Summer brings to mind the joys of vacation and spending time outdoors. The author looks forward to the summer months, particularly June--that's when they hold Junior Naturalist Camp at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, Florida. While she enjoys each day of camp, one in particular really brings out her inner student--Solar…

Arts integration in science has benefits of increasing student engagement and understanding. Lessons focusing on form and function of animal skulls provide an effective example of how handicrafts integrated with science instruction motivate students and support learning. The study involved students ages 9-12 during a week-long summer day camp.…

This study examines the effect of a summer science camp involved in explicit-reflective Nature of Science (NOS) instruction on Turkish gifted students' views of NOS. During the teaching intervention, six experienced faculties and two teachers taught six explicit-reflective NOS activities (90 minutes per day through a seven-day period) to 30 gifted…

Research evidence suggests that summer breaks contribute to income-based achievement and opportunity gaps for children and youth. However, summertime can also be used to provide programs that support an array of goals for children and youth, including improved academic achievement, physical health, mental health, social and emotional well-being,…

Many informal science educational programs aim to help students improve their understanding of science. Little research, however, has focused specifically on the direct experiences and subsequent ideas of culturally and linguistically diverse girls when they engage with science in informal learning settings. The research described in this report…

A study explored perceptions of 43 students on benefits gained from participating in the Science Fair Summer Camp program in Fort Pierce, Florida. Benefits included the availability of equipment/technology, opportunities to interact with teachers and scientists, opportunities for research design, and opportunities actually to engage in the process…

The Summer Science Camps (SSC) Program supports residential and commuter enrichment projects for seventh through ninth grade minority students who are underrepresented in science, engineering, and mathematics. Eligible organizations include school districts, museums, colleges, universities, and nonprofit youth-centered and/or community-based…

The all-Spanish version of the Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS)/Mini-Corps Outdoor Activities set contains twenty education and recreational activities which provide a variety of outdoor biological experiences and incorporate language skills into outdoor education. Prepared especially for use by migrant children aged 10-15 in a…

Prepared specifically for use in one-week outdoor summer camp programs for migrant children aged 10-15, the twenty bilingual (Spanish and English) educational and recreational activities in the Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS)/Mini-Corps package have been revised to develop language skills as well as an awareness of the outdoor…