Using cross-grade peer mentoring as an integral component to field trip experiences can help educators realize the learning potential of nature-based experiences. When young students are paired with older students, Socratic peer dialogue deepens interest, investment, and ultimately ownership of new learning. Using peer-supported inquiry…

When teachers, parents, and community members work together, children benefit (Henderson and Mapp 2002). This is especially true when the collaboration is coordinated and focused as it was for the Greenteam, a science ecology club and an event created by a network of educators, elementary students, and science professionals. The club and a…

The setting: the science classroom. The characters: you and your students. The scene: Your students acting out scientific discoveries, modeling a frog's life cycle, mimicking the transition from liquid to solid. This is "dramatic science", a teaching approach that uses acting techniques to explore and develop young children's ideas about…

Project BudBurst is a national program intended to get students and other "citizen scientists" to participate in a real study about plants, the environment, and climate change. It also provides an excellent opportunity for students to build data-analysis skills. A collaboration of several agencies and universities, the program began last year and…

One of the most basic concepts related to force and motion is Newton's first law, which essentially states, "An object at rest tends to remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion in a straight line tends to remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." Judging by the time and space…