Uses shoeboxes to set up science kits to supplement specific areas of the science curriculum. Each kit contains a set of material and instructions for a single activity. The activity is intended as an individualized experience that is related to a current topic of study or that reinforces a recent topic. Details for making six sample shoeboxes are…

Describes the four major phases of a science project to create a school-site native plant habitat: (1) planning the habitat area; (2) constructing the habitat; (3) writing the related curriculum; and (4) providing inservice programs to other interested science teachers. (MDH)

What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry-based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project-based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, [1990]; Crawford, [1999]; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks,…

Math is often taught poorly emphasizing rote, procedural methods rather than creativity and problem solving. Alberta Education developed a new mathematics curriculum to transform mathematics teaching to inquiry driven methods. This revised curriculum provides a new vision for mathematics and creates opportunities and requirements for professional…

Understanding the ways in which scientific knowledge develops, or the epistemology of science, is believed to be a crucial component of scientific literacy. This construct is more formally known as Nature of Science (NOS) within the science education community. The merits of three different approaches to NOS teaching and learning in the context of…

Understanding how to better engage young students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is essential. The constraints of U.S. K-12 schools (e.g. insufficient institutional supports, lack of technology access, testing pressures, etc.) often make it difficult to create truly engaging STEM curricula with which students can deeply…

For several years at the Rural and Small Schools Conference, a special effort has been made to address the needs that are unique to rural science educators. This publication is a compilation of materials presented at those conferences reflecting the following themes: "In Search of Excellence" (1985); "Rural Education: A Proud…

A staff development project to create closer integration and mutual support between specialized science and technology curricula and vocational education courses is described. Project activities are listed, and a statement of underlying assumptions is provided. A list of guidelines for coordinating shop and academic projects follows. Guidelines…

Science projects which can be used by high school students who have minimal experience with computers or electronics are presented in this book on laboratory interfacing. These laboratory interfacing projects include either the connecting of measuring instruments directly to a computer or using a computer to control external devices. All of the 14…

Children with special learning needs participate fully in the authors' science classes every day; their job as teachers is to bring about meaningful science connections for all students, including those who do not communicate their knowledge most effectively through the ways most typically associated with classroom learning (i.e., reading,…

We examine the science and pedagogy behind a historical approach to the professional development of pre-college science (primarily biology) teachers. Our intention is to reach professional scientists, who, as a group, are uniquely qualified to provide experience and insights essential to this approach. The underlying research for this article has…

In order to improve the quality of technology instruction, the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Business Department in the Spokane Public School district has aligned its Computer Applications (CA) course to the district's ninth-grade Springboard (Language Arts) curriculum, Algebra I curriculum, and the Culminating Project (senior project)…

This paper reports on the design, implementation and assessment of a new approach course structure based on the combination of three cooperative methodologies. The main goal is to reduce the percentage of non-passed students focusing the learning process on students by offering different alternatives and motivational activities based on working in…

Typically, teachers use tests to evaluate students' knowledge acquisition. In a novel experimental study, we examined whether low-stakes testing ("quizzing") can be used to foster students' learning of course content in 8th grade science classes. Students received multiple-choice quizzes (with feedback); in the quizzes, some target…

A participatory learning approach, combined with both a traditional and a competitive assessment, was used to motivate students and promote a deep approach to learning biochemistry. Students were challenged to research, author, and explain their own multiple-choice questions (MCQs). They were also required to answer, evaluate, and discuss MCQs…