Many students probably take pictures daily. Whether snapshots of their friends at a Justin Bieber concert or of their latest skateboard trick, these images document changes in a student's life. Digital cameras can do more, however, than record memories to post on Facebook. They can also help students examine changes in their environment. This…

After creating fish-themed art works for the school's Evening of the Arts, the school moved onshore. In Florida, a tropical climate and casual dress is the norm, so students are familiar with Hawaiian "Aloha" shirts. To begin the lesson, the author displayed several Aloha shirts across the front of the art room. She then gives a quick…

Natural product isolation and analysis provide an opportunity to present a variety of experimental techniques to undergraduate students in introductory organic chemistry. Eugenol, anethole, and carvone were extracted from six common spices using steam-distillation and diethyl ether as the extraction solvent. Students assessed the purity of their…

In this article, Gene Fellner reviews Mark Zuss's recently published "The practice of theoretical curiosity" (2012) and provides a synopsis of the book's structure. These two sections are followed by a metalogue in which Mark Zuss, Welsey Pitts, and Fellner discuss curiosity and the conundrum of establishing limits beyond which curiosity should…

Teachers typically teach subjects separately, but integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculums that focus on real-world practices are gaining momentum (NAE and NRC 2009). Before release of the "Next Generation of Science Standards" ("NGSS") (NGSS Lead States 2013), 36 states already had a…

The study found out the role that some selected science curricula of the pre-tertiary level of education in Ghana played with respect to climate change education. Content analysis was used to analyze four science curricula of the pre-tertiary levels of education in Ghana, namely, the curriculum for primary, Grades 1 to 3 (age = 6-9 years);…

An opportunity for teachers to join 80 outstanding biological sciences undergraduates in a series of practical sessions and lectures at the 2010 Gatsby Plant Science Summer School has inspired the development of teaching and learning resources for use in schools. Plant scientists have a crucial role to play in society and it is hoped that the…

Creating shared representations can foster knowledge acquisition by elementary school students by promoting active integration and translation of new information. In this study, we investigate to what extent awareness support and scripting facilitate knowledge construction and discourse quality of elementary school students (n?=?94) in a…

Writing and publishing scientific works are crucial parts of any scientist's career. Therefore, it is important, especially for those new to the process, to understand how to navigate the publication process. This study was designed to investigate the publication process in ethnobotany and to stimulate discussion among authors, reviewers, and…

Studies exploring how students learn and understand science processes such as "diffusion" and "natural selection" typically find that students provide misconceived explanations of how the patterns of such processes arise (such as why giraffes' necks get longer over generations, or how ink dropped into water appears to "flow"). Instead of…

In science class, fourth graders investigate the structure of plants and leaves from trees and how the process of photosynthesis turns sunlight into sugar proteins. In this article, the author fuses art and science for a creative and successful clay slab project in her elementary art classroom. (Contains 1 online resource.)

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mobile learning among young learners. Specifically, we investigated whether the use of mobile devices for data collection during field trips outside the classroom could enhance fourth graders' learning about the parts of the flower and their functions, flower pollinators and the process of…

We report on the development of a life sciences curriculum, targeted to undergraduate students, which was modeled after a commercially available physics curriculum and based on aspects of how people learn. Our paper describes the collaborative development process and necessary modifications required to apply a physics pedagogical model in a life…

Students need to be aware of plants in order to learn about, appreciate, care for, and protect them. However, research has found that many children are not aware of the plants in their environment. A way to address this issue might be integration of plants with various disciplines. I investigated the effectiveness of an instructional approach…

Integration of inquiry-based approaches into curriculum is transforming the way science is taught and studied in undergraduate classrooms. Incorporating quantitative reasoning and mathematical skills into authentic biology undergraduate research projects has been shown to benefit students in developing various skills necessary for future…