JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
Appropriators Provide Boost for Federal Education Programs
ESSA Title IVA and Title II See Increases for FY2020 Programs...
By Jodi Peterson
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Adding Inquiry to ‘Cookbook’ Labs
Jose Rivas’s AP Physics 1 students at Lennox Math, Science, and Technology Academy in Lennox, California, work on a rotational inertia investigation. ...
By Debra Shapiro
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Why I Am Voting YES for Science Teaching by Judy Boyle
I am an elementary teacher, not a science teacher. I teach everything from shoelace tying to technology. When I began teaching, my science content knowledge was at a minimal and when I taught science I tiptoed around it as if I were Indiana Jones nav...
By Kate Falk
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Handouts available, NSTA19 was great—thanks Missouri!
Where but at an NSTA national conference can you: See a possible future for your students in the keynote speech by retired astronaut and U.S....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Many hands-on STEM activities and demonstrations require the use of a heat source. The challenge is to determine the appropriate heat source based on safety while still meeting the needs of the activity. For example, the Bunsen burner is perhaps the ...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
I was wondering how I could incorporate chemistry into my early elementary classes and what some good resources are to use. — G., Montana Chemistry activities for young children are some of the coolest and most engaging for students. Putting on go...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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NSTA Members to Vote on New Name
The NSTA Board of Directors took a bold step to usher in a new, exciting future for NSTA by voting in February in favor of changing the association’s name from the National Science Teachers Association to the National Science Teaching Association. ...
By Cindy Workosky
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I like to infuse humour into my classroom. What is your opinion on teachers and students joking around? — T., Utah I, too, am a jokester and like to have fun with my students. I attribute a large part of this to my own teachers who were funny and m...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s April 2019 K-12 journals
Regardless of what grade level or subject you teach, check out all three K-12 journals. As you skim through titles and descriptions of the articles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting for your students, the inspiration to adapt ...
By Mary Bigelow
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Ed News: Here’s The Math That Proves Teachers Are Underpaid
This week in education news, math that proves teachers are underpaid; how 29 year old Katie Bouman helped to capture the image of a black hole; and how STEM may help you to win next year’s March Madness bracket....
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
I have observed a lack of emphasis on science concepts in the elementary classroom. Does this seem to be common practice in other schools? Any suggestions on how to incorporate multiple subjects within a science lesson to help alleviate this? – K.,...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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The Elementary (& PreK) Extravaganza, at NSTA19 St. Louis
Plan your strategy for getting the most out the 2 hours you have to access the 100+ presenters, each at their own table, in the Elementary Extravaganza (EE) at the NSTA annual confe...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Ed News: The Evolution of U.S. Teacher Salaries in the 21st Century
This week in education news, a look at the variation in teacher pay between the states, a new Lego set for middle schoolers that incorporates coding, and challenges ahead with the California test based on new science standards....
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
I recently discovered a Facebook post in which a parent expressed disagreement over how I graded her son’s assignment. This unleashed a torrent of hateful, profanity-laced comments including one person saying I should be fired. I’m afraid...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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Be the Successful Wiz Behind the Curtain to Your School’s Family Science Night
We have the ancient Greeks to thank for so much of what we continue to enjoy today. Take, for example, the concept of the community theater. Intergenerational groups would gather, all those years ago, in informal settings to both watch and participat...
By Carole Hayward
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NSTA Conferences: Professional Learning and So Much More
Editor’s Note: In this blog series commemorating NSTA’s 75th Anniversary we take a look to the past with an eye to the future. Can you imagine attending an NSTA convention over Thanksgiving weekend?!...
By Kate Falk
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Podcasting in the Science Classroom
Two of Ramona Jolliffe Satre’s sixth graders at Ogden Middle School in Ogden, Iowa, review a podcast they created using an iPad.Photo by Terri Reutter ...
By Debra Shapiro
Blog Post
Do you have any suggestions on how to use Chromebooks in middle school for more than just watching videos and reviewing material? —A., Indiana ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
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The Week of the Young Child is April 8-12, 2019
The Week of the Young Child is sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), beginnin...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
On teaching life cycles of living things
The changes living organisms go through fascinate us (and sometimes freak us out) even if we’ve seen the process before. Early childhood educators especially feel this because every day we come to work we are fascinated by the development and growt...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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NSTA’s 75th: Celebrating the Past, Educating for the Future
Editors Note: Today in this blog series commemorating NSTA’s 75th Anniversary we celebrate the many stakeholders who work hard every day so that ALL students are engaged in science learning and who have helped NSTA to become a dedicated advocate fo...
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
Building STEM Ecosystems: Community Partnerships
When I was a classroom teacher, I relished opportunities to connect my high school biology students to real world science and applications of their textbook science. Now, in the informal sector, I find my role reversed, and I get to collaborate with ...
By Korei Martin
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High School Teachers, The STEM Forum & Expo is for You
Teachers at the high school level expose students to learning that is applicable for college and career readiness. At the STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA, attendees will experience this STEM pipeline firsthand. STEM educators at the high school...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo: We Need You!
On behalf of the entire steering committee for the 8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, we invite you to join us from July 24 – 26, 2019, in beautiful San Francisco for the premier, international STEM education professional development event....
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
STEM, literacy and the young mind
What is the best way to introduce science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through literacy lessons in kindergarten? —Y., New Mexico ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Elementary Science—Best Practices for All Students
Envision a room filled with noise, excited whispers, and students shouting across tables. Piles of tinfoil, plastic cups, scissors, string, and tape are scattered around the room. Paper, pencils, and notebooks filled with sketches are strewn across g...
By Cindy Workosky
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Contemporary Instructional Approaches to Promote STEM Learning for English Learners
The release of the report English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives (shortened to “the report” hereafter) (NASEM 2018) is timely, as three emerging forces shape the changing landscape of K–12 science educati...
By Okhee Lee
Blog Post
Addressing Electrical Hazards in the Lab
Accidents in the lab involving electricity can produce fire, smoke, electrocutions, and explosions. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “electrical equipment shall be free from recognized hazards that are likely t...
By Kenneth Roy
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Administration Budget Request Would (Again) Cut Funding for Key Ed Programs
President Trump submitted his budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 programs last week and, as expected, discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Education would be cut significantly for FY20 programs that would begin this October. ...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Ed News: A Wave of State Bills Could Threaten Science and Climate Education
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By Kate Falk
Blog Post
What are some interesting ways to introduce some of the major players in scientific discoveries so that my students can have a better grasp at who these people were and that they can aspire to be just as innovative and crucial to the world of science...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s March 2019 K-12 journals
Regardless of what grade level or subject you teach, check out all three K-12 journals. As you skim through titles and descriptions of the articles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting for your students, the inspiration to adapt ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Using Art as an Introduction to Science
“Ms. Anne! Did you know kelp is a plant like the sunflowers?” That was just one of many questions I heard last week as my class turned the classroom into a kelp forest. It all began with the otters. No, it really all began with the students...
By Korei Martin
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The Role of Instructional Resources in Supporting Investigation and Design
We are at an exciting time in science education. The Framework for K-12 Science Education (NRC, 2012) presents a vision for how we should teach science that is grounded in empirical evidence and what we know about how students learn. The Framework fo...
By Kate Falk