Describes the construction and use of a shell-discovery kit for students to employ in actively investigating the natural world. (WRM)

Describes a high school biology curriculum designed to give students opportunities to learn about genetic inquiry in part by providing them with authentic experiences doing inquiry in the discipline. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/WRM)

Describes a laboratory experience for upper-level science students that provides a hands-on approach to understanding the basics of experimental physiology. Students design an experiment to determine the relative importance of dilution of plasma proteins in the overall renal excretory response following volume expansion with intravenous saline.…

Presents an inexpensive hands-on lesson in DNA fingerprinting that can be completed in a single class period. Involves students in solving a murder in which a drop of blood is fingerprinted and matched with the blood of the murderer. (DDR)

Provides an activity in which students create small classroom factories and investigate several aspects of production including design, engineering, quality control, waste management, packaging, shipment, and communication. (DDR)

Announces the theme for National Science and Technology Week (NSTW) 1998 and offers a rationale for the choice of the topic of polar connections. Suggests that the poles offer a glimpse of science as high adventure. The poles are often seen as pristine, nearly lablike environments that provide a platform for animal studies. (DDR)

Details an activity in which children experiment with creating their own sun protection devices and a model of the sunglasses invented by native people of the Arctic. (DDR)

Presents three activities for teaching elementary students about the built-in mechanisms that help warm-blooded animals maintain constant internal body temperatures. The activities help students understand why humans sweat, why dogs pant, and why blubber keeps whales warm in frigid water. (SM)

A hands-on activity on Ohm's law and inclined planes was completed by 53 secondary agriscience students; 44 completed worksheets only. Method of reinforcement produced no significant differences in immediate or delayed posttest scores. Females scored higher than did males on all posttests. (SK)

Introduces a package of six interrelated units on plate tectonics and earthquakes. The Seismic Sleuths curriculum contains hands-on activities integrating math, earth science, and social studies. Units cover personal experience as well as the science of earthquakes while students also construct buildings to study earthquake resistance. One…

Outlines the development and implementation of a project in which students work in groups of two or three to research, design, and build a display about a geologic time period or a topic related to the history of life on Earth. (DDR)

Presents worksheet activities that enable students to explore the concept of electrostatic induction and learn the meaning of grounding. Students build two classic devices, the electrophorus and the leaf electroscope. (DDR)

Examines didactic strategies used for introducing preschoolers to the natural sciences. Describes general characteristics of activities based on empiricist or Piagetian theory of cognitive development. Discusses a new sociocognitive approach for developing natural-science kindergarten activities within the framework of Neo-Piagetian,…

Introduces a mobile science outreach project that is a learning laboratory for middle school and high school students. Applies the techniques and concepts of genetics and molecular biology used in modern biotechnology laboratories to solve problems. Discusses the advantages of MobileLab. (YDS)

Examines the science achievement outcomes for different subgroups of students using different assessment formats designed to measure the level of achievement of the National Science Education Standards. Assessments included a multiple-choice test, a written open-ended test, a hands-on lab skills test, and a hands-on full investigation. (Author/SAH)