JoinAll Resources
Journal Article
“Yuuuck!” “Gross!” “Cool!” The response to slugs is never indifference. These slimy creatures are perfect for captivating students’ imagination and curiosity, and they are ideal subjects to introduce investigative science. This article ...
Journal Article
In an integrated science/language arts/technology unit called “How Scientists Learn,” students researched famous scientists from the past and cutting-edge modern-day scientists. Using biography trade books and the internet, students collected and...
Journal Article
An important goal of the current reform movement in science education is to promote scientific literacy in the United States, and scientific inquiry is at its heart. However, the National Science Education Standards clearly indicate that to promote i...
Journal Article
Scope on Safety: Yes, you need a Chemical Hygiene Officer
The Chemical Hygiene Officer's (CHO) role is absolutely critical in fostering and ensuring both chemical hygiene practices and the chemical hygiene plan. OSHA defines the Chemical Hygiene Officer as an “employee who is designated by the employer, a...
Journal Article
Every Day Science Calendar (May 2009)
This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer. ...
Journal Article
Everyday Engineering: What Makes a Bic Click?
The ballpoint pen is an ideal example of simple engineering that we use everyday. But is it really so simple? The ballpoint pen is a remarkable combination of technology and science. Its operation uses several scientific principles related to chemist...
Journal Article
In the exciting, “out of this world” activity described here, students measure the Earth using meter sticks while measuring their shadows in two distant locations. To obtain the size of the Earth, students discover the connection between the meas...
Journal Article
Tried and True: Solar System in the Hallway
After studying phenomena related to the positions and motions of the Earth, Sun, and Moon, many students are familiar with the positional ordering of the planets, but their knowledge of the distances involved is vague. Scale models are one means of b...
Journal Article
Editor’s Roundtable: International Year of Astronomy
2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) because it marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescopic observations of the Moon and other bodies in the solar system, which challenged, and subsequently changed, the prevail...
Journal Article
How could a rock formed by volcanic activity get to this shoreline, surrounded by sedimentary rocks? That was the question a group of third-grade students asked—and answered—during an inquiry-based summer camp. Over a two week timeframe, the stud...
Journal Article
The Artistic Oceanographer Program
The Artistic Oceanographer Program (AOP) was designed to engage elementary school students in ocean sciences and to illustrate basic fifth-grade science and art standards with ocean-based examples. The program combines short science lessons, hands-on...
Book Chapter
This book, and particularly the stories which lie within, provide an opportunity for students to take ownership of their learning and learn science in a way that will give them a more positive attitude about science. In addition, it will serve to hel...
Book Chapter
Segmented worms are considered “yucky” by a great many people, yet they are members of a large animal group that populates the entire world and provides a great service to our planet. This story should stimulate students to want to know more abou...
Book Chapter
This story is true, although Maria and Enrique are fictional characters. A barred owl does live in the rafter of the chickee at Shark Valley and does drop owl pellets from its nest almost daily. The purpose of this story is twofold: (1) to learn more...
Book Chapter
Trees From Helicopters, Continued
Maples are very interesting trees with lots of variation in form. They provide a view of diversity in plants as well as a chance to look at natural phenomena that is very common to anyone who has had a maple tree near them. The main purpose of this s...
Book Chapter
Flowers: More Than Just Pretty
Children love to look at flowers but few are inclined to become familiar with the structure and function of the flower. This story is aimed at providing some motivation for children to learn about one of the most important evolutionary developments i...
Book Chapter
Hardly a day goes by without something arriving by e-mail or being posted on the internet that just doesn’t sound true. The students in this story are depicted as having alert skepticism about things that don’t actually add up in their minds and ...
Book Chapter
Magnetism is a force that acts over a distance. Children play with magnetic toys all of the time. Any family that has a refrigerator knows that the number of magnets on the door defines the size of the appliance. This story should give students an op...
Book Chapter
This story should give students an opportunity to discover that every liquid has its own unique boiling point and that heat applied to any liquid that has reached its boiling point will not result in an increase in temperature but will be used to cha...
