The Science Teacher (TST) is seeking manuscripts that describe new and creative ideas for the secondary science classroom. Manuscripts should provide worthwhile ideas and practical help for teachers as they relate to the themes listed below. TST also always encourages manuscripts outside of the listed themes (see “The Fine Print”).
Systems Thinking
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JANUARY 1, 2012
Deep understanding of an increasingly complex world requires new skills and different ways of thinking. Many of today’s important problems—from traffic congestion and economics to global climate change, pandemics, energy usage, and world hunger—involve complex, interdisciplinary, multivariable systems. This issue will explore teaching strategies and classroom activities that help develop understanding of complex systems.
Activities and Investigations
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2012
Activities and investigations play a central role in all science courses. Do you have a new activity that promotes inquiry and allows students to better understand important science content? Have you found ways to improve on an old favorite or to integrate technology? What about low-cost alternatives? TST is looking for manuscripts describing interesting, practical investigations that can be incorporated into science classrooms and laboratories.
Citizen Science—Science in the Community
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2012
Do your students work outside the school walls? Have you found ways to involve students in studying important community, society, or global problems? TST is interested in hearing about successful collaborative projects between science classes and the community.
Teaching the Big Ideas of Science
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: ONGOING
Good science teaching focuses on the “big ideas,” those crosscutting, unifying themes that provide students with powerful ideas to help them understand the natural world. Unifying concepts—such as energy, patterns,systems, models, change over time, form and function, and others—connect different areas of science in deep and meaningful ways. Have you found ways to help students understand and appreciate science’s big ideas? If so, TST wants to hear from you!
General Topics
Submission Deadline: Ongoing
Do you have an article idea in mind that does not fit with one of TST’s themes? Write about it and submit it for review! General articles, not targeted to a requested theme, are published in every issue. If you have written a manuscript on a secondary education topic, please submit it at any time.
Idea Banks
Submission Deadline: Ongoing
TST is always seeking Idea Banks—short articles of about 1,000 words. If you want to share an experience, activity, or classroom tip but do not think it will work as a feature-length article, consider submitting an Idea Bank!
Commentaries
Submission Deadline: Ongoing
Commentaries of approximately 750 words on any secondary education topic are accepted at any time. Do you have thoughts on science education that you would like to share with your peers? Write up a Commentary and submit it to TST for review.
Letters to the Editor
Submission Deadline: Ongoing
Have you used an activity published in TST in the last year, or liked—or disliked—something you read? Send us an e-mail at smetz@nsta.org. We welcome your comments and feedback at any time.
The Fine Print
In addition to submitting articles specifically targeted to the focus of each issue, authors are always encouraged to submit original manuscripts, Idea Bank articles, or commentaries on any secondary science education topic at any time for further consideration by the peer-review panel and the field editor. Manuscripts should describe successful lessons implemented in secondary classrooms, as well as provide specific details for educators who might wish to use the activities with their own students. The manuscripts should include appropriate assessment tools and specifically reference the National Science Education Standards where appropriate. Examples of student work to illustrate results of a successful lesson are encouraged, as are figures, sidebars, and accompanying photos. Author Guidelines can be found here.