Teacher talk moves are useful for supporting students' learning, but they are not enough to create a science learning community in the classroom. Talk moves focus on functional engagement with individual students' ideas and sensemaking. Norms must be established by having a nuanced understanding of how those individual talk moves create patterns…

Citizen science can provide insightful data to inform decisions, while also serving to enhance ecological awareness and foster environmental stewardship among participants. In this article, high school student citizen scientists investigate how trees respond to changing mountain climate during a field trip to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) to…

Reading is critical for scientific thinking. It is a foundation for many of the skills in which scientists and engineers must be proficient, such as conducting research, developing informed conjectures, and engaging in reasoned argument (NRC 2012). Yet, students frequently find science reading difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating. Strategies…

Students learn science best with activities that mirror the way scientists work. This article describes how geologists investigate groundwater flow systems in areas of karst topography--geologic formations shaped by dissolving bedrock--and provides a way for students to replicate this research. Students also use electric current to model water…

In the scientific community, the symposium is one formal structure of conversation. Scientists routinely hold symposiums to gather and talk about a common topic. To model this method of communication in the classroom, the author designed an activity in which students conduct their own science symposiums. This article presents the science symposium…

The National Science Education Standards suggest that students work as real scientists in the classroom (NRC 1996; 2000). To accomplish this task, the authors developed community-based inquiry lessons (CBILs) that provide students with the opportunity to solve problems as a class, based on the concept of whole-class inquiry (WCI) presented by…

Stories weave common elements of the nature of science between topics and activities, regardless of whether it's short historical narratives about scientists or current event articles that are read. Stories also can help students realize the important contributions of persons of color, women, and other traditionally underrepresented groups. In…

To help teachers enrich their students' understanding of inquiry in Earth science, this article describes six modes of inquiry used by practicing geoscientists (Earth scientists). Each mode of inquiry is illustrated by using examples of seminal or pioneering research and provides pointers to investigations that enable students to experience these…

Amy Bower is a physical oceanographer and senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts--she has also been legally blind for 14 years. Through her partnership with the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts, the oldest K-12 school for the visually impaired in the United States,…

Explains the benefits of multicultural education and presents some practical suggestions for incorporating the diverse history of science into the classroom. Lists scientists from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. (JRH)

Investigates the impetus toward values education in the science curriculum. Provides lists of values which students most often associate with scientists, and compares these with values of society in general. Describes some methods developed for the teaching of values. (CP)

For many science students and teachers, the history of science brings to mind musty portraits of long-ago chemists, physicists, and biologists, birth and death dates, and some brief mention of specific contributions. Frequently lost amid teaching pressures are the lessons that may be found in the history of science. These stories not only teach…

Describes the mentoring relationship between George Washington Carver and Henry Agard Wallace who later became a great scientist and Vice President of the United States. Explains what mentoring is and discusses classroom implications for mentoring. (PR)

Presents an extension of an activity published in 1993 that teaches students about infectious agents and what steps can be taken to prevent the spread of disease. Gives students an opportunity to consider how scientists investigate diseases when they occur. (Author/SOE)

Describes the Research Internship in Science/Mathematics program, a collaborative effort between Brookhaven National Laboratory and New York University, which aims at increasing teachers' awareness and understanding of science and technology, promoting the integration of current science into the curriculum, and encouraging inquiry-based classroom…