Discusses strategies for teachers to get back in touch with the earth and re-connect with the environment. Argues that the teacher's appreciation for nature's beauty will bring about a sensitivity not experienced before and help students develop a reverence and awe for the natural world. (JRH)

Describes an activity that engages students in the outdoors and provides them with the opportunity to stop and observe the world unedited for a few minutes. Involves students narrowing and then broadening the focus of their senses. (JRH)

Describes a science carnival where children and adults share in the excitement of the carnival atmosphere and participate in doing science together. Discusses creating a carnival, gathering ideas, traditional booth redesign, and science topic booths. (JRH)

Discusses strategies to facilitate children's explorations that include supporting open-ended inquiry, supervising safely, seizing the moment, offering a place for discovery, providing access to information, sharing respect for life, seeking community involvement, and celebrating wonder. (JRH)

Investigates the attitudes and expectations of parents of sixth-grade students concerning science education in the elementary school. Discusses parents' responses with regard to the role of science education, time allotted for science, comparisons with other subjects, helping children with science homework, important topics, and views of science.…

Presents activities for K-4 students that explore two areas of body mechanics--bones and joints--with an emphasis on the human hand. Relates knowledge of how the body functions to comparable examples in robotics such as the "hand" of the Canadarm of the space shuttle. Activities are geared for students in pairs. (AIM)

Describes the Schoolyard Ecosystem Project (SEP) developed in Florida for a fifth-grade science enrichment class. The project focused on identifying the schoolyard's ecosystem; determining species at risk; determining how to help; collaborating with community leaders, parents, and peers; and becoming leaders for the environment. (AIM)

By imagining they are 24th-century archaeologists excavating a 20th-century house, students learn how to make and practice writing specific, precise, and detailed observations. Other science process skills focused on include measuring, making inferences, and communicating the data both orally and in writing. (AIM)

Presents estimation as a tool for learning observation and measurement relationships for the metric system. Activities include constructing a meter tape and using mystery boxes to practice volume estimation and measurement. (AIM)

Reports on the winning tool creations by 1,300 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students in the 1997 Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors Awards Program. Students had to use mechanical and science process skills to design and build tools to meet their needs in solving a problem. The winning entry was a calibrated angle and depth scissors. (AIM)

Describes a process for developing alternative assessment instruments and student responses and illustrates the use of scoring rubrics. Focus is on the student's thought processes and student performance. (AIM)

Describes results from a survey of elementary school students' perceptions of scientists, school science, and the application of science in daily life. Students drew scientists with various stereotypic features such as lab coats, and most were depicted as white males. Most students pictured themselves studying science by doing an activity.…

To aid teachers and students in their quest for information, an education specialist at an aquarium offers tips for organizing field trips, discusses home pages and search engines on the Internet, and gives detailed instructions for writing letters to institutions for information. Suggestions include writing joint letters if many students have the…

Describes how to build a classroom museum developed by students to provide an ongoing learning experience. Offers tips on generating ideas through class discussion, assigning facilitating roles associated with museums, developing exhibits, including interpretation, and sharing the museum with others. Students who have created their own museum…

Describes a classroom lesson on comets that uses modeling and guided imagery to spark students' curiosity. Comet models are built using chunks of rock salt, polystyrene balls, and tinsel. Abstract ideas are made more concrete with a guided imagery story called Comet Ride! Includes an introduction to the use of parallax to measure the distance of…