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Journal Article
First-grade lessons on life science and classification address misconceptions....
Journal Article
A place-based science curriculum incorporates the photovoice method....
Journal Article
The Moon can only be seen at night, electricity only comes from batteries, and dinosaurs and cavemen lived at the same time—these are just a few of the misconceptions students have about science (Phillips 1991). Though instructional labs, demonstra...
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Teaching Through Trade Books: Delving Into Disasters
Students uncover information about previous natural disasters or events to construct explanations using science process skills....
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Formative Assessment Probes: Is It Living?
Uncover the hidden meanings children construct....
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Green Science: Organic Milk—Is the Grass Greener on the Other Side?
This column focuses on issues related to environmentally friendly and sustainable science. In this month’s column we look at the costs and benefits of producing organic milk. ...
Journal Article
Active Learning Strategies: The Top 10
Conceptual change instruction recognizes that students bring personal, or naive, conceptions to the classroom, which they use to explain their world, interpret situations, and create meaning (Driver et al. 2007). But what happens when students' perso...
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Explaining Electrical Circuits
A unit designed to help fourth graders explain (in writing) scientific concepts they learned through inquiry activities and explicit teaching....
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Science Shorts: Weather Watchers
A unit that emphasizes sensory observation, with the creation of appropriate weather instruments and models!...
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An online collaborative investigation of Brassica rapa (Wisconsin fast plants) by fifth-graders during a unit on the life cycle of plants....
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Get in the Game With Team Density
A floating bowling ball? No way! There is no better way to get students' attention and reinforce the need for conceptual understanding than with a discrepant event like this. Density is a central concept in chemistry and physical science from middle ...
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Teachers incorporate plants into the curriculum to learn about various subjects in addition to botany. Students use web-based resources, such as the Human Flower Project website, to explore the world of plants....
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The New Teacher's Toolbox: Piloting New Ideas—The Brown-Bag Friday Seminar
One of the most exciting things about beginning a teaching career is developing your own ideas. Piloting new lessons is key to establishing a solid curriculum—though the process is often time-consuming and requires much reflection. In this month's ...
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Claims, Evidence, and Reasoning
Fifth graders design and test strategies regarding levers to better their construction and justification of claims. ...
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Editor's Corner: Private Worlds
Every time we teach, new concepts compete with students' misconceptions. It is only by identifying and examining these naive ideas that we can hope to bring about conceptual change. In this month's Editor's Corner, Field Editor Steve Metz advocates f...
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Journal Article
Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia Seeds for Inquiry
Students learn about growing plants while using chia seeds during science inquiry activities. Nutrition and cultural history are also incorporated into the activity....
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Elementary students must be challenged to ask good questions and develop inquiring attitudes. A well-known paper towel investigation gains new life and prepares students for their middle and high school years....
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What's So Special About Plants? Inquiry in the Classroom
Raise student awareness of plants with these simple investigations that develop students' various process skills. Students observe plants and record these observations in their journals, design and conduct investigations, and make models....
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Safer Science: Live Animals and Dissection
Responsible Use of Live Animals and Dissection in the Science Classroom, one of NSTA's position statements, emphasizes the role of student interaction with animals in the National Science Education Standards (NRC 1996). It encourages educators and sc...
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A Standards-Based Science Fair
Students compete against standards, rather than against other students....
Journal Article
Establish the roots of a true scientific collaboration with PlantingScience, a unique website that engages students in hands-on plant investigations that allow them to work with peers and scientist mentors....