The purpose of this study is to explore children's typically-perceived-situations (TPS) of "floating" and "sinking". TPS refers to the situation rising spontaneously in an individual's mind when they first think of a phenomenon or concept. Data were collected from 148 Year 5 Korean children. As a result of analysing the data…

Children's trade books about science may be playing an increasing role in science instruction; however, the potential effects on student learning are unknown. To investigate whether a subset of books would be appropriate for classroom instruction about a specific science topic (plant reproduction), a selection of children's books about plants was…

Children learn about properties of materials as they walk through a fabric store, help in the kitchen, or dig in the garden. Directed explorations in the classroom build on these early experiences. In the inquiry-based activity described here, students prepare to learn about wet and dry ingredients (liquids and solids) and how they mix together by…

In this science investigation based on the 5E learning model, students moved through four different centers designed to focus their attention on the concepts of mass, volume, and density. At these stations, students encountered discrepant events that heightened their curiosity and encouraged discussion with peers about what they expected and…

When you observe something, how do you know for sure what you are seeing, feeling, smelling, or hearing? Asking students to think critically about their encounters with the natural world will help to strengthen their understanding and application of the science-process skills of observation and inference. In the following lesson, students make…

For several years, the author's fifth-grade students raised and observed plants, kept journals, and analyzed the functions of the parts of a plant. But this year, a near disaster taught her a lesson and increased the value of the activity for her students. Not only did students learn about plants, they now understand what a variable is and how…

Carefully selected trade books can introduce science concepts, develop background knowledge, reinforce hands-on lessons, support science-process skills, and at the same time enhance related literacy-process skills. They can also provide inspiration and structure for integrated science and literacy lessons. Based on these ideas, the authors…

Resources for selecting high-quality elementary science trade books include lists exclusively for science and those that contain a broad spectrum of content foci such as the IRA's "Teachers' Choices" list. In this study, the genres and content areas of science-based "Teachers' Choices" books from the list's inception in 1988 through 2004 were…

Problem statement: Organization of science learning activities is necessary to rely on various methods of organization of learning and to be appropriate to learners. Organization of project-based learning activities and inquiry-based learning activities are teaching methods which can help students understand scientific knowledge. It would be more…

The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. A total of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United…

Critical thinking is considered to be an important outcome that all students, regardless of their academic major, need to achieve during their undergraduate study. In addition, critical thinking allows students to respond to less-well defined problems and thus to be better prepared for both personal and professional challenges. Taking into…

A series of aspects regarding the aria of teaching sciences (chemistry, biology, physics, geography) in pre-universitary learning is presented. This paper underlines the importance of prerepresentations of students in teaching-learning process in pre-universitary learning, assuring in this way a desirable direction of the reform in…

Effective science teachers use curriculum materials as a guide in their planning, critiquing and adapting them to promote inquiry-oriented, standards-based teaching and address specific contextual needs. Unfortunately, many preservice teachers encounter difficulties with these design tasks, making changes that are inconsistent with science…

Inquiry science, including a focus on evidence-based discourse, is essential to spark interest in science education in the early grades and maintain that interest throughout children's schooling. The researcher was interested in two broad areas: inquiry science in the elementary classroom and the need/desire for professional development…

Educative curriculum materials--materials designed to promote both teacher and student learning--may help novice teachers learn how to engage in productive curricular planning. However, little is known about how educative supports within these materials should be written to best support teachers. This quasi-experimental study examines the…