Why Are School Buses Always Yellow?

Turn natural curiosity into deep, lasting learnings!

Inquiry is what drives us all toward new knowledge, but how do we transform children’s natural ability to notice and wonder into the full learning cycle of observing, thinking, and critically questioning?

Through this new edition of the bestselling Why Are School Buses Always Yellow? you’ll find simple, yet systematic ways to develop authentic student inquiry that fosters deep learning. This new edition features:

• Updates based on the latest research around inquiry-based teaching
• Emphasis on turning inquiry into critical thinking, assessing students’ inquiry, and involving families in the inquiry process
• Examples for K–8 across subject areas
• New emphasis on critical thinking about technologies
• New and updated activities, checklists, templates, and implementation tools
• Alignment with Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards

With this invaluable resource, help students transform their playful wonderings into deeper questions about content—and develop the higher-level thinking skills they need for success in school and in life.

"Educators often talk about developing lifelong learners - our team has had great success using Why Are School Buses Always Yellow? to catalyze professional conversations about how we can better cultivate curiosity through an inquiry approach. I strongly recommend this [new edition] for those who are interested in unlocking the uniquely creative capacity of our youngest learners."
Devin Vodicka, Superintendent
Vista Unified School District, Vista, CA

• Provides processes and prompts to empower children to frame good questions about content and search for answers
• Incorporates evaluation of Internet sources and other information
• Shows examples across K-8 levels in all subject areas
• Highlights inquiry entry points using objects, literature, lived experiences, media accounts—any kind of object and situation students experience
• Incorporates examples from schools across the country

New to the second edition:

• Updated to reflect the newest research.
• New stories and examples, broadened to grades K through 8.
• Discussion and alignment of the inquiry process with Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.
• New chapter on how to use technology to pursue inquiry and also build professional practice
• Each chapters has new "Try this!" activities, new graphics, and updated checklists, templates, reflection questions with room for notetaking, a glossary of key terms, and other implementation tools