NSTA - National Science Teachers Association

Featured This Month

• Watershed Investigations: 12 Labs for High School Science

  
  As urbanization and populations increase, it becomes increasingly more important that we understand the given relationships between the trends in our behavior and the ecological impacts they impart. Of particular importance is the fragile state of a...  [view full summary]
  As urbanization and populations increase, it becomes increasingly more important that we understand the given relationships between the trends in our behavior and the ecological impacts they impart. Of particular importance is the fragile state of a great number of our watersheds, which provide not only drainage areas from our rivers and streams, but also drinking water for human and animal populations alike.
  
  Watershed Investigations: 12 Labs for High School Science provides high school educators with a series of broad-based, hands-on experiments designed to help students understand the relationships between human impact and local hydrology. Covering a range of disciplines—including geology, chemistry, Earth science, botany, and biology—this volume gives educators lesson plans that will interest the student and meet a wide array of state and national curricular standards.
  
  The book includes twelve customizable labs, each with extensive background and reference information designed to allow students to share the excitement of discovery along with the methods of scientific research and relevant examples of textbook subject material.
  
  Labs include:
  
  • Modeling Glacier Features with Sand
  • Glacial Features of a Watershed
  • Plant Identifications
  • Wetland Delineation
  • Measuring Plant Allelopathy
  • Stream Channel Morphology
  • Calculating Stream Discharge
  • Flood Frequency Analysis for a River
  • Comparison of Phosphorous Levels in Stream Sediments
  • Macroinvertebrate Identification
  • Factors that Affect Eutrophication
  • Groundwater Contamination
  
  The flexible formats of these labs can be customized to fit any teaching style and can be adapted to fit either inquiry-based or traditional methods based on the given class and situation. Additionally, the book contains helpful reference materials and appendices that include a history of the watershed, resources for additional information, and rubrics for writing classroom laboratory reports.
  
  An exceptional example of proactive ecological education, Watershed Investigations will give students real-world experiential learning opportunities to understand abstract environmental concepts with concrete scientific detail.
  [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $19.57
  • Nonmember Price: $15.65

Teaching TechniquesView more in this category

• Models-Based Science Teaching

  
  Humans perceive the world by constructing mental models—telling a story, interpreting a map, reading a book. Every way we interact with the world involves mental models, whether creating new ones or building on existing models with the introduction of...  [view full summary]
  Humans perceive the world by constructing mental models—telling a story, interpreting a map, reading a book. Every way we interact with the world involves mental models, whether creating new ones or building on existing models with the introduction of new information. In Models-Based Science Teaching, author and educator Steven Gilbert explores the concept of mental models in relation to the learning of science, and how we can apply this understanding when we teach science. Practicing science teachers at all levels who want to explore new and better ways to frame and model science will find value in this book. Models-Based Science Teaching is concerned with building models of learning that helps students of all ages understand four basic ideas:
  
  • When they learn something, they are constructing mental models that are by nature simplified and subject to change.
  • These models are adopted because they work and not necessarily because they are the only true and most effective ways of understanding the world.
  • No one has a complete grasp of any model, and most of the time we are working with approximations of a situation.
  • What we create when we communicate are expressions of our inner mental models.
  
  Rather than advocating a rigid curriculum, Gilbert asserts that models-based science teaching embraces the creativity inherent in science and in learning, saying, “The best way to engage students in the creativity of science is engage them in inquiry, beginning with the creation of a problem and ending with a completed expressed model.” [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $23.16
  • Nonmember Price: $28.95

Activities and Field TripsView more in this category

• Gourmet Lab: The Scientific Principles Behind Your Favorite Foods

  
  Hands-on, inquiry-based, and relevant to every student’s life, Gourmet Lab serves up a full menu of activities for science teachers of grades 6–12. This collection of 15 hands-on experiments—each of which includes a full set of both student and...  [view full summary]
  Hands-on, inquiry-based, and relevant to every student’s life, Gourmet Lab serves up a full menu of activities for science teachers of grades 6–12. This collection of 15 hands-on experiments—each of which includes a full set of both student and teacher pages—challenges students to take on the role of scientist and chef, as they boil, bake, and toast their way to better understanding of science concepts from chemistry, biology, and physics. By cooking edible items such as pancakes and butterscotch, students have the opportunity to learn about physical changes in states of matter, acids and bases, biochemistry, and molecular structure.
  
