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Science Education Leadership: Best Practices for the New Century

Edited by: Jack Rhoton

Achieving science literacy for every student is the common goal of all science educators. It requires leaders from a broad spectrum of the science education field to band together and clearly define how to achieve this goal and provide the tools for getting there. [click title to view more]

Member Price: $30.36

Nonmember Price: $37.95

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A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder

For the littlest scientists, the whole wide world can be a laboratory for learning. Nurture their natural curiosity with A Head Start on Science, a treasury of 89 hands-on science activities specifically for children ages 3 to 6.

... [view full summary]

For the littlest scientists, the whole wide world can be a laboratory for learning. Nurture their natural curiosity with A Head Start on Science, a treasury of 89 hands-on science activities specifically for children ages 3 to 6.

The activities are grouped into seven stimulating topic areas: the five senses, weather, physical science, critters, water and water mixture, seeds, and nature walks.

Because the activities have been field-tested by more than a thousand Head Start teachers over 10 years, you’ll find this collection unusually easy to use in a variety of settings, including elementary schools, pre-K programs, and day care. In addition to clear background and a helpful materials list, you get step-by-step procedures and help preparing for comments and questions children may pose. Each activity ends with a reproducible Family Science Connection—in both English and Spanish—to send home so the whole family can share a learning experience that’s both simple and pleasant.

Thanks to a focus on the fun of exploration and discovery, children probably won’t be the only ones who find these activities irresistible. As Editor Bill Ritz writes in the Introduction, “We hope your own sense of wonder will be heightened as you observe children and as their curiosity leads them to answer their own questions about everything they see, hear, smell, and touch.”
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- Member Price: $16.76
- Nonmember Price: $16.76

Teaching TechniquesView more in this category

Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children's Books to Guide Inquiry

Wouldn’t it be perfect if an expert combined the appeal of children’s picture books with Standards-based science content—and then offered you the ready-to-teach results? Picture-Perfect Science Lessons makes that exciting idea a reality. This... [view full summary]

Wouldn’t it be perfect if an expert combined the appeal of children’s picture books with Standards-based science content—and then offered you the ready-to-teach results? Picture-Perfect Science Lessons makes that exciting idea a reality. This delightful book for new and experienced elementary teachers presents 15 ready-to-teach lessons—complete with student pages and assessments—that use picture books to guide science inquiry explicitly tied to the National Science Education Standards.

The authors are experts. They’re classroom veterans who have honed their approach to teaching science through their presentation of Toyota Tapestry-funded workshops to teachers nationwide. They know that elementary teachers are usually crunched for science instructional time and could often use refresher explanations of scientific concepts. So they show you exactly how to combine science and reading in a natural way, and they provide easy-to-grasp background in physical science, life science, and Earth and space science. The lessons are classroom-tested, clearly identify the appropriate Standards, and embed carefully selected reading strategies throughout.

Picture-Perfect Science Lessons draws on such diverse—and tempting—books as Dr. Xargle’s Book of Earthlets, Oil Spill, Sheep in a Jeep, and Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom. You’ll love how effective this book is, and your students will love learning about science. [hide full summary]
- Member Price: $23.96
- Nonmember Price: $29.95

Activities and Field TripsView more in this category

Activities Linking Science With Math, K-4

Science does not exist in a vacuum and, therefore, shouldn’t be taught that way. In that spirit, Activities Linking Science With Math, K-4, is a hands-on guide for preservice and inservice elementary school teachers who want to connect science... [view full summary]

Science does not exist in a vacuum and, therefore, shouldn’t be taught that way. In that spirit, Activities Linking Science With Math, K-4, is a hands-on guide for preservice and inservice elementary school teachers who want to connect science instruction with other areas of study—including visual arts, social sciences, language arts, and especially math.

The 20 discovery-based and academically rigorous activities provided in this volume enrich students’ awareness of the world around them, encourage their natural curiosity, and promote the development of their problem-solving skills. The lessons—such as Digging Into Soil, Exploring the Mysteries of Fingerprints, and What Makes a Boat Float?—are teacher friendly, too, requiring no advanced expertise in any subject area and using only inexpensive and easily accessible materials. Each includes a list of needed materials, a step-by-step procedure, discussion questions, and assessment techniques.

Activities align with the latest national standards for both science and math and cover topics from all scientific disciplines.
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- Member Price: $22.36
- Nonmember Price: $27.95

InterdisciplinaryView more in this category

Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms

Elementary teachers know that learning science involves both the process of thinking and the ability to communicate those thoughts. One of the most effective ways of demonstrating this is through the use of student science notebooks. The earlier students... [view full summary]

Elementary teachers know that learning science involves both the process of thinking and the ability to communicate those thoughts. One of the most effective ways of demonstrating this is through the use of student science notebooks. The earlier students learn to keep records, the better they will be prepared to make this a natural part of their science activities.

