The need to increase science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduates is great. To interest more students into STEM degrees, we made our graphene biosensor research portable, inexpensive, and safe to demonstrate technology development to high school students. The students increased their knowledge of biosensors and proteins, and…

The authors have developed a successful approach to teaching and inspiring undergraduate science and nonscience majors to complete creditable, semester-long, hands-on science research projects. This approach utilizes a carefully developed scaffolding consisting of in-class exercises and discussions, preparatory homework and lab events, and three…

An in-class activity is described that can be used not only to motivate hypothesis testing, but also to understand and compute the p-value and power in a statistical test. (Contains 3 figures.)

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for integrating knowledge and practice in learning experiences in K-12 science education. "PlantingScience" (PS), an ideal curriculum for use as an NGSS model, is a computer-mediated collaborative learning environment intertwining scientific inquiry, classroom instruction, and online…

The number of students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is declining due in part to a lack of student interest (Fairweather 2008; NRC 2012; PCAST 2010). One reason may be the difference between how science is done in school and how it is done in the field (Osborne, Simon, and Collins 2003). An interdisciplinary…

How can educators provide children with a genuine experience of carrying out an extended scientific investigation? And can teachers change the perception of what it means to be a scientist? These were key questions that lay behind "The Human Condition" project, an initiative funded by the Primary Science Teaching Trust to explore a new…

One author shares the unique opportunity to be immersed in the science of "sound at work" through participation in NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Teacher at Sea Program. A third- through fifth-grade learning outcome within the Nature of Science section of the "Next Generation Science Standards"…

What bird species live in your area? Which migrate and which stay year-round? How do bird populations change over time? Citizen science provides the essential tools to address these questions and more. With ever-growing databases such as Project FeederWatch and eBird, students can connect with people around the world as they make observations,…

Though many national and international science organizations stress the importance of integrating scientific inquiry into classroom instruction, this is often difficult for teachers. Moreover, assessing and scaffolding inquiry skills for students can be even more of a challenge. This paper investigated the student performances in an inquiry-based,…

Discusses BioProjects, a new technique for helping students understand the scientific method, in which students formulate a hypothesis, test it, and present the project to the class. States that through biological, quantitative investigations conducted outside of the classroom, BioProjects helps students develop investigative as well as oral and…

Immunological detection of proteins is an essential method to demonstrate to undergraduate biology students, however, is often difficult in resource and time poor student laboratory sessions. This method describes a failsafe method to rapidly and economically demonstrate this technique using biotinylated proteins or biotin itself as targets for…

Frequently, science fair projects have little relevance to the goals of science. Criteria for judging projects are not evident to students, parents, judges, and other participants. Listed are seven steps to a better fair project which emphasize methodology and presentation. Also included are hints for involving parents. (DC)

Presents three articles that describe different ways of teaching the scientific method using cookies ("The One-Hour Science Fair"), cola ("Are All Medium Colas the Same Size"), and television ("Timing Televiewing"). (PR)

Bumble bees are valuable pollinators of native and cultivated flora. Despite our knowledge of bumble bee nest site selection, most efforts to attract bumble bees to artificial domiciles have been met with limited success. Creating and evaluating artificial domiciles provides students an opportunity to investigate a real problem. In this lesson,…

Describes a contest where sixth-grade students observe the results of a week of planning, folding, testing, and comparing their best paper frog designs and hopping techniques. This integrated unit helps children unleash their imaginations and develop problem-solving skills. (PR)