Citizen science programs are becoming increasingly popular among teachers, students, and families. The term "citizen scientist" has various definitions. It can refer to those who gather information for a particular science research study or to people who lobby for environmental protection for their communities. "Citizen science" has been called…

Communities, Cameras, and Conservation (CCC) is the most exciting and valuable program the author has seen in her 30 years of teaching field science courses. In this citizen science project, students and community volunteers collect data on mountain lions ("Puma concolor") at four natural areas and public parks along the Front Range of Colorado.…

This guided inquiry activity was developed to help students "view" an equilibrium system from the particulate level and make connections to their macroscopic observations. Part I helps students observe a physical equilibrium system in which water is transferred between two larger containers. In Part II, students examine what happens to a chemical…

Systems thinking suggests that one can best understand a complex system by studying the interrelationships of its component parts rather than looking at the individual parts in isolation. With ongoing concern about the effects of climate change, using innovative materials to help students understand how Earth's systems connect with each other is…

The number of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is declining due in part to a lack of student interest (Fairweather 2008; NRC 2012; PCAST 2010). One reason may be the difference between how science is done in school and how it is done in the field (Osborne, Simon, and Collins 2003). An interdisciplinary…

In a regional gathering called the Youth Water Summit, high school students present projects that respond to the driving question behind their science curriculum: "How can you address a significant water resource challenge in your community's watershed?" Students exhibit scientific posters, interactive presentations, films, art projects,…

This is an exciting time to be in science education. New science standards are being developed by a group of science educators from across the country, working with 26 states in a process managed by Achieve, Inc., a non-profit education reform organization. The development of the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) promises to be the most…

The recently published National Research Council (NRC) report "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas" (NRC 2011) offers a thoughtful research-based agenda that helps guide teachers in making the shift to a doing-led agenda in K-12 science education. In the December 2011 editions of the NSTA…

What bird species live in your area? Which migrate and which stay year-round? How do bird populations change over time? Citizen science provides the essential tools to address these questions and more. With ever-growing databases such as Project FeederWatch and eBird, students can connect with people around the world as they make observations,…

In this article, the author describes a student-centered research project he introduced to his students. In this research project, his students used images collected by telescopes at Kitt Peak National Optical Observatory (KPNO) to look for novas in the Andromeda Galaxy. This project grew out of the author's experience during a Teachers As Leaders…

The internet abounds with free science education applications. But, on their own, these applications have limited capacity to teach students curricular concepts or skills. The author integrated several free web-based applications into a broader pedagogical approach called T-GEM, in which the teacher guides student investigations. In this article,…

This article presents a model of collaborative inquiry for groups of science teachers who want to systematically improve their practice through analyses of student work. The five-phase APEX[superscript ST] (Advancing High-Leverage Practices by Examining Student Thinking) model is appropriate for students of all achievement levels. It focuses on…

Electrospinning has been used to create nanofibers for filtration devices, tissue engineering, and protective clothing. Although electrospinning is now widely studied, because of the expensive equipment required and the advanced nature of this topic, it is not commonly found in high school science labs. Through grants from the Ohio State…

Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) is an instructional model that enables science teachers to transform a traditional laboratory activity into a short integrated instructional unit. To illustrate how the ADI instructional model works, this article describes an ADI lesson developed for a 10th-grade chemistry class. This example lesson was designed to…

This article defines inquiry, analyzes the results of the implementation of inquiry-based science curricula in the 1960s, and supports the continued emphasis on inquiry-oriented teaching in the back-to-basic curriculum reform presently being advocated. (CS)