These four instructional modules provide elementary teachers with life science and physical science content knowledge by having them participate in inquiry activities in cooperative groups.

The purpose of the four modules is "to provide science content knowledge and experiences with doing science which can influence science instruction" (p. 1, each module). The audience is elementary teachers who utilize kit-based inquiry science curricula.

These four instructional modules were created by the Caltech Precollege Science Initiative and the Pasadena Unified School District with funding from the National Science Foundation. They cover diverse scientific topics: Floating and Sinking; Force, Motion, and Machines; Electricity; and Animals. An introduction to the modules provides suggestions for professional developers planning to utilize the resource with teachers, describes the developers' philosophy of teaching through inquiry, and discusses the importance of having teachers analyze data and keep science notebooks. Each module includes 12 workshop sessions with three hours each. For each session the module provides an overview, goals, list of materials, activity instructions, homework suggestions, and comments for professional developers.

Floating and Sinking contains a carefully conceived sequence of activities and each session is a well-conceived lesson. Participants explore variables affecting flotation, including weight, water displacement, and type of liquid; they investigate the weights of objects underwater; they conduct their own inquiries; and in an optional inquiry they compare the surface tension of different liquids. In Force, Motion, and Machines, participants investigate the relationship between force and motion as well as force and stretch in a spring, explore freefall, and use levers and pulleys as an introduction to mechanical advantage. In Electricity, participants measure voltage and currents, investigate the relationship between voltage and current for a resistor, explore the characteristics of a capacitor, construct and test a transistor circuit, and use an oscilloscope to analyze circuits. In Animals, participants investigate, design experiments, and analyze data with mealworms, caterpillars, ladybugs, and microorganisms.

The material has a simple layout and is spiral bound. Modules have photographs and simple diagrams.

These modules are intended to be used to enhance the content knowledge and confidence of in-service elementary teachers and to encourage them to use investigative methods, thereby improving classroom practice. Professional developers should emphasize how teachers can apply their knowledge when working with their students; the goal is not to implement these same modules in their classrooms. Reviewers noted that these materials would be most effectively utilized by teachers who are already comfortable with the logistics of using science kits in their classrooms, in order to effectively focus on the content underlying the kits.

Reviewers recommended that professional development providers develop assessments of participants' learning, specifically testing content knowledge, since that is the stated goal of the modules. The required science notebook could be used as one means of assessing participant learning. In addition, the culminating group inquiry and presentations utilized in Animals and Floating and Sinking could be utilized as assessment; these group projects bring effective closure to the modules and professional developers may wish to utilize this technique in all modules.

One reviewer felt that Force, Motion, and Machines covers so much content that it should be divided into two separate modules.