Vortex flow, from millimeter to kilometer in scale, is important in many scientific and technological areas. Examples are seen in water strider locomotion, from industrial pipe flow (wastewater treatment) to air traffic control (safe distance between aircrafts on a runway ready for takeoff) to atmospheric studies. In this paper, we focus on a…

This article describes a series of activities in which students investigate soil, culminating in the biomimicry of reducing landfill waste. After students learned about soil's ecosystem structure and the function of its food web with nutrient cycling and decomposition, they discovered that they know a solution to reduce the trash in landfills by…

I present a learning cycle that explores different biotechnologies using the process of in situ hybridization as a platform. Students are presented with a cyclopic lamb and must use biotechnology to discover the mechanism behind the deformity. Through this activity, students learn about signal transduction and discover the processes of polymerase…

Building a structure that stands hundreds or thousands of feet in the air incorporates all aspects of the design process. There are clear goals, constraints, and trade-offs. Here the author does his best to describe these three with respect to skyscrapers and then talks about how engineers, in all their wisdom, have dealt with them. (Contains 5…

The objectives of this work are: (1) to agarose-stabilize fragile biofilms for quantitative structure analysis; (2) to understand the influences of LuxS on biofilm formation; (3) to improve teacher quality by preparing Georgia's middle school science teachers to integrate inquiry-based, hands-on research modules in the classroom. Quantitative…

The acronym STEM--the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math--now a familiar term in education, is evolving into STEAM--STEM plus "A" for art. Educational researcher Martin Storksdieck's studies have shown that infusing art into STEM allows for "a different way of perceiving and knowing and dealing with the world, as a means to…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

How do teachers help students realize their place in the universe? How do they teach the relationship among the Earth, Moon, stars, and galaxies during daylight hours? Most teachers assume that astronomy is a difficult subject to teach in the classroom and that without a planetarium little can be learned. In this article, the authors discuss…

Field trips to science museums can provide students with educational experiences, particularly when museum programs emphasize scientific inquiry skill building over content knowledge acquisition. We describe the creation and study of 2 programs designed to significantly enhance students' inquiry skills at any interactive science museum exhibit…

Two of the most frustrating things for me as a teacher are the way units and jargon can get in the way of understanding concepts. When I teach pre-nursing and medical students about blood pressure, they end up memorizing a lot of information that would be obvious if they had remembered some of their basic physics--particularly the ability to…

The National Science Education Standards have highlighted the importance of active learning and reflection for contemporary scientific methods in K-12 classrooms, including the use of models. Computer modeling and visualization are tools that researchers employ in their scientific inquiry process, and often computer models are used in…

What bird species live in your area? Which migrate and which stay year-round? How do bird populations change over time? Citizen science provides the essential tools to address these questions and more. With ever-growing databases such as Project FeederWatch and eBird, students can connect with people around the world as they make observations,…

While there is near universal agreement within the science education community that a strong understanding of nature of science (NOS)--both as a student goal and a teacher attribute--is critical, we still struggle with how to achieve these aims. Barriers range from pragmatic logistics to fundamental curricular tensions. In this paper, we share a…

This paper presents a laboratory exercise used to teach principal components analysis (PCA) as a means of surface zonation. The lab was built around abundance data for 16 oxides and elements collected by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit in Gusev Crater between Sol 14 and Sol 470. Students used PCA to reduce 15 of these into 3 components, which,…

Invertebrate model organisms are powerful systems for uncovering conserved principles of animal biology. Despite widespread use in scientific communities, invertebrate research is often severely undervalued by laypeople. Here, we present a set of simple, inexpensive public outreach exercises aimed at explaining to the public why basic research on…