Students' thinking should serve as the foundation of effective science curriculum and instruction. To promote science learning, particularly in the geosciences, teachers must attend to students' existing ideas about natural phenomena through the use of ''high-leverage'' instructional practices such as formative assessment. Elementary teachers need…

Two-thirds of U.S. citizens do not understand the scientific process. There is a clear misunderstanding about what science is--and is not--both in our society and in the classroom. Furthermore, students below basic proficiency are locked into an achievement gap. In response, the No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001. Since then, there has…