Explains an activity in which students study sedimentary rocks using an inquiry-based approach. Focuses on Content Standard D of the National Science Education Standards (NSES). (YDS)

Describes a laboratory-based program in physics designed to help students build effective links between the mathematical equations used to solve problems in mechanics and the real world of moving objects. Conducts the study among senior college students and points out the value of laboratory work in science education for development of thinking…

Teaches concepts such as inertia, gravity, and friction using a "Lunch Box Derby" activity. Uses vegetables for the construction of race cars. Explains student approaches during the design and construction portion. Describes the rubrics used for student evaluation. (YDS)

Reports on part of a larger study of how 11- and 12-year-old students construct knowledge of electricity and magnetism by drawing on aspects of their experiences during the course of a school visit to an interactive science museum and subsequent classroom activities linked to the science museum exhibits. (Contains 24 references.) (Author/YDS)

Explains the procedure for creating a field guide for high school students. Provides field guide questions and a sample format of the guide's insect page. (YDS)

Presents an exercise in which students are assigned a current study then write three two-page critiques of the article. Peer review using double blind, single blind, or open review systems is employed followed by class discussion. (DDR)

Details an effort in Gambia to enable primary teachers to use a hands on-approach to science teaching. Discusses availability of equipment, improvisation, application, use of time, lack of confidence, and class size as concerns in this professional development effort. (DDR)

Discusses the structure of a laboratory course that employs guided inquiry and collaborative learning to increase student preparedness for and intellectual engagement in laboratory investigations, and to give students an understanding and appreciation of a collaborative work environment. Contains 29 references. (DDR)

Explains how students can perform an alternative authentic DNA fingerprinting analysis. Presents restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and can serve as a simulated molecular epidemiology laboratory or as a simulated forensic laboratory exercise. (DDR)

Asserts that young children need help translating scientific theory into experiences that involve their senses. Provides age-appropriate, literature-based activities for exploring concepts and vocabulary in the areas of plant life cycles, animal life cycles, ocean ecology, and human growth development. Suggests specific works of children's…

Presents three science activities for the first week of class that use the cooperative learning approach and computers. Requires students to create a web page to introduce group members. (YDS)

Defines adaptive inquiry and argues for employing this method which allows lessons to be shaped in response to student needs. Illustrates this idea by detailing an activity in which teams of students build rockets. (DDR)

Presents an activity designed to provide students with opportunities to practice drawing atomic models and discover the logical pairings of whole families on the periodic table. Follows the format of a television game show. (DDR)

Presents a study in which the conversations of primary school groups were collected in a botanical garden and analyzed for content. The data were examined for the effects of the presence or absence of an adult in the group, age, and the sex of the pupils. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/DDR)

Does a sensori-motor experience help a physics student understand the movement of molecules in solids, liquids, and gases? Students aged 9-10 were given either traditional demonstrations of solids, liquids, and gases and the variation of molecular motion with temperature (iconic presentation), or they were involved in physical activities as they…