Earlier studies have discussed the usefulness of storytelling and hands-on activities when teaching young children science. However, few studies have investigated the use of the two methods in combination. This study reports on five pre-school teachers' experience of combining storytelling and hands-on activities in teaching science and their…

Students with visual impairments have the same span of cognitive abilities as their peers, but science instruction typically relies very heavily on vision. The preponderance of visually oriented and visually complex science concepts poses significant challenges to learning among students with visual impairment. This study is engaging, hands-on…

As the lead tutor for primary science in an initial teacher education institution, part of David Allen's role involves inspiring trainee primary school teachers to "want" to teach science. Their first science lecture is entitled 'Awe and Wonder' and this is delivered with the intention of modelling how dynamic hooks can be used with…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education at all levels has temporarily shifted to remote learning, hobbling an integral component of chemistry courses: the laboratory. The chemistry lab is crucial for developing student engagement and learning with hands-on, relevant experiments in a socially dynamic classroom setting. The transition to remote…

Practical work and experimental science are at the heart of teaching and learning in science classrooms. The COVID-19 pandemic forces secondary school science teachers to make difficult decisions about how best to facilitate practical work safely. We present empirical evidence of the effectiveness of teacher demonstrations and videos in preparing…

Recent research on science teaching and learning defines science as both a body of knowledge and a process (NRC 2007); it is the integration of science content, practices, and core ideas (NRC 2012). It would follow that science learning should parallel what science is and how it is done; students should not be just consumers of scientific…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") have placed an emphasis on the incorporation of engineering practices into K-12 science instruction. This article details a sequence of physical science lessons that would be part of teaching matter in the second-grade classroom. The goals of these lessons are: (1) to be hands-on…

The Japanese lesson study (JLS) model for curriculum development has seen limited application to middle school science classrooms. The JLS model was used to develop and refine three hands-on activities focused on four major eighth grade science topics from the California curriculum. Prior assessments of these topics showed limited understanding by…

Visualization of three-dimensional (3D) elements has always played a huge role in chemistry education. At the same time, it is a challenge to teach with most representations being shown in two-dimensional (2D) media. With the recent rise of extended reality (XR) that includes virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technology in higher education,…

Middle school students participating in energy-monitoring activities guided by their teachers during 2009-2011 gained (p < 0.05) in content knowledge and became more positive in their dispositions toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). No comparison group data were gathered for this initial study. Activities were…

Large numbers of U.S. students lack proficiency in science, and students from different ethnic and socioeconomic groups show disparities in science achievement. Science knowledge and skills are important for both academic and workplace success, and a variety of interventions have been developed to improve student achievement in science. The…

An undergraduate teaching laboratory experiment involving a continuous flow, bleach-mediated oxidation of aldehydes under biphasic conditions was developed that allowed students to explore concepts of mixing or mass transport, solvent sustainability, biphasic reactions, phase transfer catalysis, and continuous flow chemistry.

An undergraduate teaching laboratory experiment involving a continuous flow, photocatalytic thiol-ene reaction using visible-light irradiation is described that allows students to explore concepts of green chemistry, photochemistry, photocatalysis, and continuous flow chemistry.

Four principles of cognitive science were used to make systematic revisions in middle school science instructional modules from two kinds of curriculum: one popular textbook series and one popular hands-on series (two modules each). Schools were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 arms (cognitive science modifications with professional development,…

Using tangible models to help students visualize chemical structures in three dimensions has been a mainstay of chemistry education for many years. Conventional chemistry modeling kits are, however, limited in the types and accuracy of the molecules, bonds and structures they can be used to build. The recent development of 3D printing technology…