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Ed News: What Does ‘Career Readiness’ Look Like in Middle School?
This week in education news, California schools preparing to ramp up course offerings and equip teachers to lead computer science courses; teaching students together and having them help one another learn may have more benefit to them and societ...
By Kate Falk
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Some plants can be started from seed in the garden in midsummer’s warmest weather and still grow plants that reach maturity before the first killing frost in the fall. With multiple experiences handling and planting seeds children grow the...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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How does one model a 5E lesson plan for each topic covered when teaching a split grade level?— C., Illinois...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Observing children observing bees
Some children feel a kinship with all kinds of living things. They may reach out to touch a bumble bee on a flower or hug a worm too tightly....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Many of the girls in my kindergarten class are showing a lot of interest in space. Space is not part of my curriculum, so how would you recommend I address their interest? Can you recommend any resources? —M., New Mexico...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Learning About STEM Through BMX
Fourth graders at Liberty Elementary School in Tucson, Arizona, build a scale BMX track as part of the USA BMX Foundation’s Track Modeling Program....
By Debra Shapiro
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For veteran science educators Laura Tucker and Lois Sherwood there is no debate about climate science....
By Carole Hayward
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Safety Labels for Hazardous Chemicals
The OSHA Laboratory Standard 29 CFR 1910.1450 details specific recommendations when labeling and storing hazardous chemicals within school laboratories....
By Kenneth Roy
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I am interested in high school engineering projects. I’m looking for fun, engaging, and challenging projects for my honors students.—T., Rhode Island...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Guest blog post by Paul Orbe Dear NSTA Members: I would like to take this opportunity to share my experience with NSTA, our professional organization. Before I embark in storytelling I deem necessary to offer a quick overview in how I became a...
By Korei Martin
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Ed News: What Are the Blind Spots in Teacher PD?
This week in education news, NEA sees small increase in membership; effective grading practices, classroom technology, and social-emotional competencies among blind spots in teacher professional development; new study finds that 61% of high scho...
By Kate Falk
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Education Appropriations for FY2020
Education Appropriations Part of Four-Bill “Minibus” Being Considered by U.S. House of Representatives Members of Congress are currently working through a slew of amendments as the House of Representatives considers FY20 appropriations bills i...
By Jodi Peterson
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Building Classroom Community in an NGSS-Aligned Elementary Science Classroom
In an elementary science classroom, it’s not incredibly challenging to motivate students to want to do science and engineering....
By Gretchen Brinza
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Three Strategies for Building Classroom Community
As I reflect on the end of this school year, I think about how successful I was in building a classroom community. A key aspect of transitioning my classroom to three-dimensional teaching and learning was discussion. Knowing this, I spent a...
By Nicole Vick
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Under Indefinite Construction: Creating an NGSS-Friendly Classroom Community
When the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were first released, I struggled with how to create opportunities that allowed the students to investigate and question. These standards ask alot of our students and require more planning an...
By Megan Rowlands Elmore
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What are some ways to improve my students’ understanding of the phases of the moon? Are there more inquiry-based activities for grade 2 students?—S., West Virginia...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Ed News: Teacher Attrition Demands New Approaches to Leadership, Preparation
This week in education news, educators in Indiana have a hard time finding quality resources that focus on climate change; new study finds that the differences in summer learning between poor and wealthy students may not affect long-term achieve...
By Kate Falk
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How NSTA Expanded My Small Town World
Guest blog post by Pam Devers I grew up as the typical “small town girl living in a small town world” (Journey). In the eighth grade my mind was set that I was going to be a science teacher and teach in my hometown. It took about ...
By Kate Falk
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Experience STEM by the Bay This Summer With NSTA
Guest blog post by Jeffrey LeGrand Douglass...
By Carole Hayward
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Ed News Roundup: Women Engineers You Should Know
In this week’s Education News Roundup, USA Today takes a look at salaries and housing costs for teachers; Education Week examines how to make teacher leadership roles more effective; some women engineers you should know, and more....
