School students, and their teachers, seldom have opportunities to investigate something in nature. Yet children's development, as perceived by Piaget, and historical scientists' learning, involves investigation. We acted to include these investigative responses and historic resources into our work with new science teachers. We did this in the…

The is the first report from a study of a structured active learning approach to an analytical chemistry course. The purpose of the study is to assess the longitudinal outcomes of this approach and to provide feedback to curriculum developers about the effects of the changes being made in the chemistry curriculum. The data, collected from a cohort…

This paper reports on a unique assessment of a structured active learning approach to a freshman chemistry course. Faculty members (N=25) from 11 departments outside the chemistry department served as assessors interviewing approximately 200 students from the experimental and a comparison version of the course. The experimental section of the…

The activities in this book guide exploration of rocky shores, wetlands, sandy shores, kelp forests, the open sea and deep sea, and introduce students to a variety of topics and different approaches. This material is written by marine educators and was tested with over 70,000 children visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium (California) each year. The…

This curriculum guide is all about owls and provides information on the folklore related to owls, present populations, explanations of physical characteristics, exploring owl pellets, burrowing owls, snowy owls, and great horned owls. Included are eight activities using owl cards, owl pellets, puzzles, and origami. This guide aims to increase…

This curriculum guide is all about bats and provides information through the telling of stories about bats and their history and folklore. The activities contained in this guide employ an interdisciplinary approach and use mazes, puzzles, model-building, and board games to interest and inform students. Topics covered include the physical…

Renewal is the focus of this curriculum designed for students in kindergarten through Grade 8. The purpose of this guide is to educate students and teachers about the problems faced in managing the amount of solid waste generated by society. Each grade level curriculum is organized into activities that support exploration of the nature of solid…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain middle school student and science teacher perceptions of the science inquiry experiences fostered in their science classrooms and to develop a science inquiry profile based on survey information from students and teachers. Nine hundred seventeen middle school (grades 6-8) science students and their…

A video study was conducted as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), a comparative study of mathematics and science education in 41 countries focusing on student achievement and its educational context. The study was conducted in a total of 231 classrooms in Germany, Japan, and the United States. Innovative new…

Student-centered classrooms are characterized by shared responsibility, curriculum adjustment to reduce the number of topics or to increase emphasis on a subset of topics, a high premium placed on student-generated questions and investigations, and collective validation of students' ideas as a central feature of the teaching and learning process.…

This document presents a project that attempts to increase awareness of natural resources and surface and ground water in the Miami Valley region among elementary and middle school teachers and their students. The Miami Valley (Ohio) Environmental Science Education Teacher Enhancement Project Summer Workshop involved 33 teachers investigating a…

This document presents a sample of the Arkansas science curriculum and identifies the content standards for physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems for second grade students. Each content standard is explained and includes student learning expectations, second grade benchmarks, assessments, and…

This document presents a sample of the Arkansas science curriculum and identifies the content standards for physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems for third grade students. Each content standard is explained and includes student learning expectations, third grade benchmarks, assessments, and…

This document presents a sample of the Arkansas science curriculum and identifies the content standards for physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems for fourth grade students. Each content standard is explained and includes student learning expectations, fourth grade benchmarks, assessments, and…

This document presents a sample of the Arkansas science curriculum and identifies the content standards for physical science systems, life science systems, and Earth science/space science systems for fifth grade students. Each content standard is explained and includes student learning expectations, fifth grade benchmarks, assessments, and…