  The Teacher pages include Standards addressed in each lab, a vocabulary list, safety protocols, materials required, procedures, data analysis, student questions answer key, and conclusions and connections to spur wrap-up class discussions. Cross-curricular notes are also included to highlight the lesson’s connection to subjects such as math and literacy. Finally, optional extensions for both middle school and high school levels detail how to explore each concept further. What better topic than food to engage students to explore science in the natural world? [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $27.96
  • Nonmember Price: $34.95

InterdisciplinaryView more in this category

• Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, Expanded 2nd Edition: Using Children's Books to Guide Inquiry, 3-6

  
  Winner of 2011 Bronze EXCEL Award from Association Media & Publishing!
  
  How do you improve upon perfection? For years, new and experienced elementary school teachers alike have extolled the virtues of Picture-Perfect Science Lessons—the...  [view full summary]
  Winner of 2011 Bronze EXCEL Award from Association Media & Publishing!
  
  How do you improve upon perfection? For years, new and experienced elementary school teachers alike have extolled the virtues of Picture-Perfect Science Lessons—the expertly combined appeal of children’s picture books with Standards-based science content. The award-winning, bestselling book presents ready-to-teach lessons, complete with student pages and assessments, that use high-quality fiction and nonfiction picture books to guide hands-on science inquiry.
  
  This newly revised and expanded 2nd edition of Picture-Perfect Science Lessons manages to surpass the original. Classroom veterans Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan, who also coach teachers through nationwide workshops, know elementary educators are usually crunched for science instructional time and could often use refresher explanations of scientific concepts. So the authors added comprehensive background notes to each chapter and included new reading strategies.
  
  They still show you exactly how to combine science and reading in a natural way with classroom-tested lessons in physical science, life science, and Earth and space science. And now they offer five brand-new lessons—“Batteries Included,” “The Secrets of Flight,” “Down the Drain,” “If I Built a Car,” and “Bugs!”—bringing the total to 20. As always, the appropriate National Science Education Standards are clearly identified throughout.
  
  Picture-Perfect Science Lessons draws on such diverse—and engaging—books as Dr. Xargle’s Book of Earthlets, A House for Hermit Crab, Rice Is Life, Oil Spill!, Sheep in a Jeep, The Perfect Pet, and Weird Friends: Unlikely Allies in the Animal Kingdom. As a result, both reluctant scientists and struggling readers will quickly find themselves absorbed in scientific discovery. You’ll love how effective this book is, and your students will love learning about science.
  
  For more information on how to implement Picture-Perfect Science in you classroom—including key reading strategies and NSES connections—download the free e-book of chapters 1 through 5, Why Read Picture Books in Science Class?[hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $29.56
  • Nonmember Price: $36.95

BiologyView more in this category

• Uncovering Student Ideas in Life Science, Volume 1: 25 New Formative Assessment Probes

  
  Author Page Keeley continues to provide K–12 teachers with her highly usable and popular formula for uncovering and addressing the preconceptions that students bring to the classroom—the formative assessment probe—in this first book devoted exclusively...  [view full summary]
  Author Page Keeley continues to provide K–12 teachers with her highly usable and popular formula for uncovering and addressing the preconceptions that students bring to the classroom—the formative assessment probe—in this first book devoted exclusively to life science in her Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series.
  
  In this volume, Keeley addresses the topics of life and its diversity; structure and function; life processes and needs of living things; ecosystems and change; reproduction, life cycles, and heredity; and human biology. Using the probes as diagnostic tools that identify and analyze students’ preconceptions, teachers can easily move students from where they are in their current thinking to where they need to be to achieve scientific understanding. At the same time, use of the probes deepens the teacher’s understanding of the subject matter, suggests instructional implications, and expands assessment literacy. Using the student-learning data gained through the probes to inform teaching and learning is what makes the probes formative.
  
