that visually impaired students are expected to learn include not only everyday life skills, but also scientific process skills too. In this study, case study was used to develop an…

In tabletop games involving dice, it is important to ensure randomness of the dice rolls and to protect other gaming elements from being scattered by rolling dice. One way of ensuring random rolls and protecting gaming elements is to drop dice into a dice-rolling tower ("dice tower"). A dice tower is usually small (20 cm by 20 cm) and…

Children in most schools, especially in Primary 7 (age 11, England Year 6), are increasingly engaging with technology and social media in a way that is completely different from 10 or even 5 years ago. More time is spent on phones and devices and, as a result of this, observations and appreciation of the wonderful natural world around them are…

This article develops an emergentist theory of children's agency. To make this claim, it first identifies the following two predicaments that scholars have faced in children's agency research: (1) social ambiguity in distinguishing children's learning from adults' guidance; and (2) causal uncertainty between children's cognitive development and…

Learning from digital media is one of the notable learning environments used outside of school. The effect of using digital technology in education is well known today, as where such tools are used appropriately in lessons, they can make an effective contribution to the teaching and learning of abstract science subjects such as astronomy. The…