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Journal Article |
Guided by self-determination theory to design an authentic learning environment, we attempted repeated engagement in critical evaluation of evidence to foster accuracy-oriented reasoning and critical thinking in an…
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The Astronomical Event of the Decade
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On Saturday, October 14, 2023, and then again on Monday, April 8, 2024, sky gazers all across North America will experience what is arguably the most breathtaking of astronomical phenomena: a solar eclipse. During the…
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Journal Article |
A circle of fourth-grade students sit around Mrs. Ray, who shows videos and images of two natural events: large rocks that have fallen from a cliffside and large rocks in the middle of a dry stream near a road. She asks…
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Outdoor Teaching and Learning in Natural Spaces and Outdoor Classrooms
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On a humid, sunny day in late July, a group of middle school science teachers closed out three days of teacher professional development (PD) on a nature hike at a forest preserve. Here they engaged as learners, looking…
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Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins said, “There are those who fear reason as cold, bleak, cheerless, unpoetic. That’s not just untrue; it’s the very opposite of true. Science is the poetry of reality” (Dawkins 2016…
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Journal Article |
Writing these columns often requires a considerable amount of reading and then thinking—both alone and always out loud to my wife as I try to explain to both of us what I have been reading. To be honest, this column…
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Journal Article |
Beavers are social mammals who live in groups, known as colonies, and they construct dams and lodges, which modify the surrounding landscape. In their role as “ecosystem engineers,” beavers are considered to be a “…
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Student Uncertainty as a Pedagogical Resource (SUPeR)
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As suggested in A Framework for K–12 Science Education (National Research Council 2012), “Scientific knowledge is a particular kind of knowledge with its own sources, justifications, ways of dealing with uncertainties…
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Journal Article |
How many times have you found yourself sitting in a cafeteria or classroom staring at a professional development PowerPoint being presented by someone who hasn’t been in a classroom or practiced science in years? There…
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Teach Sublimation With Markers!
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Sublimation, the change of state from solid to gas, is a challenging concept for many students to grasp and a curious phenomenon to investigate. Our everyday experiences teach us about melting, freezing, and evaporation…
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Journal Article |
Questions are powerful tools teachers can use to understand and scaffold students’ thinking (Clough 2007). However, not all questions are equally effective at eliciting students’ ideas or scaffolding their thinking. For…
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Journal Article |
Students with visual impairments are often the only students at their school who read braille. They often do not participate in science fairs, in some cases because of low expectations on the part of educators and in…
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Hearing All Voices to Promote Learning Orientation and Effective Collaboration
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Motivation and collaboration intersect in important ways in a science classroom. One important motivational component of collaborative work is what students understand the goal of that work to be (Ames 1992). When…
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Differentiate Science Lessons by Using VR in Station Rotations
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Blended learning strategies combined with innovative technology, for example, virtual reality (VR), can be used in science classrooms to differentiate teaching and enrich learning experiences. The positive impacts of…