Describes a study that investigated the role of a design context for developing children's understanding of science as the construction and revision of models. Results indicate that as early as the first grade, children's model-evaluation skills may be quite amenable to development. (DDR)

Discusses the use of the Internet in the classroom. Presents a project on renewable energy sources in which students produce web pages. Provides the web page address of the project completed by students. (ASK)

Describes the Science Alliance project, a teacher-scientist collaboration where each teacher is given five non-consecutive days of professional development time to meet with a participating scientist, technician, engineer, mathematician, or environmentalist to develop a module of lesson plans that introduce the real world of industry into the…

Describes the PowerTools Project, a partnership program between schools and research scientists at the University of Texas Health Center. Discusses the beginnings and the scaling up of the project. (JRH)

Describes a field trip to study, collect, and analyze galls in the field and classroom. Students hypothesize about factors that cause gall formation, develop a basic understanding of the complex and fragile interactions between plants and insects that result in the formation of plant galls, and determine the broader role of galls within the…

Presents an activity that focuses on insects and the choices they make in response to sensory input. Involves students and teachers in inquiry-oriented investigations and presents details of preparation, a discussion of the teacher's role, and a materials list. (DDR)

Details the use of computer technology for classroom presentations to students. Includes tips on software, hardware, and monitoring student opinion. (DDR)

Presents an interdisciplinary unit in which students ask questions about themselves, gather data, and participate in statistical analysis and graphing activities related to the data. Contains an assessment instrument and data sheet example. (DDR)

Presents strategies for encouraging dialog with students from eliciting preconceptions to bringing closure to a unit. Includes the general structure of an instructional unit that employs dialog, strategies for teachers to use, and strategies for students which include active listening. (DDR)

Presents a play for students in grades four to nine that incorporates the scientific names, physical characteristics, feeding habits, interactions, and interdependence of the plants and animals that make up the Great Lakes food web to facilitate the learning of this complex system. Includes a Great Lakes food web chart. (AIM)

Illustrates how teachers designed new science learning environments based on research readings from science and technology studies and studied teaching and learning within these environments. Examples of students' science-related activities include videotaped laboratory activities, taped interviews, and student-produced artifacts collected over…

Discusses interdisciplinary teaching teams as one approach to integrating several subjects in a curriculum. Presents activities for an interdisciplinary unit on energy and the human body that involve science, health, mathematics, music, and physical education. (JRH)

Describes activities which sharpen awareness of trees through the senses in this first of a two-part integrated unit for teaching children about forest ecosystems. Students interact and work in collaborative groups; learn about the impact of forests on daily life; explore the interdependence of plants, animals, soil, water, air, and light; explore…

Describes an interdisciplinary investigation of air pollution in a school in which students wrote the proposals, set up experiments, analyzed their data, and formulated conclusions. (JRH)

Presents The Learning Web, a web site dedicated to K-12 earth science education that is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. Includes earth science activities and information presented in three categories: (1) Global Change; (2) Working With Maps; and (3) Earth Science. Also features other educational sections such as Ask-A-Geologist, Dynamic…