Scientists rely heavily on tree-ring records to better understand climate variability of the past millennium. Tree rings can also be utilized to give students a window into paleoclimate research, the methods scientists use, and the importance of scientific findings. Here, we present five online labs that introduce undergraduate students to the…

Catalysis is an essential concept in chemistry, playing a key role in industrial processes. Catalysis has been considered to be challenging not only for university students to comprehend but also for the teachers. In this Laboratory Experiment, we have described a simple activity for demonstrating the concept of catalysis using thread-based…

Regardless of the student population or school geography, community gardens can provide a context for teaching numerous standards across multiple grades and can help all students better understand nature. To help illustrate the versatility of community gardens, this article includes three sample 5E lessons from different grade levels and school…

A simple experiment was developed to introduce students to the sustainable procurement of water through fog harvesting that can be used for drinking or irrigation purposes. Access to clean water and sanitation is problematic particularly within dry regions such as in areas of Peru, although there is a significant amount of fog in the mountainous…

An introductory general chemistry laboratory course was developed to provide an authentic research experience in environmental chemistry. First- and second-year students learned general chemistry concepts and laboratory skills in the context of snow chemistry while participating in the course-based undergraduate research experience. Students were…

This article explores some of the links that can be made to the science curriculum through learning outdoors with bushcraft and Forest School activities. It focuses particularly on students who are otherwise disengaged with learning, or who have relatively complex needs that mean they find traditional education more challenging.

This brief article shows how the simple events of our everyday lives can lead to a deep understanding of the world around us. These everyday events help students make sense of the scientific ideas we present to them.

Seagrass ecosystems are widespread, valuable, and threatened. We have used this system as a model to teach 3rd-7th grade students about food webs, the interconnectedness of ecosystems, ecosystem services, and the effects of human activity on coastal systems. Our objective was to increase student understanding of seagrass ecosystems and other key…

We experience (perceive, act upon and react to, and conceptualize) dynamical processes in nature as agentive. Expressed differently, we experience events as resulting from activities and interactions of "Forces of Nature" (such as wind, light, heat, fluids, electricity, substances, and motion) that are conceived of as powerful agents…

Spatial reasoning is one of the most challenging skills to master in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This article reports the results of a teaching intervention that involved using wooden blocks to enhance the development of spatial reasoning in an undergraduate-level introductory geology course. Wooden blocks…

Coupling the study of sustainability with geoscience may enable students to explore science in a more sophisticated way by examining the social-technological-ecological relationships that exist between human-nonhuman and flora-fauna-land interactions. Elementary educators are a population capable of making these issues come to life for today's…

The article presents the results of an exploratory-qualitative study about children´s conceptions of ecology in relation to media messages. The objective of the study has been to identify the role of ecologism and environmental campaigns on ecology conceptions of 105 6th grade children, age 10-12, from an educational institution in Bogota,…

In early January 2018, after days of subfreezing temperatures, a 20 m waterfall became mostly frozen with supercooled water pouring over the top of the frozen parts of the fall. A video was taken of the waterfalls and supercooled turbulent water flowing on the frozen surface as it turned into frazil ice right before our eyes. Frazil ice consists…

The Eden Project, an educational charity based in Cornwall, is home to the largest rainforest in captivity and is a unique and awe-inspiring destination. It is one thing to talk about the idea of adaptation to environment but quite another to actually go into the rainforest and use your senses to explore up close living examples of ingenious plant…

The ecological footprint concept is important in order to evaluate the human impact on the environment and propose sustainable solutions in our life. By calculating ecological footprint, people could analyze the impact of their lifestyle on the natural environment. The purpose of this study is to share an ecological footprint education module for…