JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
“Think globally, act locally” is a phrase we hear, and for younger students, thinking locally is important, too. Earth Day is celebrated on April 22, but the activities and investigations described in this month’s featured articles ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
New teacher "nightmare"
I am looking forward to my first teaching job, but I’m concerned about how parents will react to my being a “newbie” in the science department. Will this be an issue? What can I do to start off the year on a positive note?...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Watching children and teenagers use computers, tablets, and smartphones, it’s easy to assume that these digital natives are very familiar with all of the new technologies. I’ve found that while they know what relates to their interests, m...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
It's Debatable! Using Socioscientific Issues to Develop Scientific Literacy
“Should schools charge more money for ‘unhealthy’ foods?” “Should animals perform in circuses?” Should rare Earth elements be mined in the United States?” “Should prescription drugs be advertised directly to consumers?”...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Breathe new life into your STEM lessons
Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) hold tremendous interest for students at all grade levels. The breadth of the topic areas teachers can cover in STEM lessons reinforces for students that these fields are interconnected and linked to ...
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
NSTA’s K-College Science Education Journals: March 2014 Issues Online
Interactions are our focus this month—in ecosystems and classrooms, among science teachers teaching a variety of disciplines, and using the latest technology. This month’s K-College journals from the National Science Teachers Association have...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Ecosystems: Interactions, energy, and dynamics
In an NSTA discussion forum, a question was raised about studying ecosystems and food chains at the elementary level. I pointed the readers to articles in this month’s edition of Science & Children, which has a variety of classroom resource...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Ecosystems outside the school door
Since it is now March and in my area we just had our 10th snow day, I am dreaming of planting seeds rather than actually planting them. What should the children plant in the raised bed school garden, a tiny sliver of ground that could not be incorpor...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Sylvia Shugrue Award winner 2013
As Director of Distance Learning for University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural history, each year Chris Tower created and provided professional development for more than 300 teachers throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin via two distance–lear...
By admin
Blog Post
At the end of a unit, there are always students who haven’t completed some assignments. Coming in before or after school is not an option for most of my students. Rather than moving on to the next unit, knowing they’ll fall even further behin...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Observing students as an assessment
As part of a science methods class, we’ve been assigned to create an observation tool to assess students. I’ve seen many articles and suggestions online for helping students become good observers and tools for administrators to use when o...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What science teachers are reading February 2014
From lessons on writing in science class to exploring and debating socioscientific issues to translating NGSS for classroom instruction, take a look at what science teachers are reading in February on NSTA’s website....
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
Afterschool Science Engagement
In this month’s Reaching the Stakeholders section of the Leaders Letter, there is mention of a feature on NPR which raised the point about engagement of students in science in the classroom. A follow up point about engaging students in science op...
By Christine Royce
Blog Post
Science Literacy and Pseudoscience
A recent blog post “Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience” got me thinking about a topic of deep personal concern. As head of the National Science Teachers Association, one of my overarching goals is to improve science literacy in the ...
By David Evans, NSTA Executive Director