Gifted programs have long relied upon creative challenges (activities in which students are asked to create a product or an idea in response to specific teacher directions) to spark ideas, collaboration, and exploration. These challenges, however, have often been devoid of context. Gifted students are pulled out of the classroom to build a bridge…

Geology is increasingly involved in the planning and implementation of community development projects throughout the globe. A partnership among the Water For Life organization, Wheaton College in Illinois, and the village of Tushile in Kosovo during the past few years has proven to be successful in potentially sustainable improvements, including…

In this article, the authors describe an investigative activity in which their eighth-grade students reconstructed past environmental change in the New England area using data from lake varves in central Vermont to examine evidence of climate change. The investigation uses an authentic paleoclimate record (Ridge 2011) from the Pleistocene epoch,…

The researchers described in this case study how Service Learning was incorporated within the context of an early childhood program where the teachers used the Project Approach. The Service Learning project was embedded in an investigation about water and was designed to help tsunami victims in Asia. Participants included two teachers and 12…

The present research aims at pinpointing differences in spontaneous and non-spontaneous mental models of water cycle conceptions of two 4th grade student groups: the Jewish residents of a small provincial town and a group of students from an indigenous Bedouin community. Students' conceptions were elicited using the Repertory Grid technique as…

Learning about the water situation in other regions of the world and the devastating effects of floods on drinking water helps students study science while learning about global water quality. This article provides science activities focused on developing cultural awareness and understanding how local water resources are integrally linked to the…

Based on a photograph, the density of a watermelon floating in a pail of water is estimated with different levels of simplification--with and without consideration of refraction and three-dimensional effects. The watermelon was approximated as a sphere. The results of the theoretical estimations were verified experimentally. (Contains 6 figures.)

This article describes a simple and inexpensive way to create and to verify the parabolic surface of a rotating liquid. The liquid is water. The second part of the article deals with the problem of a boat on the surface of a rotating liquid. (Contains 1 table, 10 figures and 5 footnotes.)

This article examines several readily available "magic tricks" which base their "trickery" on physics principles, and questions the use of the word "magic" in the 21st century, both in popular children's science and in everyday language. (Contains 18 figures.)

An experimental project aimed at identifying stable reaction intermediates is described. Initially, the studied reaction appears to involve the simple hydrolysis, by aqueous sodium hydroxide, of methyl 3,5-dinitrobenzoate dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide. On mixing the substrates, however, the reaction mixture unexpectedly turns an intense red in…

Objective: To assess whether there was an improvement in the knowledge, attitudes and practices of students after the Healthy Eyes in Schools Project intervention and to complete a process evaluation to inform future implementation of health promotion interventions. Design: A descriptive, mixed-methods design was used, including questionnaires and…

Integrated water resources management is one of the major bottom-up alternatives that emerged during the 1980s in North America as part of the trend towards more holistic and participatory styles of environmental governance. It aims to protect surface and groundwater resources by focusing on the integrated and collaborative management of land and…

This paper describes an innovative collaboration between instructors of non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) courses and scientists who teach STEM courses in the GATE (Green Action Through Education) learning community. The scientists in this project presented engaging science--in such diverse locations as a sewage…

The use of informal science education in rural areas, especially at rural middle schools has not been well documented. Although rural areas have accessible outdoor learning environments compared to urban areas, teachers are less likely to incorporate informal science activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate two seventh grade life…

The Jersey Roots, Global Reach 4-H Climate Science Program conducted in Camden, New Jersey introduces middle school students to the evidence, impacts, and potential solutions to climate change. For their service learning project, students installed two rain gardens at the school. Rain gardens are shallow landscaped depressions in the soil that can…