Toys are designed to be fun and playful and are highly motivating for both children and adults. Commercial toys and child-designed toys can be used both in the classroom and at home to encourage creativity and to teach science concepts. Much of what children can do with toys involves tinkering, defined by Merriam Webster as "to repair,…

The intent of this research is to evaluate the use of a formative assessment probe about balance and torque. The lesson was conducted with 52, 11th grade students studying in two physics classes at a state high school. A formative assessment probe was used at both the beginning and end of the study. After the students' prior knowledge about…

Sand play commonly occupies children at preschools, child-development centers, and school and park playgrounds. The authors review the research on sand play and present a small study on outdoor sand play conducted at a university-based, child-development center using a method they call "facilitated-action research." This study had four…