Recommends the use of origami to construct models of unit cells and crystalline structures. Provides templates and suggestions for use with students. (DDR)

Describes portable scientific laboratories that allow students to go beyond the classroom to do field work. Presents examples of a curriculum that incorporates portable technology and discusses its advantages in inquiry-based science programs. Includes handheld probes and peripherals. (KHR)

Presents a range of exciting ideas for encouraging active learning, for illuminating new concepts, and for making science lessons fun. Topics include modeling, matter, heat, diffusion, changes of state, heat transfer, energy changes, atomic structure, waves, gravity, enzymes, and habitats. (JRH)

Outlines the major features of Food Works, a non-profit education firm that has developed a unique elementary school restructuring program called Common Roots. This program is a prevention-based approach to education that empowers individuals with the skills of food-growing. (DDR)

Describes the use of manipulatives to teach the fundamental concept of limiting factors and presents a series of questions that can be used to test whether students are harboring some of the most common misconceptions about limiting factors. Includes applications to discussions of cultural eutrophication and vegetarianism. (JRH)

Presents an activity in which students investigate the chemistry behind color-changing markers. Includes the objectives, materials, procedures, and follow-up for the activities. (DDR)

Presents an activity that demonstrates how a traditional activity can generate questions not typically raised in a conventional course. In the context of astrobiology, students can connect to an intriguing endeavor, the search for extraterrestrial life. (DDR)

Compares two delivery methods for a course in genetics and evolution: (1) studio teaching involving teamwork by students, hands-on exercises, and minimal lecturing; and (2) an interactive lecture demonstration method. Uses pre- and post-testing of basic concepts to evaluate the effectiveness of each method. Suggests that studio techniques are a…

Describes the Science Enrichment Program (SEP), a multicultural summer program that aims at helping participants identify their special aptitudes and develop their particular interests through a multitude of hands-on experiences so that they can identify with an area of science. (JRH)

Describes a project where students build a motorized car that can perform well in two distinctly different competitions: traveling 20 meters in the shortest time and pulling a 500-gram mass the farthest distance in 20 seconds. Enables students to apply physics principles to a real problem and to discover the importance of teamwork on large…

Describes two laboratory exercises corresponding to studies of statics and dynamics to illustrate the concept that the combination of real and simulated laboratory tools, with some real data being recorded in computer-aided form, can result in a very sound understanding of physical principles. (JRH)

Conducted a study to show in an audiovisual form how technological activities can be planned and implemented successfully at the primary school level. Demonstrates how science and technology can be linked in the curriculum. Reports that designing a unit that takes advantage of the symbiotic relationship between science and technology can lead to…

Recommends the use of constructivist-based strategies to engage students who are not interested in science using traditional methods. Focuses on the application of these strategies in a laboratory experience exploring gas laws. (DDR)

Explains the use of a constructivist model for engaging students in the curriculum. The student end of the model is characterized by the knowledge, personal experience, degree of motivation, and level of interest that a student brings to a learning situation. (DDR)

Describes how teaching a lesson on the discovery of a crater in the Yucatan Peninsula and the rock strata deep in the ocean can help students explain the demise of dinosaurs. Discusses the impact theory and the core model. (DDR)