When it snows, children are permitted to play outside during recess, which causes them to experience a variety of problems with their mittens or gloves. To align instruction with a problem student's experience in every day life, the authors developed and administered a short survey to second graders in an after school program. The authors found…

From a young age, children encounter different materials and learn color, hardness, texture, and shape. Focusing on observable properties is an engaging way to introduce young children to matter. In this investigation, students use observations and engineering design to decide which material would make the best roof for a doghouse. The authors…

As a result of a dramatic shift over the last 10 years in how educators and administrators are supported in their professional learning, teachers are no longer working in isolation behind closed doors. Instead, professional learning has moved to the school and the classroom, and teachers are encouraged to share their work and their students' work.…

Descriptive Review, as developed by Patricia Carini and colleagues at the Prospect Center, is a process of deep observation and documentation that has proven to be an invaluable tool for teachers interested in gaining a more holistic view of their students and their work. In this article, a teacher educator and three classroom teachers share their…

We often hear about how well other countries are performing in international tests such as PISA. In this article, Stephen Norton and Qinqiong Zhang describe a classroom and a tutor session from a Chinese setting. They describe the amount of time spent in class and out of class working on mathematics. Also they explain how learning is highly valued…

With all of the reform models, research-based programs, leadership training, and professional development focused on reading and writing, we certainly know more about literacy today than we ever have before. So why are schools still suffering with low literacy levels? The answer lies in ineffective and unbalanced literacy instruction. Through the…

What happens in the first week of school could very well set the stage for the rest of the school year. Setting high standards for science activities based in inquiry can start on the first day of science class and develop as the year unfolds. With the use of simple, readily available, inexpensive materials, an efficient mystery box lesson can be…

Flower petals, acorn hats, exoskeletons of beetles, and lichens are just a few of the objects students may find in a surprising array of vivid colors. These tiny examples from nature's palette can be discovered in a school yard, a park, or even along the edges of a paved sidewalk...it simply takes careful observation! This article describes a…

In this article, the author describes a series of lessons that focuses on observation and documentation of organisms and that is appropriate for the second through fourth grades. By giving students the necessary initial support, they will have the ability to observe details and the skills and confidence to make realistic scientific drawings and…

Learning about what inferences are, and what a good inference is, will help students become more scientifically literate and better understand the nature of science in inquiry. Students in K-4 should be able to give explanations about what they investigate (NSTA 1997) and that includes doing so through inferring. This article provides some tips…

Categorizing organisms as living or nonliving things may seem to be intuitive by nature. Yet, it is regulated by scientific criteria. Students come to school with rules already in place. Their categorizing criteria have already been influenced by their personal experiences, also known as observations and inferences. They believe that all things…

Richard Louv's "Last Child in the Woods" (2008) added to a growing consensus to get children outside and experiencing nature. Using ideas from place-based education, the authors present a simple year-long project that brings science, nature, and other curriculum standards to life right in your school yard. With a focus on journaling, this project…

It is important to help young children make connections between events in their lives and science concepts in preschool classrooms, so introducing basic meteorology ideas offer a great opportunity to make weather connections and awaken scientific curiosity (Spiropoulou, Kostopoulos, and Jacovides 1999). Therefore, this article presents a science…

This guide is designed to help researchers make sure that their research reports include enough information about study measures so that readers can assess the quality of the study's methods and results. The guide also provides examples of write-ups about measures and suggests resources for learning more about these topics. The guide assumes…

"The Wheel of Scientific Investigation and Reasoning" (Kramer 1987; Paul and Binker 1992) is a graphic representation of the scientific investigative process. The scientific process is depicted in a wheel rather than in a list because "the process of scientific inquiry can begin from any stage, and that stage may be revisited as often as the…