Presents career exploration activities for middle school students to stimulate interest and provide information concerning career opportunities in the science field. The activities are cited as representative of an Earth systems education curriculum approach that includes career exploration as an important aspect of science education. (nine…

Provides information on nutritional caloric value determination. Describes the chemical components of peanuts. Explains how to construct a soda can calorimeter for determining the heat released by a burning nut. Describes how to determine calories and kilocalories. Author asserts the activity can be adopted for children of any age. (eight…

Describes a five-day summer workshop for rural elementary teachers to improve hands-on science instruction. Participants showed significant gains in science knowledge and science teaching confidence but showed no significant improvement in science teaching attitudes. Follow-up visits to schools revealed high usage of the activities and a positive…

Students can explore temperature and heat conductivity by examining materials that make good cups for hot cocoa. Using temperature probes from computer-based science packages, students can measure gradual change in the liquid's temperature, watch as data are plotted on the computer, and explain why they chose a specific material. (SM)

Provides insights on the causes of the poor writing skills of many students. Also included are suggestions for improving students' abilities to write. (ZWH)

A brief overview of LabNet, a project aimed at enhancing physics education, is provided. The article focuses on a description of LabNetwork which is one of several mechanisms designed to offer LabNet participants opportunities to give and receive peer support. (ZWH)

The following indices for assessing river water quality are described: Shannon-Weiner Diversity Index, Sorenson Quotient of Similarity, Czekanowski's Index of Similarity, Trent Biotic Index, Chandler Score, and Biological Monitoring Working Party Score. Their advantages and disadvantages are outlined. (Author)

A collection of creative pupil activities in science lessons is presented, discussed, and illustrated. The activities include drawing, acting, gaming, and modeling. The relative merits of work of the types described are analyzed. (KR)

Presented is an activity in which students work in research teams to gather data, integrate computer analyses, and discover the relationships between variables by using a second class lever. A diagram of the lever, a list of processes involved in this activity, and an idealized data table are included. (KR)

Discussed is a method for judging science fair projects considered to be more accurate than just an averaging of scores. The use of many categories so that the number of projects in each is relatively small is proposed. The advantages of using the consensus method are described. (KR)

Presented are the results of a survey of a sample of the readers of the journal, "Science and Children." The characteristics of the group including demographics, teaching strategies employed by, financial support of, interests of, and satisfaction with the journal of this sample of readers are discussed. (CW)

The construction and stocking of an in-class pond is discussed. Suggestions for eight activities using the pond are provided. A list of 15 references is included. (CW)

Activities are included that acquaint students with the parts of birds and the structure of feathers; that identify the prey of owls by opening owl pellets; working with information about threatened and endangered species of birds; and follow-up activities for bird study. A list of state and provincial birds of the United States and Canada and…

Critical background references on the problems related to comprehension of science text material, a conceptual framework on which to base instructional decisions, and some specific activities designed to enhance science reading comprehension are presented. (36 references) (KR)

Eighteen science activities that help children learn to use their senses are described. Multisensory activities and single-sensory activities are provided. Each activity includes a list of materials, the procedure, information for the teacher, questions, and a vocabulary list of words often used by children to describe what is taking place. (KR)