Describes the construction and use of a shell-discovery kit for students to employ in actively investigating the natural world. (WRM)

Presents several activities designed to teach students about the characteristics, classification, life cycle, and uses of the luffa (gourd). (WRM)

This article discusses the inclusion of students with learning and behavioral disabilities into general education science classes. It provides suggestions for instructional modifications and includes a sample science activity that was redesigned to support students with learning and behavioral concerns. (Contains seven references.) (Author/CR)

Describes an activity for primary students on bees. Demonstrates life in a beehive using students playing bees. Reports the effects of this activity on student learning. (YDS)

Describes an investigation in which radioactive by-products of radon decay are collected and measured from a charged balloon. (WRM)

Describes a virtual experiment designed to introduce students to the theory and application of the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the mean electrical axis (MEA). Students are asked to reduce and analyze data, calculate and plot the MEA, and answer questions in the inquiry-based, experimental activity. (Author/WRM)

Presents an inexpensive hands-on lesson in DNA fingerprinting that can be completed in a single class period. Involves students in solving a murder in which a drop of blood is fingerprinted and matched with the blood of the murderer. (DDR)

Details an environmental education course in which students begin a long-term study of water quality in the watershed of a local river, document the habits of aquatic animals, and use federal and state laws to provide protection for these wetlands. (DDR)

Describes a semester-long activity added to traditional homework assignments in which students complete a project that brings art together with science and mathematics. Students may choose any one of a combination of different art forms. (DDR)

Provides guidance and some guidelines for those trying to gain support for classroom innovations. Includes a chart of some influencing strategies and research-based accounts of some methods that can be employed to garner support. (DDR)

Provides an activity in which students create small classroom factories and investigate several aspects of production including design, engineering, quality control, waste management, packaging, shipment, and communication. (DDR)

Announces the theme for National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) 1998 and offers a rationale for the choice of the topic of polar connections. Suggests that the poles offer a glimpse of science as high adventure. The poles are often seen as pristine, nearly lablike environments that provide a platform for animal studies. (DDR)

Details an activity in which children experiment with creating their own sun protection devices and a model of the sunglasses invented by native people of the Arctic. (DDR)

Presents three activities for teaching elementary students about the built-in mechanisms that help warm-blooded animals maintain constant internal body temperatures. The activities help students understand why humans sweat, why dogs pant, and why blubber keeps whales warm in frigid water. (SM)

Introduces a package of six interrelated units on plate tectonics and earthquakes. The Seismic Sleuths curriculum contains hands-on activities integrating math, earth science, and social studies. Units cover personal experience as well as the science of earthquakes while students also construct buildings to study earthquake resistance. One…