This article discusses how math skills, teamwork and higher-level thinking come together when students create strategic board games. In this article, the authors provide a glimpse of what it was like to be part of "To the Sun!," a game designed by students in the fifth-grade class at Olive Martin School in Lake Villa, IL. Students combined a math…

In this article, the author describes the Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where deaf and hard of hearing students can pilot spaceships, conduct experiments, and dodge meteorites. Each year in the spring, students from schools all over the United States attend a one-week, hands-on learning experience in…

This paper describes a student-focused activity that promotes effective learning in analytical chemistry. Providing an environment where students were responsible for their own learning allowed them to participate at all levels from designing the problem to be addressed, planning the laboratory work to support their learning, to providing evidence…

This module presents the range of benefits youths receive from their participation in Community Science Workshops (CSWs)--from personal, to social, to academic and how these benefits reveal the core values of the CSWs in action. The multi-year evaluation of the CSW program included site visits to multiple Community Science Workshop sites around…

Science centers can engage students; accommodate different learning styles and individual interests; help students become independent and confident learners; and encourage social skills among students. In this article, the author worked with third-grade students as they completed activities at learning centers during a week-long unit on simple…

There are many programs for the professional development of high school physics teachers that have proven to be effective in preparing these teachers to conduct inquiry-based activities in the classroom. In this paper, we describe a small-scale professional development program called the Physics Van Inservice Institute. During the program,…

Members of a team of educators and university students participating in the project, Pittsburgh Partnership for Energizing Science in Urban Schools, addressed the issue of helping students develop investigative skills within the context of an introductory science unit for fourth graders. The unit focuses on data-collection techniques and is a…

Parent-child "everyday" conversations have been suggested as a source of children's early science learning. If such conversations are important, then it would be pertinent to know whether children from different family backgrounds have different experiences talking about science in informal settings. We focus on the relation between…

This study describes one kindergarten classroom in which informational books and other nonfiction resources were used in the context of a long-term scientific study. Children became proficient in locating information and interpreting content-specific textual features in the process of making sense of their scientific observations and sharing them…

This document contains a series of six modules which illustrate selected concepts of mechanics with hands-on activities and audiovisual materials. Following the modules is a collection of readings which give detailed explanations of the concepts presented in the activities. A guide for teachers and workshop leaders is provided for use in planning…

This book is intended to celebrate the global successes of women in a variety of scientific fields. These women provide life stories and career images that positively impact girls' expectations of themselves and their performance in math and science. This book features full biographies on 29 women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers spanning…

This book is designed to provide parents and other adult companions with activities to do with children on outdoor walks. The activities offer adults and children a shared learning experience and have been adapted from the children's education program at Habitat Institute for the Environment (Massachusetts). The activities are arranged seasonally,…

This energy education unit contains activities and classroom management strategies that emphasize cooperative learning and peer teaching. The activities are designed to develop students' science, math, language arts, and social studies skills and knowledge. Students' critical thinking, leadership, and problem solving skills will be enhanced as…

A basic understanding of the potential of solar energy is increasingly relevant given the pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuel, health problems associated with that pollution, the possibility of global warming, and the complex issues raised by the dependence of industrialized nations on oil and natural gas. This teacher's guide presents…

The goal of this mini-curriculum is for students to examine, discover, and compare the physical and chemical properties of soil. Seven units are designed to be presented as a lecture and to allow 30 to 40 students to perform every procedure, each testing their own soil sample. Games are provided in each section to reinforce the concepts presented…