Cockroaches, fast food, roadkill, rainfall—the articles in this issue of Science Scope show that middle level science students and teachers can use inquiry skills in studying almost any topic. Collecting, organizing, and analyzing data are important components of inquiry activities and these articles have great teacher-tested examples of how students can organize their observations and findings.

The article Chow Down describes studying the diets of Madagascar hissing cockroaches. I’ve been in classrooms that had these interesting insects, but most students didn’t go beyond the “Ewww” or “Oh Wow” observations. This article has some great ideas and resources for ongoing inquiry activities. These can be supplemented through the SciLinks topic Insects. I especially like Bugs from Museum Victoria in Australia. (I used to get concerned about the use of the word “bugs” until I worked on a project with a research entomologist who used the term all of the time!)

To supplement Big Macs and Healthy Teens? check out Calorie Count (if you don’t mind a few ads). This searchable site has nutritional information on individual food items as well as on menu items from fast food and chain restaurants.

OK, so your state does not have the roadkill records that the students in Roadkill Data Analysis could access. You could replicate this type of investigation with other data sources such as eBird. SciLinks can provide additional data resources, with websites on a variety of topics such as Collecting Weather Data and Presenting Scientific Data. One of my favorite online tools is Create a Graph from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Let’s not forget that we collect data in order to answer questions. The article A Land-Use-Planning Simulation Using Google Earth shows how students investigate questions with state-of-the-art data, and the simulation could be customized for anywhere. Record Keeping in Science was the theme of the January 2009 issue of Science Scope. Some of the ideas in this journal may also be appropriate or adaptable for older students.