Classroom teachers who want to begin using or who are currently including science notebooks as part of their instruction will find that Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms is a “must-have” resource for the development of scientific inquiry, literacy, and reasoning skills. This book makes the case for using science notebooks strategically—promoting hands-on observing, recording, and reflecting—and demonstrates how best to do so.

Connecting language arts to science through expository writing, the book presents proven techniques such as scaffolds, sentence starters, discussion starters, and other writing prompts to encourage students to build on current knowledge. Every step of the process is examined: introducing notebook writing to the class, creating questions to explore, making predictions, recording observations, making and defending claims, and using the notebooks to provide targeted student feedback. Also included are chapters on the specialized needs of English language learners, offering specific strategies to increase proficiency and fluency in both science and language.

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- Member Price: $19.96
- Nonmember Price: $24.95

BiologyView more in this category

Hard-to-Teach Biology Concepts: A Framework to Deepen Student Understanding

This well-researched book provides a valuable instructional framework for high school biology teachers as they tackle five particularly challenging concepts in their classrooms—meiosis, photosynthesis, natural selection, proteins and genes, and environmental... [view full summary]

This well-researched book provides a valuable instructional framework for high school biology teachers as they tackle five particularly challenging concepts in their classrooms—meiosis, photosynthesis, natural selection, proteins and genes, and environmental systems and human impact. The author counsels educators first to identify students’ prior conceptions, especially misconceptions, related to the concept being taught, then to select teaching strategies that best dispel the misunderstandings and promote the greatest student learning.

The book is not a prescribed set of lessons plans. Rather it presents a framework for lesson planning, shares appropriate approaches for developing student understanding, and provides opportunities to reflect and apply those approaches to the five hard-to-teach topics. More than 300 teacher resources are listed.
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- Member Price: $26.36
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ChemistryView more in this category

Chemistry Basics: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach it

Do the words “periodic table” send chills down your spine? Are you anxious about atomic structure? Confounded by chemical equations? Relax! The cure for chemistry confusion is within reach, courtesy of this newly available book in the Stop Faking It!... [view full summary]

Do the words “periodic table” send chills down your spine? Are you anxious about atomic structure? Confounded by chemical equations? Relax! The cure for chemistry confusion is within reach, courtesy of this newly available book in the Stop Faking It! series.

Best-selling author Bill Robertson takes a fresh approach to chemistry fundamentals by helping you understand them from the ground up. Instead of hounding you to memorize the characteristics of atoms and the periodic table, Chemistry Basics will help you see those characteristics as a natural consequence of our understanding of atomic structure.

You will learn not just that atoms behave in certain ways, but why they behave in that way. You will learn not just how to balance chemical equations, but why in the world you would want to! You will also learn not just that carbon is a building block of thousands of organic compounds, but why carbon is suited for this purpose.[hide full summary]
- Member Price: $19.16
- Nonmember Price: $23.95

Earth & Space ScienceView more in this category

Earth Science Success: 50 Lesson Plans for Grades 6–9

Designed as a ready-to-use survival guide for middle school Earth science teachers, this title is an invaluable resource that provides an entire year’s worth of inquiry-based and discovery-oriented Earth science lessons, including 33 investigations or... [view full summary]

Designed as a ready-to-use survival guide for middle school Earth science teachers, this title is an invaluable resource that provides an entire year’s worth of inquiry-based and discovery-oriented Earth science lessons, including 33 investigations or labs, and 17 detailed projects.

This unique collection of astronomy, geology, meteorology, and physical oceanography lessons promotes deeper understanding of science concepts through a hands-on approach that identifies and dispels student misconceptions and expands student understanding and knowledge.

In addition, this field-tested and standards-based volume is ideal for university-level methodology courses in science education. [hide full summary]
- Member Price: $22.36
- Nonmember Price: $27.95

Physical ScienceView more in this category

Take-Home Physics: 65 High-Impact, Low-Cost Labs

Take-Home Physics is an excellent resource for high school physics teachers who want to devote more classroom time to complex concepts while challenging their students with hands-on homework assignments. This volume presents 65 take-home physics... [view full summary]

Take-Home Physics is an excellent resource for high school physics teachers who want to devote more classroom time to complex concepts while challenging their students with hands-on homework assignments. This volume presents 65 take-home physics labs that use ordinary household items or other inexpensive materials to tackle motion and kinematics; forces and energy; waves, sound, and light; and electricity and magnetism. The result: Students learn background knowledge, reinforce basic process skills, practice discovery, and bridge classroom learning with real-world application—all while getting excited about homework. Teachers can also integrate science and literacy by requiring the use of lab notebooks with formal write-ups. Materials lists and safety notes, as well as both student activity pages and teacher notes are included.[hide full summary]
- Member Price: $19.96
- Nonmember Price: $24.95