The experts address the following question in this month’s column: How do fireflies get their light power?
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According to Plant Talk (2007), approximately 270,000 species of plants exist on Earth. The numbers of known species—including trees, flowers, fruits, and herbs—increases almost daily as scientists make new discoveries. From indigenous cultures in Australia to urban communities in the United States, and everywhere in between, plants are used in clothing, medicine, furniture, food, and symbolic and spiritual rituals. Ethnobotanists, such as Maria Fadiman, study this relationship between people (ethno) and plants (botany). In the rain forests of Latin America and African Savannas, home to hundreds of thousands of plant species, Fadiman works to help people and plants live in harmony.
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This article provides practical guidance for science teachers to help students who love both science and writing, and are struggling to find a career that will allow them to combine these disparate talents and interests. It includes descriptions of career paths, suggestions for exploratory steps, and links to sources of additional information. The common thread running through these careers is that the professional first gains an understanding of some aspect of science or technology, and then helps other people build the same understanding.
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School is out and the summer is full of both official and unofficial holidays that prompt us to enjoy science and the profession of sharing it. As in past years, the reviewers and editors of NSTA Recommends—ready and willing to share their enthusiasm for reading with you—have been gathering suggestions for the summer. So along with your beach chairs, flags, and fireworks schedules; collect some reading material for a summer of personal enrichment.
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Many new teachers who leave schools after the first year report lack of support and poor working conditions as the primary reasons for leaving. New teachers can feel alone and vulnerable even working in a school building alongside scores of other teachers. At a time when many of our teachers are approaching retirement, and science and mathematics teachers are scarce, especially in urban settings, it is imperative that we support and retain teachers new to the profession. In this month’s column, the field editor discusses this critical issue and shares his positive experience working along side a new teacher during the 2006-2007 school year.
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The purpose of this article is to describe a simple laboratory activity in which students collect a series of measurements and then use graphical analysis to determine the nature of the relationship between an object’s mass and the volume of water it displaces. In this activity, students explore the relationships between the mass of a floating object, the amount the object sinks in the water, and its displaced volume. The data will reveal a unique relationship between an object’s metrically measured mass and volume and its buoyancy in water. This can lead to an elaboration of the density concept and provide a concrete model for systems involving other forms of balance and equilibrium.
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Create an ambience of focus and organization in your high school science classroom by implementing the strategy described here. This 10-minute silent reading routine exposes students to current events in science and the relevance of science to their lives. The routine occurs during the first 10 minutes of class, allowing sufficient time for scheduling labs and activities.
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The study of science is often vocabulary intensive. An analysis of high school chemistry, biology, physics, and Earth science textbooks showed that approximately 1,000 to 3,000 novel science terms are contained in each (Groves 1995). Given the shear magnitude of terms, science vocabulary is problematic for many science teachers and learners. To provide students with meaningful experiences with science vocabulary, the authors group students into literature circles. This article describes how they have modified traditional literature circle roles to help students learn science vocabulary.
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Most experienced high school science teachers are asked at some point to serve as a mentor to a novice teacher. While mentor-training programs have been established in many states, they often only focus on how the mentor can help new science teachers understand and negotiate the school culture, such as how the school runs and where supplies are kept. Less attention is given to teaching mentors how to assist new science teachers to develop their content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, and science-specific pedagogical content knowledge. This article provides a checklist for mentor teachers to use when assessing the teaching skills and knowledge of new science teachers. This checklist helps prioritize what and how much assistance the new teacher needs.
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One way to help students learn to read science and teach the content simultaneously is by incorporating classroom strategies that actively engage students in thinking, talking, reading, and writing about science. To maximize the probability that strategies will be effective is to use a learning cycle as a guide when designing lessons. This article describes learning cycles in science and reading, including processes involved, and teaching strategies that increase student involvement and learning.
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The focus of this article is the more immediate way to help new science teachers, which comes from the experienced and professionally active teacher—you! As science teacher educators who work with and study the development of beginning teachers, the authors’ found the support offered knowingly and unknowingly by the teacher next door was a critical factor in assisting the new teacher (Luft and Roehrig 2006). Other research has expanded on this and found that support creates a positive learning and teaching environment and contributes to the development of the new teacher (Dangel 2006). Experienced science teachers can use the research-based strategies presented in this article to assist beginning science teachers.
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