JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
Enhancing Google Sheets for the Classroom
Among the most commonly used tools in the science classroom are those that allow students to collect and manipulate data, including Microsoft Excel, Graphical Analysis, and Google Sheets. This month, we focus on one of the benefits of Google Sheets ...
By sstuckey
Blog Post
Health Wise: Be Prepared for Opioid Overdoses
In light of the national opioid epidemic, schools need to be prepared in case a student overdoses. Consider:...
By sstuckey
Blog Post
Is Quality PD the Goal of STEM Certification? Here's What the AACT Has to Say
For anyone who isn’t yet familiar with The American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT), here’s a bit about who we are. We’re 4,500 members strong, though we’ve only been around for three years. Most of us are teachers, and some are othe...
By Guest Blogger
Blog Post
My fourth-grade students like doing hands-on science activities. How can I get them to focus on the activity rather than socializing? —C., West Virginia You want students to enjoy the activity and talk with each other, but students need to understa...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Off the Deep End: Reflections on my time as a NOAA Teacher at Sea
Sunset/Sunrise over a fjord in Kodiak, Alaska...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Commentary: Reasoning Versus Post-truth
Nicolaus Copernicus’s heliocentric model of the universe was reasoned from evidence but conflicted with popular beliefs of the day....
By sstuckey
Blog Post
Natural phenomena: awe inspiring and trauma inducing
Guest blogger Carrie Lynne Draper joins me in writing this post about supporting children affected by natural disasters....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Focus on Physics: Eight Tips for New (and not so new) Teachers
Being a teacher can be a wonderful experience. Making it so is greatly aided by qualities that you can acquire. Needless to say, you must know your subject and be able to explain it well. Beyond that are traits and practices that make the difference ...
By sstuckey
Blog Post
Senate Restores $2 Billion Teacher Training Fund
Congress returned to D.C. after Labor Day and immediately started work to fund the government, raise the federal borrowing limit and supply relief funds to disaster victims....
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Answers to Your Questions About NSTA's District Professional Learning Packages
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
I’m looking for ideas to get to know my students better and interact with them. My head spins with six different groups of students each day. –M., Maryland You may have heard the idea that students don’t care what you know until they ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
A Vanderbilt University Scientist in the Classroom Partnership fellow helps middle school students in the Nashville, Tennessee, area test their car design for speed....
By Debra Shapiro
Blog Post
Ed News: Teacher Shortages Affecting Every State As 2017-18 School Year Begins
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By Kate Falk
Blog Post
Early-in-the-school-year science experiences to support later explorations
When children and teachers are just getting used to being at school and with each other, open-ended experiences can help bring joy to what may be a stressful time. Simple science experiences involve open exploration and build foundations for later sc...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
What Goes Into STEM Certification? STEM Orgs Weigh In
What if you are an experienced science teacher but you have limited knowledge of engineering? Or you are an administrator looking for the most qualified person to fill a vacancy in your STEM lab? What if you are a preservice teacher and are intereste...
By Guest Blogger
Blog Post
A total solar eclipse is seen on Monday, August 21, 2017 above Madras, Oregon. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
I see many good activities for middle school involving plants, but what if students already did something similar at the elementary level? I don’t want to spend time on duplicate activities or get the eye-roll “we already did this.” —M., Ariz...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Collaborating to Improve Performance Expectations
Jessica Tetreault and I were the only two middle school teachers at a recent conference, so we were paired to create a common performance assessment that we could both use with our students in the coming months. She volunteered to share an assessment...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Gravitational Interactions and 3-D Learning in Middle School
I recently embarked on a journey with K–8 teachers in Vermont to learn how to be intentional about planning for three-dimensional (3-D) learning in the classroom....
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
It's Elementary: Investigating Student Work
Teachers wear many hats in the classroom. We are doctors, therapists, IT technicians, politicians, and entertainers, but the one hat we wear that is essential for student learning is the detective’s hat. As detectives, we gather and analyze evidenc...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
It is truly an exciting time in science education. Science educators across the country are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science guided by the Framework for K–12 Science Education (Framework). As a result, science instruction is c...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
I will start teaching in an elementary school this year. When I looked in what will be my future my classroom, but I didn’t see supplies or equipment for teaching science. What can I do now? – —G., Michigan...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Unparalleled Student Experiences through the NASA Educator Workshop
During July 2001, I along with 24 science educators from 15 states attended the NASA Educator Workshop (NEW) at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The two-week program was a NASA Headquarters initiative managed by NSTA, and coordina...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Federal Agencies Fulfilling their Mission to Support Science Education
Science has been a central component of American democracy from the very beginning. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.”...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Q&A on Unpacking Three-Dimensional Standards
We’ve recently heard discussions from colleagues about the need to “unpack” the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and how to do it. The term unpacking means a lot of things to lots of people so we thought we’d share our ideas about wh...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
There are plenty of reasons to wear a lab coat. For instance, lab coats are fire resistant, and they protect your skin from splashes and spills in the laboratory. The following are some helpful hints for selecting the right lab coat for your needs. ...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
I’m preparing for my first year as a science teacher. I’ve heard I should have a folder for a substitute teacher, but I’m not sure what should be in it besides a lesson plan. —H., Georgia...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Art and motion: moving toward STEM
Camp is not school. Like school, camp is play and camp is a learning environment, but the time together may not be long enough to build a community that effectively investigates together. In a half-day, five-day camp program with 15 minutes for snack...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
I’m not sure what to do on the first day of my new middle school assignment (I started student teaching in the spring, so I never had the experience of a “first day”). Any suggestions? —C., Minnesota...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
NSTA’s fall area conferences on science education are right around the corner:...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director