This article describes how a third grade class (ages 8-9) conducted a temperature-related science experiment. The goal of the experiment was to build on the following question: What would happen if you took three different thermometers, all reading the same temperature, wrapped them in three different socks, one woollen, one silk, and one cotton,…

How do you inspire students to keep records like scientists? Share the primary research of real scientists and explicitly teach students how to keep records--that's how! Therefore, a group of third-grade students and their teacher studied the work of famous primatologist Jane Goodall and her modern-day counterpart Ian Gilby. After learning about…

Collecting data and analyzing the results of experiments is difficult for children. The authors found a surprising way to help their third graders make graphs and draw conclusions from their data: digital photographs. The pictures bridged the gap between an abstract graph and the plants it represented. With the support of the photos, students…

"Mineral Detectives!" is one of eighteen lessons in the "Private Whys?" integrated science unit, which uses a guided inquiry investigation to teach students in grades three through five about the role of minerals in our lives. The University of North Texas developed "Private Whys?" with funding from the Copper…