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Mercury: The Shining Health Hazard
At room temperature, elemental (metallic) mercury can evaporate to become an invisible, odorless toxic vapor. The warmer the air, the more quickly mercury vaporizes. Exposure to even a small amount can affect your health. Symptoms can surfa...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
What are some of the best ways to start and facilitate a class discussion about science topics? – B., Arkansas I have used many different ways to get science discussions going. I think the key is to either “wow” them or provide them with so...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
The Pasco Wireless Weather Station: Like having your own weather satellite
For almost 2000 years, Aristotle’s ideas about weather were the industry standard. Although our hindsight confirmed that many of the theories Aristotle put forth in his work Meteorologica were in error, the depth and breath of his observations and ...
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
Building STEM Knowledge in a Breakerspace
Janet Sweat’s middle school students in Lake City, Florida, disassembled broken toys to create cars, some that would run with remote controls and others without them. Photo courtesy Janet Sweat....
By Debra Shapiro
Blog Post
Coming to a City near You—March for Science 2018
About this time last year NSTA and many of our teachers joined millions in the streets of Washington, DC and in cities nationwide for the March for Science 2017. This year, March for Science (MfS) 2018 is scheduled for April 14 (find out more here). ...
By David Evans, NSTA Executive Director
Blog Post
Robert E. Yager Exemplary Teaching Award—2018 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. District II None awarded District IV James Brown Science Teacher Sand Creek Middl...
By NSTA Web Director
Blog Post
See photos and get resources from NSTA 2018 Atlanta
I feel recharged and activated after attending a conference and taking a few weeks to reflect and prepare to put the new understandings into practice. Whether or not you attended the 2018 NSTA national conference you can access files uploaded by pres...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Ed News: Federal STEM Education Programs Lack Coordination, Watchdog Finds
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By Kate Falk
Blog Post
“It Gets Easier”: A Teacher’s Notes from the NGSS Trenches
It gets easier....
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Is "instant snow" a good model for actual snow?
Children often use ordinary objects to represent other objects—a block might become a phone, or a rock might become a cookie, during their play....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
I’m exhausted. I just got back from a whirlwind NSTA ed-venture. I had to check to see what the students covered with the SUB while I was gone, I had to submit lesson plans for the week. I have to catch up on grading as the quarter comes to a close...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Congress Agrees to Final FY18 Spending Package
This week both the House and Senate have <finally> passed legislation on federal funding for fiscal year 2018, and President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law, ending the threat of another government shutdown. The news is goo...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Breakerspaces are areas where students demolish, repurpose, fix, or disassemble appliances, electronics, toys, and other devices to learn how they work, what components were used to create them, and how they were designed. Like any type of ...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
Ed News: Want More Girls In Science Fields? Check The Images On Your Classroom Walls
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By Kate Falk
Blog Post
The Vernier Go Direct Radiation Monitor: Well Worth the 90-Year Wait
Stephen Hawking died recently marking 2018 as another date in science history from which events will be measured. Isaac Newton was born in 1642, the same year Galileo died. And it is that 1642 date that is often used as a convenient moment in time to...
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
It is day 2 of the NSTA National Conference! One of my favorite ways to start the day is the Elementary Extravaganza—it’s a great event with lots of hands-on activities and demonstrations specifically for elementary educators....
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
What a day! If your shoulders are not throbbing, bags not over-flowing, and brain not racing… you may have not been at the same conference as I was. I teach middle school Earth & Space Science and Environmental Science at an Independent school...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Ron Clark's Opening Session: "We need to inspire the next generation!"
Ms. Valeria (@GA_ScienceRodva) captured the essence of Ron Clark’s dynamic presentation to thousands of science teachers first thing Thursday morning with her sketchnotes. More About the 2018 National Conference on Science Education...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
#NSTA18 Atlanta: Tweet All About It!
The 2018 NSTA National Conference started with selfies, and quickly evolved into group shots! Science selfies at the Alabama booth in the registration area! #NSTA18 pic.twitter.com/TxebvjxlAI — Cindy Willingham (@cwscience) March 15, 2018...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Online community on learning science through play
Play may mean many things, but in early childhood education it can include learning science concepts. Looking for resources on “Learning Science Concepts Through Play“?...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Congress Scrambles to Introduce Bills to Address School Violence & Mental Health
In the wake of the school shootings last month in Parkland, Florida that claimed the lives of 17 people, key leaders in both the Senate and the House have introduced legislation they believe will improve school safety and bring more mental health cou...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s March 2018 K-12 journals
Regardless of what grade level or subject are you teach, as you skim through the article titles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting your students or the inspiration to adapt/create your own. All three journals this month include...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Guest blogger Cindy Hoisington is an early childhood science educator at Education Development Center Inc. in Waltham, Massachusetts. She brings to her work more than 20 years of experience teaching young children, developing educational materials, a...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
New Book Helps Teachers of Young Children Discover the Wonders of Science Exploration
Curiosity, joy, and wonder. Our youngest students possess an over-abundance of these qualities, and when their teachers successfully tap into them, they help nurture a lifelong love of science....
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
NSTA Student Chapters Cultivate Professional, Community Ties
Coryn Cange, a member of the NSTA Student Chapter at Stony Brook University, guides high school students as they study water filtration in a chemistry teaching lab. Photo courtesy of Judy Nimmo...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
Science Activity Safety Checklist
The “Science Activity Safety Checklist,” written by NSTA’s Science Safety Advisory Board, allows teachers to vet any new demonstration, activity, laboratory, or field investigation before using it in the classroom or laboratory. The checklist r...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
Go Direct® Gas Pressure Sensor
Introduction The Go Direct Gas Pressure Sensor is used to monitor pressure changes during gas-law experiments. Subsequently, science teachers can use it for graphical analysis and integrate its use in both mathematics and science instruction. In addi...
By Edwin P. Christmann
Blog Post
Using Science and Children: Appreciating editors’ notes
A colleague mentioned that he has a few recent issues of Science and Children to catch up on. Reading an issue of the journal doesn’t have to be front to back. Like preschoolers making a play plan, educators can make a reading plan so a journal can...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Evolving 'Controversy' in School
I was considering sending a general email to our staff after learning a few teachers are telling students that evolution is wrong. At the very least I would like for my colleagues to be benign and not detrimental. What are your thoughts? – G., Ohi...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Choosing Instructional Materials: Lessons Learned
Throughout my career as an educator, I’ve had many opportunities to select instructional materials. One experience is particularly memorable because I learned then that how you select instructional materials can be as important as what materials ar...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading Program Helps Students Develop Explanations
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) encourage three-dimensional thinking in students. 3-D thinking, and the process of developing scientific explanations, are curiosity-driven: They involve wondering, posing questions, and making observation...
By Jim McDonald
Blog Post
As a former elementary science specialist, I am familiar with the elementary teacher’s skill set. They excel at managing a classroom, are very organized, and love a great mentor text—a text that is an example of good writing. However, many don’...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Why Don’t Antibiotics Work Like They Used To?
Why don’t antibiotics work like they used to? is an NGSS-aligned storyline developed by the Next Generation Science Storylines Project that focuses on natural selection and other mechanisms of evolution. Wayne Wright and I (Holly Hereau) teac...
By Holly Hereau and Wayne Wright
Blog Post
My middle school would like to host a science night for the district. Do you have any ideas? —S., Illinois...
By Gabe Kraljevic