Chemistry in high school is often presented as a jumbled mass of topics drawn from inorganic, analytical, and physical sub-disciplines. With no central theme to build on, students may have trouble grasping the chemical sciences as a coherent field. In this article, Stowe and Elvey describe an activity that integrates different facets of chemistry…

The authors developed an integrated science-and-art program to engage science students from a performing arts high school in hands-on, inquiry based lab experiences. The students participated in eight biology-focused investigations at a local university with undergraduate mentors. After the laboratory phase of the project, the high school students…

Imagine middle and high school science classes without a science fair. Participation in science fairs is declining (Harmon 2011), a trend that some teachers, parents, and students find disturbing. The authors opine that the decline in science fairs calls for critically reviewing the potential disconnect between the aims and outcomes of science…

Global climate change and its effects are real and immediate. Students must gain an understanding of climate science so they can participate in public debate about how to reduce the emission of heat-trapping gases and how their communities can mitigate the effects of global warming. In this activity, students model these effects on Earth's oceans…

This paper examines the process of high school students' planning investigations in the chemistry laboratory across two consecutive academic years in terms of their actions and their progress. The context is a set of five inquiry-based laboratory tasks in which participants (9th and 10th graders, 14-15 and 15-16 years of age) are required to plan…

Every high school graduate should be able to use data analysis and statistical reasoning to draw conclusions about the world. Two core statistical concepts for students to understand are the role of variability in measures and evaluating the effect of a variable. In the activity presented in this article, students investigate a scientific question…

This inquiry-based activity for high school students introduces concepts of ecology and the importance of data analysis to science. Using an investigative case, students generate independent questions about birds, access Cornell Lab of Ornithology online resources to collect data, organize and graph data using Excel, and make claims based on…

When high school students are asked what's the best part of science class, many will say it's the field trips. Students enjoy engaging in authentic, community-based science outside the classroom. To capitalize on this, Patrick Willis created the Bird Box Survey Project for his introductory field biology class. The project takes students…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), through its Connections Standard, highlights the importance of "the opportunity for students to experience mathematics in a context." Seeing how mathematics can be used to describe real-world phenomena can motivate students to learn more mathematics. Connecting mathematics to the real world…

Students learn science best with activities that mirror the way scientists work. This article describes how geologists investigate groundwater flow systems in areas of karst topography--geologic formations shaped by dissolving bedrock--and provides a way for students to replicate this research. Students also use electric current to model water…

Continental margins are an important part of the ocean floor. They separate the land above sea level from the deep ocean basins below and occupy about 11% of Earth's surface. They are also economically important, as they harbor both mineral resources and some of the most valuable fisheries in the world. In this article students investigate North…

On the 2009 AP[c] Statistics Exam, students were asked to create a statistic to measure skewness in a distribution. This paper explores several of the most popular student responses and evaluates which statistic performs best when sampling from various skewed populations. (Contains 8 figures, 3 tables, and 4 footnotes.)

In a society where technology plays an ever-increasing role, students' ability to understand the underlying science and make smart social and environmental decisions based on that knowledge is crucial. "Welcome to Nanoscience" helps biology, chemistry, and Earth science teachers introduce the revolutionary fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology…

Encouraging students to share their ideas, design mechanisms for testing ideas, and make conclusions about the validity of their ideas on the basis of evidence collected can enhance teaching about friction. The authors focus on teaching science content and science processes in a holistic manner so that students develop enduring understandings of…

This article explores the use of problem posing in the calculus classroom using investigative projects. Specially, four examples of student work are examined, each one differing in originality of problem posed. By allowing students to explore actual questions that they have about calculus, coming from their own work or class discussion, or…