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…

In this article, second graders learn the basics of engineering through an exploration of magnetic levitation (maglev) technology. The author designed and taught the lessons to a class of 26 students enrolled in a month-long summer science program. The maglev lessons took place over three mornings (15 minutes for the first lesson and 40 minutes…

The aim of this study is to teach enzymes, which are one of the biology subjects in understanding which students have a big difficulty, to pre-service teachers through POE method in the case of catalase, which is an oxidoreductase. Descriptive analysis method was employed in this study in which 38 second grade pre-service teachers attending Uludag…

This article introduces students to the world of digital microscopy. Looking at small objects through a digital microscope is like traveling through a foreign country for the first time. The experience is new, engaging, and exciting. A handheld digital microscope is an essential tool in a 21st century teacher's toolkit and the perfect tool to…

Brief experimental analyses (BEA) have been used to identify reading interventions to increase the oral reading fluency (ORF) of students having difficulty learning to read. Four interventions, repeated reading, listening passage preview, phrase drill, and contingent reinforcement were implemented with four elementary aged students performing…

In two experiments we examined how children's nonword pronunciations are influenced by learning words. In Experiment 1, children pronounced nonwords before and after learning words sharing orthographic rimes with the nonwords. These rimes varied in spelling-to-sound consistency and regularity. Children's nonword pronunciations were more sensitive…

Explaining new ideas to oneself can promote learning and transfer, but questions remain about how to maximize the pedagogical value of self-explanations. This study investigated how type of instruction affected self-explanation quality and subsequent learning outcomes for second- through fifth-grade children learning to solve mathematical…

This study investigated whether the use of "Spelling Through Morphographs" (Lessons 1-45) designed for grade 3-adult students could be effective when implemented in an above-average educational setting with grade 2 students. Using a cross-grade, longitudinal design, designed to provide a methodological foundation for addressing the acceleration of…

Providing exploratory activities prior to explicit instruction can facilitate learning. However, the level of guidance provided during the exploration has largely gone unstudied. In this study, we examined the effects of 1 form of guidance, feedback, during exploratory mathematics problem solving for children with varying levels of prior domain…

There is a particular need for inquiry-based lessons in the early elementary grades, when students are starting to develop their analytical skills. In this article, the authors present a 2-tiered inquiry-based lesson plan for 1st and 2nd grades that has been successfully used by graduate teaching fellows involved in the National Science Foundation…