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As I was reading my February issues of the NSTA publications, it occurred to me how there is a common thread among them. The lead article in The Science Teacher is “Back to the Future?” which looks at nature-study as an approach to teachi...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
As I catch up on readings and resources from other blogs, listservs, and journals, I found several things I’d like to share. I’m calling them WOWs because that’s what I say when I see them – in some cases a positive wow (with one ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
I totally agree with the editor of TST this month, concerning the status of the earth sciences in many of our high schools. Many years ago when I was in high school (and when dinosaurs roamed the earth, as my students would say), I started my science...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
“Are you teaching today or are the students just doing a lab or taking a test?” I used to dread this question from a former principal when he wanted to observe a class. He was implying that the only classroom activity worth observing was ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Properties of objects and materials
Inquiry is not as dependent on equipment and technology as it is on the willingness of the teacher to model the process and to move from being a sage on the stage to be a guide on the side (or better yet – a partner in the process)....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Talk about an interesting day in the age of electronic information! This afternoon in a listserv I belong to, I read about a report by the National Academy of Sciences on the teaching of evolution in the classroom. There were two news articles, but I...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Mathematics and science seem like natural partners when designing interdisciplinary lessons or units. This issue of Science Scope has some suggestions for making these lessons authentic and purposeful, integrating science with geometry, scaling, grap...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
This month’s Science Teacher is a collection of ideas from low-tech card sorts (a wonderful way to get students thinking) to high-tech investigations that take advantage of technology....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
It will soon be the time when many schools go into Science Fair mode, with reactions from students (and perhaps some teachers) that range from cheers of excitement to groans of despair. This month’s Science and Children should be required reading f...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
One of my favorite benefits of being an NSTA member is being able to view all of the journals electronically, even though I must confess that I do like the feel of holding an actual book or magazine. I subscribe to the hard copies of The Science Teac...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
This month’s issue has a theme that is appealing to most middle school students – the human body....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
As part of a project I am working on, I was visiting the science classes of teachers who participated in a summer professional education project. One of the elementary teachers indicated that I should wait until April to visit hers. She said that in ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
From cyberspace to SciLinks: website design
I’ve described a few components of the SciLinks rubric so far: the accuracy and appropriateness of the content, the credentials of the sites owner/author/sponsor, and “interactivity.” The overall design or “look” of a page or website is an ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
The article Using Japanese Lesson Design to ANTicipate an Invasion on Maui caught my attention, not as much because of the topic of fire ants as an introduced species, but for the description of “Lesson Study.” What I found interesting was how th...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Bringing biology instruction to life
Here is an interesting coincidence. The other day, I was reading the Science Teacher article on “The Life and Work of John Snow,” with suggestions for an inquiry-based unit of study that focuses on the history and nature of science....
By Mary Bigelow