In science classrooms, students usually see and work with data that's intended to tell them right away about the natural world. Students then often treat the data we provide to them as factual, rather than as a source of evidence (Duschl 2008; Sandoval and Millwood 2005; Berland and Reiser 2009; McNeill and Berland 2017; Hancock, Kaput, and…

Analyzing and interpreting data is essential to the practice of scientists and is also an essential science and engineering practice for science teaching and learning. Although working with data has benefits for student learning, it is also challenging, particularly with respect to aspects of work with data that are not yet very common in schools,…

School closures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic led to kids asking pertinent questions about why they were not in school, especially some students suffering financial hardship. Virtual classrooms became the mundane venues for students to piece together the pandemic puzzle and unpack unseen inequities. This article examines disparities that…

One way to tackle climate misconceptions is to have students work with data to show how the climate is changing in their local community. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has weather stations nationwide that collect data on air temperature and precipitation that are freely available online. This article describes a lesson…

Nitrogen- or phosphorus-based fertilizers, used in agriculture, can run off into nearby waterways during periods of heavy rain or high flow and cause harmful blooms (Paerl et al. 2016), low oxygen (Joyce 2000), and decreased biodiversity (Sebens 1994). Studies of the effects wetlands can have on water and habitat quality (Verhoeven and Meuleman…

The fruit fly ("Drosophila melanogaster") is an ideal subject for studying inheritance patterns, Mendel's laws, meiosis, Punnett squares, and other aspects of genetics. Much of what we know about genetics dates to evolutionary biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan's work with mutated fruit flies in the early 1900s. Many genetic laboratories…

Understanding how scientific conclusions are drawn from data is central to learning about the nature of science. Many students struggle with aspects of reasoning from data, including identifying relationships among variables, interpreting graphs, coordinating theory and evidence, and not allowing personal beliefs to outweigh the data when forming…

This article is aimed at teachers already experienced with activities involving small, student-collected data sets and who are now ready to begin working with large, online data sets collected by scientists and engineers. The authors discuss challenges, instructional strategies, and sources of appropriate lesson plans. With guidance, plus online…

Understanding the behavior of ice sheets (thick, continent-size ice masses) and glaciers (smaller, flowing masses of ice) is increasingly important as our climate changes, particularly in the Polar Regions. This article describes two lessons, based on the 5E (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate) model, that help students practice…

Students today need advanced tools and competencies to succeed in the global economy. Technology can provide students with critical learning experiences but is often affordable only to affluent students. All students, regardless of socioeconomic status, deserve to use technology to create and innovate, communicate and collaborate, and gain the…

The traditional Run the Football Field physics activity--in which students are timed as they move at different speeds on a football field to investigate displacement and velocity--has been updated for the 21st century. Nowadays, GPS-enabled tablets and smartphones replace the stopwatches and yard markers of the past, allowing students to collect…

The "Next-Generation Science Standards" emphasize the importance of teaching the practices of science alongside content ideas and crosscutting concepts (NGSS Lead States 2013). Chief among these practices is the ability to gather, assess, analyze, and interpret data. Authentic inquiry near the leading-edge of science offers a wonderful…

Many high school physics courses have deemphasized mathematics, which has changed the nature and role of the inquiry experiments in them. This article lays out an approach built upon an introductory unit, "Patterns in Nature," which aims to engage students in constructing their understanding of physics through contextualizing and…

Generating, collecting, and analyzing data is an essential practice in the science classroom (NRC 2012). Taking this data and using it to craft an explanation that demonstrates understanding of content is another essential practice. But both practices can be challenging, and students often require teacher support to succeed. Accordingly, the…

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…