This article describes a chemistry/art activity that originated in an National Science Foundation--funded two-week STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) academy for grade 4-6 girls. The authors recommend using this investigation in conjunction with other activities focusing on chemical change as a step toward fulfilling the…

"Hop to It," a week-long herpetology-focused summer STEM camp for rising fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade girls, provided young females with authentic, hands-on science experiences, allowing them to develop the habits of thought and processes of action used by STEM field experts while also engaging and sustaining their interest in the…

It was a hot summer day. Naomi and her cousin walked into the community center. She said, "Miss Jones, our moms need to work. They told us to come here and stay for couple hours." This is a common occurrence in communities with low socioeconomic status during the summertime; parents need to go to work, but children are on summer break.…

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…

Children are naturally curious about the world in which they live. To focus this sense of wonder, have your students investigate their local habitat as it changes over the year. This multiseason study will build connections and add relevance to the habitats that children learn about. This series of activities for grades 4-6 explores the changing…

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…

Teacher preparation programs help teachers build a foundation for entering the teaching profession. However, learning to teach science cannot be achieved in a mere four years--it is a lifelong endeavor. Teachers continue to learn new science content and new teaching strategies throughout their careers. As professionals, they consistently update…

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…

By changing the venue from festival to a required academic exposition, the traditional science fair was transformed into a "Science Expo" wherein students were guided away from cookbook experiments toward developing a question about their environment into a testable and measurable experiment. The revamped "Science Expo" became a night for students…

Many teachers bring caterpillars into their class for their students to see the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. This is exciting and educational, but more can be done using Monarchs across the curriculum. This article describes an integrated butterfly unit for students in grades four to six that starts with identifying the Monarch…

Kids today are growing up with televisions, movies, videos and DVDs, so it's logical to assume that this type of media could be motivating and used to great effect in the classroom. But at what point should film and other visual media be used? Are there times in the inquiry process when showing a film or incorporating other visual media is more…

For many children, especially those with reading difficulties, a motor-kinesthetic learning activity may be an effective tool to teach complex concepts. With this in mind, the authors developed and tested a game designed to teach fourth- to sixth-grade children some basic principles of nervous system function by allowing the children themselves to…

Students are usually quick to draw conclusions about their surroundings. Their generalizations, however, are often based on a single experience or even a story recounted by a friend. An individual's ability to reason inductively improves as he gains more experience in the world. The ability to draw broad conclusions also improves with an…