Kids are drawn to dolls and dump trucks, and crashing the two together might just be a child's favorite pastime. Who knew such a simple pleasure could serve as an accessible, compelling phenomenon for instigating investigations of force and motion. With a few inexpensive materials straight out of the toy box (literally, a doll, a dump truck, a…

Social connections are crucial for today's middle and high school students. We address this social need through a 3-H Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Cycle. Through the Three Sisters Garden activity presented here, we teach secondary school students about biodiversity and sustainability as we integrate the arts into STEM (STEAM). Students…

Regardless of the cost and long preparation time, tactile materials are increasingly being used in science and mathematics education for students with visual impairment. In this study, a hands-on tactile activity related to making magnets using a STEM educational approach for students with visual impairment are introduced.

Mosquitoes (Culicidae) are disease vectors, which are responsible for an estimated one million deaths per year. Female mosquitoes, which need blood for survival and reproduction, collect blood with a disease present from a host, and will transmit that disease from one host to another as it feeds on additional food sources. This continuous feeding…

Students have several misconceptions about thermodynamics. However, an understanding of basic concepts in this branch of physics remains fundamental to explain thermal phenomena. The purpose of this activity was to extend students' conceptual understanding of heat, temperature, energy, and thermal insulators and conductors. Two groups of students…

Virtual water is the amount of water that we ignore in water consumption and is considerably higher than the visible water we see in daily uses. Realizing the water spent in the production processes of objects can cause us to change our consumption habits. In 1979, Joseph Cornell presented a four-step framework called Learning Flow to move nature…

Seagrass ecosystems are widespread, valuable, and threatened. We have used this system as a model to teach 3rd-7th grade students about food webs, the interconnectedness of ecosystems, ecosystem services, and the effects of human activity on coastal systems. Our objective was to increase student understanding of seagrass ecosystems and other key…

Germinating a seed is presumably the first experiment made by a child in his life. So, it has an important place both in child's scientific experience and understanding. Despite the significance of the experiment, the literature indicates that students possess various misconceptions related to the concepts of seed and seed germination. So, it is…

The Periodic Table of Elements is a valuable resource for chemists and all kinds of STEM professionals. However, it can be initially overwhelming and intimidating to some students. This hands-on lesson introduces abstract concepts in the periodic table through a tangible experience with simple toys and household objects. Students collaborate and…

Integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) approach has been implemented all around the world. STEM approach highlights the integration of different STEM disciplines, the use of daily-life problems, and engineering design process, which provides a context for students to learn knowledge of STEM disciplines and apply the…

The NGSS MS-ETS1 Engineering Design (1-4) is the focus of the article. Development of a challenging problem-based activity that is an improvement over the traditional egg drop competition is emphasized. Quantification of data collected and real-world relevance are two activity components that are viewed as improvements over the egg drop. The…

As a fundamental strategy for all science curriculum, inquiry is of prime importance. In order to facilitate inquiry during science education in middle school, 5E learning model was applied in this study. Following 5E learning model during a lesson, students can engage in a topic after being served to mitigate cognitive disequilibrium or familiar…

While fungi play a vital role in Earth's ecosystems, they are not highlighted in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This article contains a unit plan to introduce students to the fungal kingdom, characteristics of fungi, and their role as decomposers. The unit plan is written in a 5E model format and can be adjusted for any type of…

The magic flask, which is a kind of black box activity, builds an environment for science teachers to discuss nature of science in a formal or/and informal learning environment in the context of the history of science through an explicit-reflective approach. In the activity, the nature of science (NOS) aspects are explicitly addressed and…

Students with visual impairments have the same span of cognitive abilities as their peers, but science instruction typically relies very heavily on vision. The preponderance of visually oriented and visually complex science concepts poses significant challenges to learning among students with visual impairment. This study is engaging, hands-on…