In order to help students become scientifically literate citizens, science education should allow them to gain a more concrete understanding of the potential social and ethical impacts of scientific and technological change. Using Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as an imaginative tool, we designed simple hands-on activities and a digital narrative…

We have revamped a classic analytical chemistry laboratory experiment, "Determination of an Unknown Acid", to provide students an opportunity to learn about new advances in the material sciences and their applications in analytical chemistry in an effort to reinforce the key concepts of chemical analysis. Specifically, students were…

The "Primary SPACE Project Research Report: Sound" (Watt and Russell, 1990) provides interesting reading relating to primary-aged children's concepts of sound. It reveals a range of children's views on how sound is made, how sounds are heard and how sound travels. While some children are shown to have knowledge that sounds travel and are…

Using Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" as inspiration, this paper presents a Frankenstein-themed transmedia storytelling experience, which encompasses simple hands-on activities and an online narrative experience that allows students to model scientific work and engage in various science activities. The study aimed to test whether students…

Teaching a hands- and minds-on course, in which feedback is essential in order to learn, is difficult, especially in times of COVID-19 where student progression cannot be monitored directly. During the lockdown period, the workshops of an undergraduate Design Engineering course had to be transferred to the home situation, which required a redesign…

Given that interest is associated with learning in educational research, understanding how its development can be supported in different learning contexts represents an important line of inquiry. In this study, we investigate the influence of the slowmation construction process on middle school students' interest in learning science and geology.…

Active engagement has become the focus of many early childhood science education curricula and standards. However, active engagement usually emphasizes getting children engaged with science solely through hands-on activities. Active engagement by way of hands, heads, and hearts are kept separate and rarely discussed in terms of getting all to work…

The current emphasis on computer technology integration and narrowing of the curriculum has displaced arts and crafts. However, the hands-on, concrete nature of craft work in science modeling enables students to understand difficult concepts and to be engaged and motivated while learning spatial, logical, and sequential thinking skills. Analogy…

Many schools are now moving towards a more creative curriculum and a topic approach in their teaching. Setting science in a real, meaningful context can capture children's imagination, while offering opportunities for teaching skills in maths, ICT, literacy, technology or art. In science, the teacher may know the expected outcome, but the children…

Interdisciplinary teaching is a great way to focus on overarching concepts and help students make connections across disciplines. Historically, art and science have been connected disciplines. The botanical prints of the 18th and 19th centuries and early work with microscopes are two examples of a need for strong artistic skills in the science…

Photosynthesis may be an unlikely topic to inspire an opera or ballet, but in a 2nd grade classroom in Pikesville, Maryland, the children were asked to use dance to help them learn about that process. Small groups of pupils in this class at Fort Garrison Elementary School brainstormed to come up with dance movements to convey elements of…

While the great scientists of the past recognized a need for a multidisciplinary approach, today's schools often treat math and science as subjects separate from the rest. This not only creates a disinterest among students, but also a potential learning gap once students reach college and then graduate into the workforce. "Cases on…

Active learning enhances engineering education. This paper presents rationale, curriculum supplements, and an approach to active learning that may be seamlessly incorporated into a traditional lecture-based engineering class. A framework of educational theory that structures the active learning experiences and includes consideration of learning…

As a Teaching Awards Regional Winner in 2002, the author was recently awarded funding by Planet Science (NESTA) for projects to disseminate best practice. One of the things he had in mind was to organise a "creative science event." So last July year 4 children from Chiltern Primary School, Hull, joined a class of year 5 children from…

In this paper, pilot sessions in Rwanda and Nepal are analysed to evaluate the therapeutic benefit of active science for traumatised child refugees. The nature of the activities, choice of tools, organisation of the sessions, group size, and the role of the educators are investigated. Despite the lack of quantitative assessment, practical…