By Cindy Workosky
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I am planning to teach a lesson on rocks with a third grade class in the fall, but I am unaware as of where to find inexpensive rock/mineral kits. How did you teach the lesson in a way that engaged the students? – A., Pennsylvania Studying rocks is...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Robert E. Yager Exemplary Teaching Award—2019 winners
The Robert E. Yager Exemplary Teaching Award recognizes six full-time K–12 teachers of science who successfully use innovation and excellence in their classroom....
By NSTA Web Director
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Working with a dream team, learning about engineering habits of mind
Taking a chance, I asked two colleagues if they would work with me on a webinar about supporting young children’s early engineering problem-solving. They each said “Yes!” and in the process I have been learning much from Carrie Lynne Draper, M...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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I am student teaching in a first grade classroom and we are going to start covering life cycles. What are some good ideas I can do in my engage section? — G., Oklahoma...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Ed News: How Can We Get More Highly Effective Teachers to Serve as Mentors?
This week in education news, state school board committee approved new science standards for Utah public school students; states are beginning to integrate CTE and STEM-related courses into high school graduation requirements; despite evidence s...
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
I first encountered the KLEWS teaching strategy in an article in Science and Children (NSTA 2015), “KLEWS to Explanation-Building in Science.” I shared the article and modeled the strategy with teachers who wanted to support their K–5 students ...
Blog Post
Ed News: How U.S. STEM Practices Compare Internationally
This week in education news, new research finds that the level of level of teacher experience is positively associated with levels of student achievement, particularly for black and Latino students; City of Chicago asking school board to approve $13...
By Cindy Workosky
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Finding STEM Success in the Post-Secondary Classroom
The 8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA, this July in San Francisco offers a post-secondary track to help educators create STEM-rich learning environments for students....
By Korei Martin
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Circle of Life 1.0: Planting seeds
I am working on a lesson plan for the life cycle of a plant for kindergarten. Do you have any activity ideas? — K., Oregon If you’re teaching about life cycles of flowering plants you should incorporate all the life stages....
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Impact of Change by Jessica Holman and Michelle Schuster
If you were to walk into our classroom years ago, you would see students from all walks of life, and with a range of ability levels. All of the students were blended together to learn science and were eager to be engaged. We were teaching units that ...
By Cindy Workosky
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As several reports have shown, it is critical for teachers to understand instructional strategies that are consistent with the NGSS vision, as well as to have the skills to implement them in their classrooms. I had the privilege of working with two e...
By Diane Johnson
Blog Post
My kindergarten students believe that small objects are always light and big objects are always heavier. How can I address this misconception? —L., Wyoming Excellent question! This is a major misconception many adults have about density: the charac...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Why Are Bees so Buzzworthy? Next Time You See One You’ll Know
“Bee-Wildering! Hives of Notre-Dame in Miraculous Survival” (Phys.Org): Headlines like this dominate the news lately....
By Carole Hayward
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They can say the word but can they explain what it means? The “illusion of explanatory depth”
The use of a particular word can support children’s communication about their understanding of natural phenomena and sometimes obscure the amount or depth of their understanding....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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How do you maintain classroom management and control during active science lessons? I am curious about how to keep students under control when encouraging movement and active involvement in teaching. — A., Texas...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Ideas and inspiration from NSTA journals
Sometimes it seems like there are artificial boundaries in education: elementary vs. secondary, K-12 vs. higher education, middle school vs. high school. Having been an educator at all of these levels, I’ve found that there are more similarities ...
By Mary Bigelow
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Learning Visualized with the Vernier Go Direct Hand Dynamometer
Collecting real-time data is important in science and science education, but it also presents a wonderful opportunity to learn about graphing and data visualization in general. It also provides an inspection into what learning actually looks like. I�...
By Martin Horejsi