  Each probe is supported by extensive Teacher Notes, which provide background information on the purpose of the probes, related concepts, explanations of the life science ideas being taught, related ideas in the national science standards, research on typical student misconceptions in life science, and suggestions for instruction and assessment. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $23.96
  • Nonmember Price: $29.95

ChemistryView more in this category

• Take-Home Chemistry: 50 Low-Cost Activities to Extend Classroom Learning

  
  For high school science teachers, homeschoolers, science coordinators, and informal science educators, this collection of 50 inquiry-based labs provides hands-on ways for students to learn science at home—safely. Author Michael Horton promises that students...  [view full summary]
  For high school science teachers, homeschoolers, science coordinators, and informal science educators, this collection of 50 inquiry-based labs provides hands-on ways for students to learn science at home—safely. Author Michael Horton promises that students who conduct the labs in Take-Home Chemistry as supplements to classroom instruction will enhance higher-level thinking, improve process skills, and raise high-stakes test scores. Many of the exercises involve skills such as measuring, graphing, calculating, and extrapolating graphs, and cover topics such as moles, chromatography, chemical reactions, and titration. Each lab includes both a student page and a teacher page and provides an objective, a purpose, a materials list, notes, and post-lab questions, making Take-Home Chemistry a useful tool for improving how students learn chemistry. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $22.36
  • Nonmember Price: $27.95

Earth & Space ScienceView more in this category

• Project Earth Science: Astronomy, Revised 2nd Edition

  
  How well can your students …
  • Illustrate the reason for Earth’s seasons?
  • Explain how far a light year is?
  • Simulate the phases of the Moon?
  • Describe the effects of greenhouse gases?
  • Connect astronomy to other Earth...  [view full summary]
  How well can your students …
  • Illustrate the reason for Earth’s seasons?
  • Explain how far a light year is?
  • Simulate the phases of the Moon?
  • Describe the effects of greenhouse gases?
  • Connect astronomy to other Earth system science?
  
  Project Earth Science: Astronomy, Revised 2nd Edition, involves students in activities that focus on Earth’s position in our solar system. How do we measure astronomical distances? How can we look back in time as we gaze across vast distances in space? How would our planet be different without its particular atmosphere and distance to our star? What are the geometries among Earth, the Moon, and the Sun that yield lunar phases and seasons? Students explore these concepts and others in 11 teacher-tested activities. Background materials for students and teachers, detailed and illustrated procedures for doing activities, and supplemental resources provide students and teachers with tools to understand Earth as one planet among many in our solar system—and universe. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $26.36
  • Nonmember Price: $32.95

Physical ScienceView more in this category

• Companion Classroom Activities for Stop Faking It! Force and Motion

  
  Never has it been so easy for educators to learn to teach physical science with confidence. Award-winning author Bill Robertson launched his bestselling Stop Faking It! series in 2002 with Force and Motion—offering elementary and middle...  [view full summary]
  Never has it been so easy for educators to learn to teach physical science with confidence. Award-winning author Bill Robertson launched his bestselling Stop Faking It! series in 2002 with Force and Motion—offering elementary and middle school teachers a jargon-free way to learn the background for teaching physical science with confidence. Combining easy-to-understand—if irreverent—explanations and quirky diagrams, Stop Faking It! Force and Motion helped thousands of teachers, parents, and homeschoolers conquer topics from Newton’s laws to the physics of space travel.
  
  Now Companion Classroom Activities for Stop Faking It! Force and Motion proves an ideal supplement to the original book—or a valuable resource of its own. The hands-on activities and highly readable explanations allow students to first investigate concepts, then discuss learned concepts, and finally apply the concepts to everyday situations. Robertson’s wit and humor are sure to keep students and teachers entertained while they tackle topics such as acceleration, speed, and gravity. Each activity includes an objective, materials list, National Science Education Standards addressed, approximate completion time, and detailed step-by-step instructions. Student pages for recording observations and student evaluation questionnaires to help assess understanding are also provided. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $20.76
  • Nonmember Price: $25.95

• Books
• e-Books
• Book Chapters

• SciGuides
• Science Objects
• SciPacks

• Journal Articles
• NSTA Gear

See what's currently on sale from NSTA.

Using NSTA Press books in your classroom is easier than ever! NSTA's ClassPacks, each sufficient for a class of 28 students, are lesson-specific collections of materials that complement some of our most popular books, including Picture-Perfect Science Lessons, Outdoor Science, and Dig In! An unmatched time-saver and a great deal.
View all the ClassPacks »