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NSTA’s K-College Science Education Journals: September 2014 Issues Online
Just as teachers gear up for a new year, so too do NSTA journal editors! We just published our first issues of the school year, and there’s a lot of great science teaching ideas, lesson plans, STEM information, and of course materials to help y...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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I’ve Retired from Classroom Teaching. How Can My NSTA Membership Still Benefit Me?
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By Carole Hayward
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Do children in your program have direct access to nature?
Being outside under the sky is different from being inside under a roof. The experiences that can happen in either place are not necessarily better than the other place, but they are different....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
One of my goals this year is to focus more on science. I teach at the elementary level (third grade), and I’m thinking of setting up a science corner in the classroom with materials and activities for students. Rather than reinventing the wheel...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Outdoor Science Preconference Workshop at NSTA’s Richmond Conference This Fall
If you’ve thought about taking students outdoors to learn science, this preconference workshop in Richmond, Virginia, on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, will provide the tools you need to be successful....
By Wendy Rubin, Managing Editor, NSTA Press
Blog Post
Action research on notemaking/taking
In your response to my question about notetaking, you suggested “action research” on notetaking/notemaking as a professional development project. How would I go about beginning such a process? I have the question but I’ve never tackled some...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Where Can I Find Free or Low-Cost Resources and Opportunities for Science Teachers?
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Help Young Learners Discover Answers to Their “Why” Questions
New I Wonder Why books from NSTA Kids “Why can’t I see my shadow when it’s dark?” “Why are some sounds loud and some sounds soft?” “Why do we need machines?” “Why can’t I see colors when there is no light?” Teachers and parents ...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
For many of us, the school year is starting soon (if it hasn’t already). If you are looking for new materials to add to your collection or to supplement a textbook or other resource, check out SciLinks, NSTA’s online database of vetted websites....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
A recent Education Week blog post touts th...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
How Can I Turn NSTA Resources into an E-Textbook for my College Classroom?
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Learning from the online Early Childhood community
Do you have colleagues with whom you can share ideas for teaching science and engineering concepts? Do you have resources to develop science lessons? Does your program or district support the science and engineering curriculum that you know is best p...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Use the NSTA Calendar: The Easiest Way to Get More Out of Your Membership
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By Carole Hayward and Debra Shapiro
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The Joys of Gardening with Young Children
I welcome guest blogger, Gail Laubenthal, who shares her experiences and tips for helping young children nurture a garden and being nurtured by it. Gail is a retired teacher (43 years), currently serving as an Educational Consultant, mentoring Early ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
As schools get back into session and teachers prepare to go back, many stories are popping up in the news about science and STEM education across the United States. The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) follows these stories and gets invol...
By Jodi Peterson
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Where Can I Find Professional Development Opportunities and Resources for Science Teachers?
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By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
I really want to stop “giving” notes to students because it doesn’t seem like a good use of class time. They use tablets, so they can find facts easily, but I want students to actually manipulate the content and think about it. But ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
A Picture Perfect Approach to Connecting Reading Strategies and Science
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By Guest Blogger
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NGSS@NSTA Hub: Your One-Stop Source for Next Generation Science Standards Information
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By Carole Hayward
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Ideas for must-have strategies
I’m mentoring two new science teachers this year, and I want to focus on must-have strategies and effective practices for science. I’m sure they will have their own needs, but, based on your experience, what would be important to include ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
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 that can be used, adapted, or extended for different levels of student interest and experience. ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Breaking Down Walls at the 2014 National Congress on Science Education
If you were with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) in Washington, D.C. last week, you would have been part of the most exciting and productive Congress of the year!...
By Juliana Texley
Blog Post
Science of Golf: course set up
I have a love-hate relationship with golf. Growing up on a midwestern farm, “green” was spring and summer. Today, “green” has very different meanings. Do I want to land my approach shot onto a perfect one? Sure I do (not that it happens all t...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) offers a growing collection of resources around the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Professional Development Options
I was recently appointed K-12 science department chairperson. Our professional development budget is slim, but I’d like to do something other than the generic “sit-and-git” presentations we’ve had in the past. I’ve heard about u...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
This golfer is waiting for the green to clear....
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Are Your Lab Investigations Argument Driven?
The 27 lab investigations in the new NSTA Press book Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology: Lab Investigations for Grades 9-12 follow the argument-driven inquiry (ADI) instruction model, which consists...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Science of Golf: Newton’s Third
Male, female, young, old … physical workouts can be as important to low scores as club and ball design—just ask Rickie Fowler, Belen Mozo, 78-year-old Gary Player, or my college-golfer (and budding engineer) daughter who works out with an ex-NFL ...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Science of Golf: collisions and compressions
Self-taught, long-ball hitter Bubba Watson gets a greater payoff from the collision between the driver and the ball than most anyone on tour. Find out what happens during those 500 microseconds in Science of Golf: Energy in Collisions and Compression...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Count on These Science Stories to Engage Your Students
“Our students should be able to at least reason quantitatively: to read and interpret data, graphs, and statistics....
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
At the end of the year, my principal mentioned—again—that he wanted Honors Biology to be the “hardest” ninth grade course. I have tried explaining and showing that my Honors students are having different, more thought-provokin...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Ken Roy, NSTA Chief Science Safety Compliance Consultant and NSTA Safety Advisory Board Contact, has some comments based on the issue of a substitute leaving a science lab unattended, a situation described in a previous blog entry:...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Living near Tampa—the so-called “lightning capital”—and having a college-golfer (and budding engineer) daughter who plays daily, I’m always a bit jittery about localized storms that pop up regularly here during the summer. With a 60% chance...
By Judy Elgin Jensen