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Journal Article

Peer-Led Team Learning: A new teaching model focuses on student achievement through active learning

Students are more likely to honestly express their ideas—both scientifically valid conceptions and misconceptions—in a peer group where they have no fear than in front of a teacher who will be issuing grades. The Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) mod...

Journal Article

Curriculum Compacting

Is it practical to expect teachers to tailor instruction to meet the needs of gifted students when many teachers are already taxed by trying to differentiate curriculum for exceptional education students? It seems an impossible task, but teachers can...

Journal Article

Versatile Vee Maps: An alternative to the traditional laboratory report

The Vee map is a tool that guides students' thinking and learning during laboratory experiences. As an alternative to the traditional laboratory report, vee maps allow teachers to look into the thinking of students while providng a format to guide st...

Journal Article

Suckers for Science: Lessons with leeches teach students to think like scientists

Suckers for Science is a model inquiry-based program for integrating curriculum, incorporating technology, providing alternative assessment, demonstrating connections between classroom and real-life applications, and motivating students to learn more...

Journal Article

Editor's Note (January 2001)

Science and Children’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

Oh Say Can You See

Without guidance many student observations are inaccurate, lack detail, or are incomplete. In this article, learn about a simple strategy for improving students' observation skills....

Journal Article

Inspired Inquiry

In using the inquiry-based learning concept, this project uses candy and containers of water to spark students' interest in investigating. ...

Journal Article

Habitat Sweet Habitat

This camouflage activity is a simple experiment using everyday materials. It helps young students develop important science-inquiry skills. It also demonstrates that with creativity teachers can go beyond the typical literature response activity in h...

Journal Article

The Process of Animation: Creating computerized animations of scientific processes

Dynamic processes are inherently difficult to teach in all branches of science. This article focuses on a better way to teach scientific processes by allowing students to observe them firsthand, but this can be difficult due to lack of equipment or t...

Journal Article

A Question of Measure: Students build problem-solving skills by measuring volume

Early in the semester, students must learn to work in teams and develop problem-solving skills. This article features a team-building activity that requires students to incorporate math skills, logic, and problem solving. This activity helps students...

Journal Article

The Ozone Show: Using a talk show format as an authentic assessment

Instructors are constantly searching for more authentic ways of assessing student work. Authentic assessments model activities students might perform in the outside world. As a concluding activity of a unit on the hole in the ozone layer, the environ...

Journal Article

Students Make the Grade: By evaluating their peers in graded discussions, students learn key discussion behaviors

Teachers who have attempted classroom discussions have experienced a number of scenarios and still long for the perfect constructivist discussion—one in which each student is engaged, the class directs the course of the discussion, and all students...

Journal Article

Projecting the Scientific Method: Introducing students to the scientific method and the gas laws

Teaching and training students to use the scientific method as a series of steps and as a way of understanding chemical and physical changes is best done in context. This article features an activity using gas laws as an excellent vehicle for introdu...