Coding and digital game design activities have been used in recent years to contribute to students' academic achievement and twenty-first century skills. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the 5E model enriched with coding and digital game design activities (5EECD) on gifted students' academic achievement and problem-solving skills. A…

An understanding of how sensemaking unfolds when elementary students engage in engineering design tasks is crucial to advancing engineering teaching and learning at K-12 levels. Sensemaking has been widely studied in the context of science as a discipline. In this paper, we seek to contribute to the more nascent efforts to build theory about the…

The interaction analysis presented by Kim and Roth examines nine students, their teachers, the learning task and materials in a mixed second and third grade science classroom during the school day. In the research narrative readers are introduced to two resourceful and creative groups of students as they work on a task assigned by their…

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,…

The classic Chickens and Pigs problem is considered to be an algebraic problem with two equations and two unknowns. In this article, the authors describe how third-grade teacher Maria is using it to develop a problem-based lesson because she is looking to her students' future needs. As Maria plans, she considers how a series of problems with the…

This research was designed to study the effect of a professional development program in place-based science education on teacher and student learning in rural elementary schools in Thailand's northern Lampang province. Based on the results of a pilot study conducted in 2008 at one school, which was then followed by a needs assessment conducted…

"Watch out, the stove will burn you," "Ooh, ice cream headache!" Students construct their conceptions about heat and temperature through their own intuitions about daily life experiences. As a result, misconceptions can be born from these constructed concepts. The activity described here addresses student misconceptions about thermal insulation…

In this study, an instrument, Using Mathematics in Science Self-efficacy Scale (UMSSS), was developed in order to determine preservice science teachers' self-efficacy toward the use of mathematics in their lessons. Data gathered from 250 preservice science teachers were used for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis…

Describes an elementary school project--a "leprechaun trap"--that included elements of technology, science, language arts, and problem solving. Discusses how technology education is helping the Taos Pueblo community build bridges between its past and modern technologies. (JOW)

Reports on how a school-university partnership used Virginia's Public Education Network to help third graders learn about metamorphosis in insects and the scientific method of experimentation, observation, and data collection. (MKR)

This study examined the effect of using an outdoor nature investigation program on the ability of third-grade students to transfer knowledge. Specifically, the study determined whether the program enhanced students' ability to transfer declarative (facts and concepts), procedural (process skills), and schematic (experience) knowledge to a set of…

The purpose of this project was to determine whether third grade students, given written directions and necessary materials, could work without teacher direction for 30 minutes. Students (N=25) were to gain skill and confidence in carrying out the processes required for completing an independent learning activity by completing science learning…

Testwise responses of grade-school students to multiple-choice science items and the intercorrelations between different testwiseness skills were examined in this document. A total of 134 third-grade, 133 fifth-grade, and 143 sixth-grade students from two elementary schools in a large suburban school district in Utah responded to 60 science items…