Outdoor learning areas are becoming more popular as a means for community-based, cross-curricular learning where children study issues of local relevance (Sobel 2004). Outdoor learning areas, any place outside of the school building where children can observe and interact with the natural world around them, include outdoor structures for seating…

A science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) activity is any activity that integrates the use of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to solve a problem. Traditionally, STEM activities are highly engaging and may involve competition among student teams. Young children are natural engineers and often times spontaneously build…

One game that seems to intrigue almost any child is Angry Birds, a popular video game available on most media devices in which a player uses a slingshot to hurl small, angry birds through the air in hopes they will knock over pigs resting on complex, destructible structures. Presented in this article is a half-day lesson, in which fourth graders…

The happy chatter and clatter of students bounce off the lunchroom walls at a Northside Elementary School in Sandpoint, Idaho as children eagerly gobble their food and slurp their drinks. Boys and girls with crinkled brown bag lunches filled with disposable products sit next to students with trays heaped with hot lunch and all manner of synthetic…

The time students spend using mobile devices is making an impact on the reading experience both inside and outside the classroom. The authors--a doctoral student and a fourth-grade language arts and science teacher--designed and implemented a unit on landforms that included nonfiction reading, with both traditional print books and eBooks on iPads,…

Young children are naturally curious and constantly exploring the world around them. Combining this curiosity with the outdoors and nature for science skill development has many advantages for young learners. As children develop an enhanced understanding of the natural world, they are also developing explanations of how things work. Allowing…

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. This month's issue explores structure and function as it relates to animals and plants. One of the disciplinary core ideas in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" is LS1.A Structure and Function (NRC 2012). This disciplinary core idea is included in the "Next…

Finding common interests with which to engage learners from different cultural backgrounds can be a challenge in any classroom. It is particularly so in an urban, English/Spanish dual-language immersion school, which draws a socioeconomically and linguistically diverse population of students from a wide geographic area. The curriculum design in…

Electromagnetic induction is the technical name for the fact that, when a wire is moved near a magnet or a magnet is moved near a wire, an electric current flows in the wire. Although Bill Robertson honestly admits to not knowing why this happens, he does say that it is possible to get a deeper understanding of what's going on in terms of…

The authors of this article believe that giving students opportunities to talk about and represent science concepts helps them develop deeper, more integrated understandings, while providing teachers with rich, alternative methods of assessment. They provide Science units and instructional approaches that are consistent with science and…

Bill Robertson thinks that questioning the physics behind simple machines is a great idea because when he encounters the subject of simple machines in textbooks, activities, and classrooms, he seldom encounters, a scientific explanation of how they work. Instead, what one often sees is a discussion of load, effort, fulcrum, actual mechanical…

Nothing satisfies a teacher more than seeing a smile of delight on students' faces when they turn over their test paper to reveal a successful score. In today's world of standardized testing, some elementary science teachers may struggle to help students move from active engagement in hands-on science experiences to high levels of…

Great science activities don't just happen; they are orchestrated by highly skilled teachers who are creative, caring, and innovative. Effective classroom teachers possess a deep understanding of the developmental characteristics of their students and are adept at translating this understanding into opportunities for individual students to…

This article presents the experiences of Miss Felecia McLaughlin, a fourth-grade teacher from the island of Jamaica who used the model proposed by Bass et al. (2009) to assess conceptual understanding of four of the six types of simple machines while encouraging collaboration through the creation of learning teams. Students had an opportunity to…

Formative assessment probes are effective tools for uncovering students' ideas about the various concepts they encounter when learning science. They are used to build a bridge from where the student is in his or her thinking to where he or she needs to be in order to construct and understand the scientific explanation for observed phenomena.…