In this exploratory study, we sought to gain an understanding of what motivates prospective teachers who are Noyce Scholars at a research-intensive southeastern US university to commit to teaching secondary level science or mathematics in school districts that have a high proportion of students who come from low-socioeconomic households. An…

Hands-on, inquiry-based, and relevant to every student's life, "Gourmet Lab" serves up a full menu of activities for science teachers of grades 6-12. This collection of 15 hands-on experiments--each of which includes a full set of both student and teacher pages--challenges students to take on the role of scientist and chef, as they boil, bake, and…

Using a framework of assessment literacy that included principles, tools, and purposes, this study explored the assessment literacy of 11 secondary preservice teachers. Participants' journals, teaching philosophies, and inquiry-based science units served as data sources. We examined how the preservice teachers understood assessment tools as well…

This article disseminates findings from a multi-year study regarding secondary preservice science teachers' perceptions toward inquiry-based science teaching, and the extent these perceptions are augmented by their practicum. While findings indicated that preservice teachers did improve their understanding and capability of using scientific…

One of the more effective ways to convey the story of our origin and evolution is to present the entire chronicle in a multimedia format that allows today's tech-savvy students to browse at will, thereby extracting parts of the story at their own pace and comfort. This article describes an interactive CD-ROM (included in this issue of "The Science…

To promote the use of scientific inquiry methods in K-12 classrooms, departments of teacher education must provide science teachers with experiences using such methods. To comply with state and national mandates, an apprenticeship course was designed to afford preservice secondary science teachers opportunities to engage in an authentic, extended,…

Middle grades science teachers need professional support in practice as they implement new inquiry-based science. Professional development schools can provide this bottom-up support through connecting preservice and inservice teacher education programs in classroom practice. In this study, coteaching arrangements with secondary science education…

Describes an activity integrating science and social studies using an inquiry-based approach. Focuses on the historical use of natural resources, mining, water, and conservation. (YDS)

Describes using performance tasks as an assessment method to evaluate student achievement. Explains how to build a task-specific rubric and provides a list of do's and don'ts for teachers. (YDS)

Uses an integrated team approach involving students from different disciplines in a cooperative environment to conduct science projects in biology, chemistry, and physics. (YDS)

Points out the importance of socioscientific aspects of laboratory activities for the development of understanding of different cultures' contributions to science. Describes a lesson on gene splicing using the 5E Learning Model. (YDS)

Points out the importance of an understanding of a sense of scale and presents an activity that uses distance or time as a measure. The activity illustrates for students what the universe would look like at various scales. (DDR)

Describes how to facilitate discussions on topics related to biocrimes. Focuses on how to guide students to ask questions related to what infectious agents are and the relationship between infection and disease. (DDR)

Features a checklist of structural questions for writing a laboratory report discussion. Presents a rationale for this method of helping students organize their thoughts. (DDR)

Details a project in which successful DNA analysis techniques were developed by students and their teacher in a rural school. Focuses on a study of sage grouse. (DDR)