Citizen science projects have been found to increase scientific knowledge and awareness among the participants who engage in these collaborative efforts. Providing elementary students the opportunity to collect, share, and analyze data is an effective way to help them develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and gain competency in…

Citizen science provides an opportunity for students to capture data both locally and globally while supporting the real-time work of scientists seeking to understand natural events. In this article, the authors present a project-based approach that explores climate at home and abroad to help develop elementary students' local-to-global…

Students' eyes grow wide with wonder as they get a motor to work or make a bulb light for the first time. As these daunting feats of electrical engineering remind us, teaching electricity is invariably rewarding and worthwhile. In this inquiry-based science project, elementary students work in pairs to design and wire a shoe box "room" that meets…

Future elementary school teachers often lack self-efficacy for teaching science and technology. They are particularly anxious about encouraging children to carry-out student-directed, open-ended scientific inquiry and/or technological design projects. Moreover, because this often also is the case with practising elementary school teachers, it is…

Instructions for reproducing two exhibits from the Exploratorium, San Francisco's science museum, are given. One shows students how white light can be made from red, blue, and green lights. The other helps children discover how small time differences allow them to perceive the origin of a sound. (MT)

One author shares the unique opportunity to be immersed in the science of "sound at work" through participation in NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Teacher at Sea Program. A third- through fifth-grade learning outcome within the Nature of Science section of the "Next Generation Science Standards"…

Using many different media, students can turn leaves into images which can be used for study, bulletin boards, collections, and identification. The simple techniques described include pastel printing, smoke prints, ink or tempura printing, bleach printing on t-shirts, ditto machine printing using carbon paper, and making cutouts. (DH)

Success of the Murch Elementary School (Washington, DC) science fair is due to many factors which are applicable to other schools. Suggestions, ideas, and hints are given in this description of the school's program. Projects with an electrocardiogram, water weeds, and preserving ice are also discussed. (DH)

Describes a long-term project, Moonwatch, which introduces the relationships between the earth, sun, and moon, highlighting the broad conceptual themes of patterns and change. (MKR)

This article offers quick, inexpensive activities for teaching concepts in three basic areas of the elementary science curriculum (air, sound, and light) with instructions for assembling more sophisticated laboratory tools (e.g., an electroscope and a balance scale). Hands-on science activities that use household items are described. (SM)

This document presents sources to assist elementary and secondary school students and teachers in planning, preparing, and executing projects in the space sciences. Bibliographies for the following sections are included: (1) Basic Texts, (2) Specialized Texts, (3) Classroom Experiments and Activities, (4) Background Readings, (5) Related Titles,…

For the sake of grade school entrants in particular, nonexperimental science fair projects should be encouraged and accepted for science fairs. Support for this approach is given along with several suggestions for projects. Guidelines for judging nonexperimental projects are also included. (DH)

This practicum addressed the problem of decreased participation of fifth-grade students in the science fair. At this grade level, the science fair guidelines mandate that students enter a research-type project. For many fifth-grade students the desire to tackle this monumental task does not match their developing cognitive skills. The literature…

This collection of 20 articles from "The Science Teacher" and "Science and Children" is provided to assist teachers, students, and parents in preparing for science fairs. Four major questions about science fairs are addressed in the articles. They are: (1) Who should participate in a science fair? (2) How should a fair be organized? (3) What makes…

Presents activities on the science of garbage to help elementary students learn to save the earth. A rotting experiment teaches students what happens to apple slices sealed in plastic or buried in damp soil. Other activities include reading stories on the subject and conducting classroom composting or toxic materials projects. (SM)