Magic tricks produce awe and wonderment. Why not use magic as a pedagogical approach? This paper presents the magic of science through the science of magic. (Contains 2 figures.)

The National Science Education Standards emphasize a goal that students should achieve scientific literacy, which is defined as the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts needed in daily living. Scientific literacy enables people to not only use scientific principles and processes in making personal decisions but also to participate in…

A broad continuum exists to describe the structure of inquiry lessons (Hanegan, Friden, & Nelson, 2009). Most teachers have heard inquiry described from a range of simple questioning to completely student-designed scientific studies (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002). Biotechnology education often uses a variety of inquiries from cookbook laboratory…

In an online graduate paleontology course taken by practicing Earth Science teachers, we designed an investigation using teachers' local informal educational environments. Teachers (N = 28) were responsible for photographing, describing, and integrating fossil specimens from two informal sites into a paleoenvironmental analysis of the landscape in…

During the last quarter of a century, it became abundantly clear that the desired reforms in science teaching and learning could not be accomplished without significant professional development of in-service science teachers. Yet, there was a dearth of effective professional development models that could lead to the kind of instructional reforms…

This paper discusses the concept of scaling and its biological and engineering applications. Scaling, in a scientific context, means proportional adjustment of the dimensions of an object so that the adjusted and original objects have similar shapes yet different dimensions. The paper provides an example of a hands-on, minds-on activity on scaling…

This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…

This article discusses the role of imagination in science education. It provides a justification for imaginative thinking in the context of school science, as well as some strategies that can be implemented by science teachers in their classrooms.