The Peer Enabled Restructured Classroom (PERC) program is a peer-teaching model developed by the Math and Science Partnership in New York City (MSPinNYC) to help underachieving and historically at-risk urban students succeed in math and science courses. Although preliminary success of this program has been substantial, there has not been a…

A hands-on instructional approach with medium-achieving 10th-grade students (N = 294) successfully demonstrated the achievement of a conceptual change. Two teaching variations were applied (I-1, I-2), both dealing with a hands-on gene technology lesson in an out-of-school laboratory. I-2 additionally confronted the participants with alternative…

By providing a variety of strategies, scenarios, examples of student writing, classroom video clips from across all science content areas, rubrics, and guidelines for designing assessment items, "Supporting Grade 5-8 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science: The Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning Framework for Talk and Writing" provides…

Models and modeling are a major issue in science studies and in science education. In addressing such an issue, we first propose an epistemological discussion based on the works of Cartwright (1983, 1999), Fleck (1935/1979), and Hacking (1983). This leads us to emphasize the transitions between the abstract and the concrete in the modeling…

Models are important both in the development of physics itself and in teaching physics. Historically, the consensus models of physics have come to embody particular ontological assumptions and epistemological commitments. Educators have generally assumed that the consensus models of physics, which have stood the test of time, will also work well…

The 5E teaching model provides a five step method for teaching science. While the sequence of the model is strictly linear, it does provide opportunities for the teacher to "revisit" prior learning before moving on. The 5E method is described as it relates to the teaching of aerobic cell respiration.

The chemistry of dissolved inorganic carbon in seawater is reviewed and used to predict the potential effect of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In agreement with more detailed treatments, we find that calcium carbonate (aragonite) may become unsaturated in cold surface seawater by the year 2100 C.E., resulting in the destruction…

A Professional Development School (PDS) serves as a quality-teaching model. It is a vehicle that generates professional understanding through conversations among university professors, teachers, and teacher candidates. The author illustrates a pilot PDS program that exemplifies the many benefits of transforming the teaching model into a successful…

Preservice elementary teachers face many challenges in learning how to teach science effectively, such as engaging students in science, organizing instruction, and developing a productive learning community. This paper reports on several iterative cycles of design-based research aimed at fostering preservice teachers' principled reasoning around…

The paper describes a teaching model of the atomic force microscope (AFM), which proved to be successful in the role of an introduction to nanoscience in high school. The model can demonstrate the two modes of operation of the AFM (contact mode and oscillating mode) as well as some basic principles that limit the resolution of the method. It can…

This brief provides an overview of the SIOP Model and highlights how teachers can develop content and language objectives, emphasize key vocabulary, promote interaction, and incorporate effective review and assessment techniques within the context of middle school science. It provides research-based examples and strategies in order to illustrate…

The learning cycle has been embraced as a teaching approach that is consistent with the goals of the "National Science Education Standards" (National Research Council, 1996). Science teacher educators may be disappointed to find, however, that preservice teachers may fail to grasp this model, even after extensive instruction (e.g., Settlage,…

In this inquiry-based, integrative art and science activity, Grade 5-8 students use multicolored Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) crystallizing solutions to reveal beautiful, cylindrical, 3-dimensional, needle-shaped structures. Through observations of the crystal art, students analyze factors that contribute to crystal size and formation, compare…

Coteaching has been proposed as an apprenticeship model of student teaching that helps candidates maximize their learning through high levels of collaboration with their partnering classroom teachers. Yet, what this collaboration looks like and how it supports candidates is poorly understood. Understanding collaborations between candidates and…

In the project presented in this article, high school students create and observe miniecosystems in an ecology unit designed around a 5E (engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation) instructional model. Students choose a wide variety of organisms and use creativity to design miniecosystems. (Contains 1 table and 3 figures.)