In this article the authors describe what they call their "Snapshots of Science" program. These mini-lessons of science are taught once a week to all students in the school library. Over the last two years, they have been working to extend the experiences students have in their science classroom into the library. Each week, students…

The engineering design process (EDP) can be a wonderful tool to nurture creative problem-solving abilities, prepare students to tackle problems with intentional planning, and encourage learning from failures. Many lesson plans and instructional strategies are guided by the EDP (Hill Cunningham, Mott, and Hunt 2018). In this article, the authors…

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance science teaching. In this month's issue an upper elementary Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) challenge brings an engineer into the classroom while emphasizing cooperation, communication, and creativity. STEM activities come in various shapes and sizes. Some are quite involved…

For students to know how to prepare for severe weather, they must first understand what types of weather they might experience in their location. Much of students' interactions with and learning about severe weather events will happen through printed text resources and video excerpts. Through the use of such resources, young students can begin to…

Making and recording scientific observations is a fundamental activity of the scientific community. Scientists use their senses and tools (e.g., magnifying glasses, rulers, colored pencils) to make records of the phenomena (e.g., light energy, ecosystems) they are investigating. These observations often serve as evidence in the scientific…

To further students' understanding about gravity, forces, and motion, multiple types of text were integrated into instruction. As part of a 5E lesson (Bybee et al. 2006), the authors used a selection from Capstone Press's Graphic Science series, "A Crash Course in Forces and Motion with Max Axiom" (Sohn and Barnett 2007) to support…

What is the Sun? What effect does it have on the Earth? How do we protect ourselves from the Sun's harmful rays? These are a few of the questions the author wanted her kindergarten students to explore regarding the Sun and solar energy. Using the "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS) framework that notes kindergarten students should…

Many elementary science teachers understand that the best way to enhance reasoning and thinking skills in their students is to have them engage in scientific negotiation. They know that teaching is not the simple transmission of information but a complex act that requires teachers to apply knowledge from multiple sources, including student…

This 5E cycle of lessons takes students through a fun and thorough study of Silly Putty's properties, progressing from an initial observation of a "melting snowman" toy in the Engage phase to making and "marketing" their own homemade putty in the Evaluate phase. Along the way, students use evidence to construct their own…

The 2017 Total Solar Eclipse (TSE2017) will occur on August 21 in the continental United States, bringing totality to this area for the first time since 1979. The Moon's umbra will traverse from Oregon to South Carolina in about 90 minutes, bringing an eerie darkness to 14 states coast-to-coast and a partial eclipse to every part of the country…

The answer to this month's question, "Can electromagnetic waves affect emotions," is yes. Wherever there are electromagnetic (EM) waves (basically everywhere!), there is the potential for them directly or indirectly to affect the emotions. But what about the likely motivation behind the originally-posed question? Can EM waves affect your…

Most elementary science teachers would like to give their students opportunities to do science. The "Next Generation Science Standards" and "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" (NGSS Lead States 2013; NRC 2012) make this goal explicit by requiring that students learn how to engage in the practices of science. Consequently,…

Computational thinking can provide a basis for problem solving, for making evidence-based decisions, and for learning to code or create programs. Therefore, it is critical that all students across the K-12 continuum--including students in the early grades--have opportunities to begin developing problem solving and computational thinking skills.…

In this article, a class of preschool children completed a week of lessons on worms in preparation for a visit by real worms. Prior to the real worm visit, the students learned about the bodies of worms. They also learned vocabulary words such as "segments." They documented thoughts and predictions about worms using drawings. Preparing…

This article describes how two teachers implemented a 5E lesson in a third-grade classroom where the students had been working with forces/motion and investigating things that move like pendulums, swing sets, and various toys. The lesson was included as part of a larger unit on motion. The desired outcome for this lesson was for students to…