Presents a unit on volcanoes for third- and fourth-grade students. Includes demonstrations; video presentations; building a volcano model; and inviting a scientist, preferably a vulcanologist, to share his or her expertise with students. (JRH)

Presents hands-on science activities using inexpensive, hand-held microscopes and slides made from simple, readily available materials. The article describes how to introduce students to microscopes and presents directions for using the microscopes and making slides. A student page investigates fingerprints with microscopes. (SM)

Presents an elementary level hands-on science activity designed to teach students about shadows. The activity helps students draw conclusions about shadows by experimenting with different materials and determining which will make a shadow. A sidebar explains what a shadow is and offers further resources. (SM)

Discusses how science structures, and is structured by, norms of heterosexual masculinity and how those norms comprise a hidden curriculum, examining empirical research on curricular and classroom materials used in school science and describing how they are deployed pedagogically. Suggests that this results in impoverished experiences for students…

The Moon's cycle of phases is one of the most familiar natural phenomena, yet also one of the most misunderstood. This probably comes as no surprise, but research has found that a significant segment of the population, including both elementary students and teachers, mistakenly believes that the Moon's phases are caused by the shadow of the Earth.…

In this descriptive study, the science subject matter knowledge of preservice and inservice elementary teachers was examined and compared. Over an eight-year period, answers to 13 science questions, including 10 from the US National Science Foundation's Survey of Public Attitudes Toward and Understanding of Science and Technology, were collected…

The author discusses Moh's hardness scale, a comparative scale for minerals, whereby the softest mineral (talc) is placed at 1 and the hardest mineral (diamond) is placed at 10, with all other minerals ordered in between, according to their hardness. Development history of the scale is outlined, as well as a description of how the scale is used…

The study was designed to find out the extent of Nigerian teachers' knowledge of primary science curriculum content and their involvement in the participation of their pupils in science activities. Furthermore, the study sought to find out teachers ranking of primary science objectives. The subjects were 60 primary school teachers randomly…

The focus of this paper is on selected recent South African research studies that have explored efforts to promote the discussion, writing, and arguing aspects of scientific literacy in primary and middle schools, particularly amongst second-language learners. These studies reveal improvements in the participants' abilities to both use the…

The purpose of this study was to examine students' learning of simple machines, a fifth-grade (ages 10-11) forces and motion unit, and student engagement using a teacher-created Multiplayer Educational Gaming Application. This mixed-method study collected pre-test/post-test results to determine student knowledge about simple machines. A survey…

Fifteen 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade teachers from five school districts each taught two sections of science--one with a Science-Technology-Society (STS) approach and the other with a more traditional textbook approach in which basic science concepts were the major organizers. Local, current, and personally relevant issues provided the context and…

Undergraduate college "science partners" provided content knowledge and a supportive atmosphere for K-5 teachers in a university-school professional development partnership program in science instruction. The Elementary Science Education Partners program, a Local Systemic Change initiative supported by the National Science Foundation,…

This pilot study documents the design and evaluation results of an innovative teaching approach with the use of ICT regarding the optics concepts of light reflection and diffusion, and vision in Greek primary school. First there was a survey of 140 students to ascertain their initial ideas regarding these concepts. On the basis of the results of…

Modeling is a core practice in science and a central part of scientific literacy. We present theoretical and empirical motivation for a learning progression for scientific modeling that aims to make the practice accessible and meaningful for learners. We define scientific modeling as including the elements of the practice (constructing, using,…

This paper presents the results of a case study involving 282 Taiwanese elementary science teachers at the elementary level. These teachers provided responses to the science efficacy instrument (STEBI-A) and also provided personal data regarding how their years of general (YTE) and science (YTS) teaching experience may have influenced student…