Presents strategies for encouraging dialog with students from eliciting preconceptions to bringing closure to a unit. Includes the general structure of an instructional unit that employs dialog, strategies for teachers to use, and strategies for students which include active listening. (DDR)

Explains the process of establishing a scientific community among students. Specifically addresses questions related to classroom environment, the beginning of the school year, and the types of experiments and activities used throughout the year to enable students to be successful in science. (DDR)

Presents an activity that simulates involvement in a paleontology dig in which students in teams unearth a skeleton and follow field procedures for documenting the dig and handling specimens. Provides details of each stage of the project. (DDR)

Describes procedures for a demonstration of the focal length of spherical lenses and mirrors using an aquarium, a flashlight, and nondairy creamer. Enables nonquantitative three-dimensional observation of these phenomena. (DDR)

Describes an approach to science instruction that motivates students by tapping into their prior knowledge and by employing specific questioning techniques. Provides information on matching the questioning technique to the instructional goal. (DDR)

Demonstrates how teachers can move their students from the novice into the expert range of problem-solving strategies. Utilizes a problem-solving model that follows how such skills develop. (DDR)

Recommends that teachers address the challenge of making science fun and interesting by employing space sciences to convert the ordinary into the extraordinary through imagination, community involvement, and hands-on activities. (DDR)

Suggests that teachers use assessment in two equally important ways: (1) to periodically evaluate students' cumulative knowledge and understanding, a process known as summative assessment; and (2) to continually evaluate students' progress in learning, known as formative assessment. (DDR)

Presents investigations in which students are provided with a series of four mystery items related to cicadas. Observations and a class discussion follow each item. Contains basic information on doing experiments with live cicadas, specific assessment strategies for this activity, and facts about cicadas. (DDR)

Provides background information on the Science Education Quantitative Literacy (SEQL) project that is designed to enhance student laboratory experiences by working together on data collection and analysis. Includes details of an activity from the project curriculum on how many drops of water can be placed on a penny. (DDR)

Details an investigation concerned with the composition of a grape to illustrate how food and nutrition topics can drive inquiry-oriented science learning. Students design experiments that surround the development of a fictitious new beverage. (DDR)

Presents an activity in which students create a slogan, sentence, or phrase using the name of an element in its place. Explains the origin of the idea for this activity, provides an extension activity, and a rubric for the oral presentation component. (DDR)

Defines action research in terms of science education, delineates the process, provides the rationale for research into practice, and gives an example of putting this process into action. Includes some tips for data collection and analysis. (DDR)

Presents three science activities: (1) Pizza Quadrants, a tool for estimating population size; (2) Ion Models, to assist students in understanding how to balance equations; and (3) Endangered Species Project, an interdisciplinary unit. (DDR)

Argues that in order to have bona fide inquiry experiences, students must formulate their own questions, create hypotheses, and design investigations that test those hypotheses and answer the proposed questions. (DDR)