Presents classroom inquiry-based investigations to investigate wound healing in plant tissues and cells. Students create their own research problems and the investigations can be related to the National Science Standards. (SAH)

Examines how, through discourse processes, a third grade teacher and her students came to situationally define science in their classroom. Uses a discourse analytical approach to examine the classroom members' experimentation logic, their explanations and scientific decisions, and their accounts of events. (Contains 82 references.) (Author/YDS)

Argues that science education is a fundamental tool for global education and that it must be introduced in early years as a first step to a scientific culture for all. Describes testing validity of a didactic strategy for developing the learning of concepts, which was based upon an experimental work approach using everyday life contexts. (Author)

Advocates using computer-simulated learning environments to allow students to develop their own problem-solving rules when it comes to collecting and evaluating scientific data. Describes the use of "Identibacter interactus" to simulate identification of an unknown microorganism. (WRM)

Describes the use of potassium chloride in quantitative project investigations into radioactivity. (WRM)

According to historical stories, the Saxons placed a bowl with a hole in its bottom in water and used the time it took the bowl to submerge to limit orations. Describes a science activity in which students find a relationship between the diameter of the hole and the time to submergence. (WRM)

Presents a student laboratory investigation that tests hypotheses about the uptake of phosphate ions by carrots and yeast. (ASK)

We describe a sequence of five experiments on network security that cast students successively in the roles of computer user, programmer, and system administrator. Unlike experiments described in several previous papers, these experiments avoid placing students in the role of attacker. Each experiment starts with an in-class demonstration of an…

This study examined the code-switching patterns in the speech of immigrant Spanish-speaking children. Seven- and 10-year-old boys and girls from bilingual classrooms were each paired with a mutually selected friend, and their speech was collected in two contexts: while the children waited for an expected science experiment and when they worked…

In this study, Grade 9 students wrote experiment manuals for their peers describing a simple physics investigation to explore whether air takes space. Peers executed these manuals and their processes were videotaped. In several experimental conditions, these videotapes were played back for authors. Then they had to rewrite the experiment manual.…

Writing-to-learn techniques can enhance learning, yet a need remains for more empirical research on the quality of learning that results from engaging in particular writing tasks with description of the instructional support for writing situated in context. This report builds on past research linking inquiry, social negotiation, and writing…

This article examines the 11-year Soviet experiment with boys' schools as a way to cast new light on scholarly research and public debates about single-sex education. Drawing on archival and published materials by educators who described school conditions, identified problems, suggested reforms, and evaluated remedies, the author argues that…

The purpose of this study was to explore how science teachers' epistemological beliefs and teaching goals are related to their use of lab activities. Research questions include: (1) What are the teachers' epistemological beliefs pertaining to lab activities? (2) Why do the science teachers use lab activities? (3) How are the teachers'…

It has been a practice at the University of Washington to begin their workshops on investigative sciences for preservice and inservice K-8 teachers with the discussion of variables. The teaching of the concepts of variables is important, as it provides students with the opportunity to understand other aspects of an investigation, such as the use…

This article is an outline of what the author did in his classroom to incorporate the help of two volunteer engineers to create a powerful learning unit and cumulative review for his eighth-grade physical science students. This unit reviews what students have learned during the school year regarding force, motion, Newton's laws, gas laws, and…