Book Chapter
Dissolving things in the universal solvent water is an everyday experience for almost all of us. We don’t have a lot of trouble dissolving honey in hot tea, but when it comes to sweetening cold iced tea, it is almost impossible. Obviously, water is...
Book Chapter
This story poses a challenge to solve the mystery of light, color, and how we see color. It also asks the question, “What is color?” After investigating the phenomena of color and color filters, students should realize that light is made up of ma...
Book Chapter
This story is designed to motivate students to explore how mirrors work and how mirrors reflect the light—first reflected from objects to the mirror and then to our eyes as images—and to discover in this particular case the famed rule that “the...
Book Chapter
Using the Book and the Stories
It is often difficult for overburdened teachers to develop lessons or activities that are compatible with the everyday life experiences of their students. A major premise of this book is that if students can see the real-life implications of science ...
Book Chapter
Using the Book in Different Ways
Although the book was originally designed for use with K–8 students by teachers or adults in informal settings, it became obvious that a book containing stories and content material for teachers who are intent on teaching in an inquiry mode had oth...
Book Chapter
The Link Between Science, Inquiry, and Language Literacy
There is currently a strong effort to combine science and literacy, because a growing body of research stresses the importance of language in learning science. Discussion, argumentation, discourse of all kinds, group consensus, and social interaction...
Book Chapter
What’s Hiding in the Woodpile?
Wood comes from trees, right? It is full of potential chemical energy that can produce heat when it is put into a stove or fireplace and burned. Yet, in this story, the Earth’s bounty seems to produce a cooler room. What can be the cause? Thermodyn...
Book Chapter
This story is based upon using solar energy and a variety of materials to modify and channel this energy to capture and hold heat. Almost everybody has experienced the differences in temperature due to sunshine passing through windows into an enclose...
Book Chapter
In 1991 and 1992, John Leach, Bonnie Shapiro, and the author did a study in which they interviewed approximately 400 students from the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States about their beliefs surrounding the decay of an apple over a year’s...
Book Chapter
This story obviously is aimed at the technology standards. Two simple timing devices are mentioned with the suggestion that more are possible. These can be improved to meet the challenge or other devices could be invented. Students are being challeng...
Book Chapter
The two concepts at work here are conservation of matter and the question about many surfaces vs. fewer surfaces absorbing heat. You may wonder what this story is doing in the Earth system science area, but it has to do not only with thermodynamics a...
Book Chapter
Most animals are patterned. While some markings may serve as an advertisement, many appear to function in concealment. Because of the principal way in which they seem to function, such markings are often termed disruptive coloration. Although there a...
Book Chapter
Modeling Glacial Features With Sand
In this investigation, students make a model of the different erosional features of valley and continental glaciers out of sand and determine their impact on topography and hydrology. ...
Book Chapter
Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Identification
Everyone is familiar with terrestrial insects such as dragonflies, houseflies, mosquitoes, and beetles, but many of us are unaware that several insects live in the water during their larval stages. These insects are part of a larger group of organism...
Book Chapter
Factors That Affect Eutrophication
In this investigation, the effects of excess nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) on algae will be examined. An excess of these nutrients can lead to eutrophication in ponds and lakes. Eutrophic lakes typically are shallow, have mucky bottoms, and have ...
Book Chapter
This investigation consists of two parts, in which students first model the effects of groundwater contamination and then track the flow of the contamination. However, Part I does not have to be done in order to do Part II. This Teacher Information s...
Book Chapter
Glacial Features of a Watershed
The objective of this investigation is for students to learn how glaciers shaped a watershed. ...
Book Chapter
This investigation gives students the opportunity to view the outside world and bring science into the field. Teaching students how to identify plants gives them a greater appreciation for nature, just as learning to read words lets young students be...
Book Chapter
Learning how to delineate a wetland using official criteria can be an enlightening experience for students and teachers. The objective of this investigation is for students to delineate the boundaries of an area in a watershed and categorize it as a ...