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Book Chapter
As a teacher, you can threaten, cajole, plead, or reward students into doing what you want, but the ultimate decision about how much to participate is made by the students. This chapter gives many suggestions of new strategies to try to help your stu...
Book Chapter
Student learning is the ultimate goal of everything you do in the classroom. Assessment is the process of gathering information (or evidence) from a variety of sources to determine what students are learning in terms of knowledge and skills and how t...
Book Chapter
Creating Professional Development Opportunities
Even if your school does not require one, it’s important for you to have your own plan for continuing education. You can begin by generating a list of what you want to learn. Perhaps it is science-related content, or maybe it’s a teaching strateg...
Book Chapter
When students think of cold weather, they often think of mittens, snowflakes, and penguins! In this chapter, celebrate those tuxedo-clad birds that have come to symbolize winter and provides students with the opportunity to investigate adaptations th...
Book Chapter
Earth is an extremely complex system with many components and subsystems, and they all interact and affect each other. The four major subsystems are atmosphere (air), lithosphere (land), hydrosphere (water), and biosphere (life). A change in one part...
Book Chapter
Global warming is happening now, and scientists have evidence that humans are to blame. The rate of warming in the past 50 years has doubled, and temperatures are certain to go up even more. To gain an understanding of how global warming might impact...
Book Chapter
Resurrection Plant: Making Science Come Alive!
An inanimate, seemingly dead, 3–5 in. ball-shape brown object placed in water and exposed to sunlight is observed to “come back alive” and turn into a vibrant green photosynthetic plant over a period of anywhere from several hours to one day...
Book Chapter
Toothbrush Design—Is There A Better Bristle?
What kind of toothbrush do you use—manual or electric? What is the shape of the head and the handle? Could you describe the firmness and the layout of the bristles? Or count the number of bristles? In this 5E Model lesson, students explore various ...
Book Chapter
Historical Use of Trade Books in the Science Classroom
“Teaching Through Trade Books” is a column that has appeared monthly in Science and Children since January 2003. It highlights the science and literacy connections that can be made with children’s literature and provides readers with “novel�...
Book Chapter
In today’s electronic age of video games and MP3 players, children are not spending as much time outdoors as past generations did. Many fear that as a result children are becoming increasingly alienated from the natural world. The lessons in this c...
Book Chapter
We often gloss over the history of science—the women and men who have made advancements in the area of scientific discovery. These notable individuals are the backbone of our field. In the activities, in the chapter, the authors honor these scienti...
Book Chapter
Your students are most likely not knowledgeable about the raw materials, the design processes, and the technology involved in manufacturing the products they use everyday. Making connections with local manufacturers can connect students to the real s...
Book Chapter
“Is it time yet?” is a cry heard from many a student’s mouth. Is it time for lunch? Is it time to go home? Is it time for recess? Is it time for science? (we can always hope)… and the list can go on and on. Students often equate time with an ...
Book Chapter
From the youngest ages children construct buildings, bridges, towers, and anything else that comes to mind using a variety of materials. The books and activities, in this chapter, take this interest in construction and build on it by allowing student...
Book Chapter
The lessons in this chapter challenge students' common misconception that air is "nothing." Using two engaging trade books with "stop-and-try-it" formats, students participate in activities, collect evidence, and develop explanations to prove that ai...