In this qualitative, descriptive case study, we examine how elementary emergent bilinguals (EBs) use disciplinary language as they engage in integrated science and engineering instruction. Instruction incorporated language and developmental scaffolds corresponding to EBs' language and content learning needs. Oral production of EB kindergarten to…

As part of a graduate student internship, an alignment study was completed for Ignite™ by Hatch®, in partnership between The University of North Carolina at Charlotte's Center for Educational Measurement and Evaluation and Hatch®. Ignite™ has 341 Core games amongst 7 domains to assist early childhood learners: Mathematics, Language and…

Recent evidence points to the early elementary grades as a pivotal point for the development of science learning trajectories and achievement gaps. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, this study estimates the degree to which time spent on science and the breadth of science topics/skills covered predict science achievement in…

"Energy" is a term often used in everyday language. Even young children associate energy with the food they eat, feeling tired after playing soccer, or when asked to turn the lights off to save light energy. However, they may not have the scientific conceptual understanding of energy at this age. Teaching energy and matter could be…

Understanding complex systems requires reasoning about causal relationships that behave or appear to behave probabilistically. Features such as distributed agency, large spatial scales, and time delays obscure co-variation relationships and complex interactions can result in non-deterministic relationships between causes and effects that are best…

Children may not be aware of the origin of much of their food, especially if they eat mostly processed foods. Schools that operate a garden are able to teach children how common foods are parts of plants. This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. In this month's issue students focus on…

It's easy to see the connections between science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) in daily life, but they may not be so obvious in the classroom. This month's lessons allow students to explore the components of STEAM through a favorite art supply, the crayon, and a beloved American tradition, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day…

Despite the abundance of research in Modeling-based Learning (MbL) in science education, to date there is only limited research on MbL practices among K-6 novice modelers. More specifically, there is no information on how young/novice modelers' modeling enactments look so that researchers and educators have an idea of what should be expected from…

All writing begins with ideas, but young students often need visual cues to help them organize their thoughts before beginning to write. For this reason, many elementary teachers use graphic organizers or thinking maps to help students visualize patterns and organize their ideas within the different genres of writing. Graphic organizers such as…

This activity is designed to teach prekindergarten to second grade students about the concept of sink or float through an inquiry activity. Students will use familiar objects to predict and test the properties of sink and float. Background information is offered to teachers to assist them with this activity. This lesson begins with an engaging…

This article describes a hands-on science curriculum used to teach kindergarten students about decomposition at the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, New York. The goal was to get students to spend more time in the natural world and to have the opportunity to literally "get their hands dirty." This was premised on the idea that the…

This paper reports on the results of several geotechnical engineering-related science activities conducted with elementary-school students. Activities presented include soil permeability, contact stress, soil stratigraphy, shallow and deep foundations, and erosion in rivers. The permeability activity employed the LEGO NXT platform for data…

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. This month's issue explores structure and function as it relates to animals and plants. One of the disciplinary core ideas in "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" is LS1.A Structure and Function (NRC 2012). This disciplinary core idea is included in the "Next…

Grounded in theory and best-practices research, this practical text provides elementary and middle school teachers with 40 place-based activities that will help them to make science learning relevant to their students. This text provides teachers with both a rationale and a set of strategies and activities for teaching science in a local context…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM's) "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" (2000) outlines fi ve Process Standards that are essential for developing deep understanding of mathematics: (1) Problem Solving; (2) Reasoning and Proof; (3) Communication; (4) Connections; and (5) Representation. The Common Core…