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Supplementing a budget decrease
Our principal just informed us that the science department budget will be decreased for next year. It’s already bare bones, so my colleagues and I are interested in finding other funding sources such as grants. What do we need to know to get starte...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
System exploration in early childhood
When winter sets in, teachers set aside time in the schedule for children to remove and store their winter outwear. Such a variety of clothing systems appear! Coats and jackets with zippers, hoods, snaps and Velcro, mittens and gloves, hats that pull...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
In a letter to the West Virginia Board of Education, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) encourages the members of the Board to eliminate changes that were made to the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives for Science in West ...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
The Pasco Wireless Dissolved Oxygen Probe VS. Winter Water
The power of a Bluetooth-connected Dissolved Oxygen probe is not only from the DO data, but the places the data can be collected, and the ways the data is presented. Over the holidays I took the Pasco wireless DO probe up in the mountains to genera...
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
Science "home"work for interested students
I have several students this year who are really into science. I’d like to provide or suggest some elementary-level projects or activities that parents can do with them at home to encourage this interest. Do you have any ideas beyond book lists and...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
NSTA’s K–College Science Education Journals: January 2015 Issues Online
Is your science classroom equipped for success? Or are you teaching with limited resources?...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
This March, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Natural Resources, Natural Partnerships” at our 2015 National Conference on Science Education, in Chicago, March 12–15....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
National Bird Day Resources from NSTA Press
Today is National Bird Day, and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has some great resources you can use to celebrate! Enjoy these free chapters from NSTA Press—they will ease you into the new year and help you look forward to spring....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Movie Magic Can Jump Start Your Science, Math, and Technology Lessons
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Problem solving and engineering in play
Unless teachers and parents resist the urge to help as soon as we first see that a child has a problem, we might miss seeing how the child can solve it, possibly developing new skills in the process....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
What would YOUR End of the Year Recommendation (Resolution) be to the Business Community?
In 2007, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future (RAGS) was released from the National Academies Press and heralded the need for improved performance in producing a STEM prepared workforce f...
By Christine Royce
Blog Post
I like to consider my classroom as a partnership with the students. So this year (my first year), the students were able to choose their own teams for cooperative learning and lab activities. This worked out in some cases, but there are teams that do...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
"Extras" for NSTA journals
Students are naturally inquisitive and eager to learn. The NSTA K-12 journals for December have many ideas and suggestions for teachers to tap into these inquiring minds....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Must read—take S&C home over winter break
The December issue of Science and Children will be an issue I refer to often....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
NSTA’s K–12 Science Education Journals: December 2014 Issues Online
The titles of this month’s journal articles from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) are so fun, you may just feel like you’re getting an early holiday present when you read them: “Elephant Trunks and Dolphin Tails,R...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
The way it's supposed to be…
I have been trying to incorporate more inquiry-based investigations into my biology curriculum. But the students are upset. They want to stick with the cookbook labs where they follow the procedure and complete a data table that I give them. —T., ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
On OPB radio’s Think Out Loud interview segment, “Examining The Shortage Of Craft Workers In Oregon,” Dave Miller interviews trade industry experts...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Our recent NSTA conference on science education in Long Beach, CA, was held in collaboration with the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA)....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Elementary science connections
Help! At my school, science is a special that my first graders go to once a week. I’m looking for integrated and engaging ideas for science that I could use during regular instruction. As most teachers know, time is precious, but I think it’s vit...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What will happen if I…. Preparing an effective learning environment with help from Peep
I see it all the time, children wondering what will happen if I….push on this ball, let go of this ball, put this ball in water, or throw this ball? What will happen if I…touch the paper gently with the paintbrush, shake the paint brush, put the ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
I Have Little Access to Professional Learning Programs Where I Live. Where Can I Turn to for Help?
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Recommend a resource for early childhood science and engineering education
Guidance for effective science and engineering teaching can be found in the NSTA position statement on Early Childhood Science Education. Materials for science and engineering science explorations, such as teacher resource books, can sup...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
#NSTA14 Long Beach: Highlights from the Hall
The Long Beach NSTA 2014 Area Conference on Science Education starts this week! We’ll be making ourselves at home at the Long Beach Convention Center in sunny California, December 4-6, 2014....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
NSTA Members – Three Reasons We Are Thankful For YOU!
As we prepare the turkey and brave the elements (some of us) for those last minute ingredients we forgot, this time of the year we give thanks for family and friends. NSTA is no different – we are very thankful for our members and here are just a f...
By Teshia Birts, CAE
Blog Post
The Lab Out Loud Podcast for Thanksgiving: Top 12 Science Celebrity Episodes Edition
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
No Money in the School Budget to Attend the NSTA National Conference? Learn What You Can Do
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Teaching is my second career. I used to work for an environmental agency, but I’m having second thoughts about this switch. I took over for my cooperating teacher at the beginning of this marking period....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Supporting children's interests
As we take a nature walk on the paths through a large garden area tended by church members, the children always want to “go to the pond.” This body of water is an 8’ by 10’ pool with pump-circulated water flowing from a raised area. We watch ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
NSTA Has Made 25 Members Very Happy (and We Have Even More in Store)
A big shout out and congratulations to 25 NSTA members who recently renewed their membership for two years and won FREE registration to the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Chicago, March 12-15, 2015. The winners will also receive a $...
By Teshia Birts, CAE
Blog Post
NSTA journals: A goldmine for teachers
One of the perks of being an NSTA member is having access to all of the journals online. Regardless of the grade level you teach, the journals have ideas for authentic activities and investigations that can be used, adapted, or extended for different...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
NSTA’s K–College Science Education Journals: November 2014 Issues Online
Cause and effect, solutions to problems, analyzing and interpreting data, and quantitative reasoning… these are the subjects science teachers are writing about in this month’s K-College journals from NSTA. The November issues are online, ...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Learn to engage students in scientific argumentation
A gallery walk gives students an opportunity to discuss claims and evidence...
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
Addressing concerns about activity and healthy eating
What could be more fun that creating art while being physically active? An upcoming book by MaryAnn Kohl and Barbara Zaboroski shows how to do just that in ways that encourage children to make choices and control art medium in active ways....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Prepping for a pre-service teacher
I agreed to work with a student teacher next semester, and I’m looking forward to the experience. I teach three classes of biology and an AP class at the high school and two sections of middle school science. Should the student teacher take all...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
New from NSTA: Quick Reference Guides to the Next Generation Science Standards
In focus groups, science teachers tell NSTA staff members that time is their biggest challenge. We hear that again and again, and we listen! Many science educators are excited about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and have begun to imple...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
As humans, we are driven to explore and explain our surroundings; we wonder about the things we see and try to figure out how and why they appear the way they do and what some of the underlying mechanisms might be that drive what we see in the world....
By Guest Blogger
Blog Post
Patterns: a crosscutting concept
Children notice patterns in nature in small moments as they play in natural areas and find a new kind of leaf, or suddenly realize one morning that they are leaving for school before the sun comes up. Did that happen recently with any of your childre...
By Peggy Ashbrook