JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
Chemical Safety Training for Science Teachers
Academic science laboratories can be unsafe places for teaching and learning due to risks associated with biological, chemical, and physical hazards The OSHA laboratory standard (29 CFR 1910.1450) requires all employees working in laboratory settings...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
There’s More to Math than Drills
“As a teacher it frustrates me when drilling is proposed as the remedy to society’s mathematical struggles.” —Patrick Honner, Math Teacher and 2018 NSTA/NCTM STEM Teacher Ambassador I like practicing. I’m weir...
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
I can see and appreciate how science is really an awesome subject. How can I make science more fun and exciting yet effective for my students? —D., Philippines “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowled...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Myths about Science, with an early childhood focus
The National Science Teachers Association website has a section for families titled, “Help Your Child Explore Science.” Here’s my adaptation of the “Myths about Science” page in that section, giving it an early childhood focus.&n...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
You can’t believe everything you see in social media, but when something’s popular on Twitter/Facebook/Snapchat, it’s sure to be something you can use to catch students’ attention. The stories that caught our eye this week ru...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s August 2018 K-12 journals
The August issues are ready for back-to-school! Regardless of what grade level or subject 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/sha...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
First-Graders Modeling Day and Night: Making Sense of a Phenomenon
As a first-grade teacher in Detroit with predominantly Latinx students and English language learners, I worked for several weeks at the end of last school year with a doctoral candidate in science education and former elementary teacher, Christa Have...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Recently, my colleagues and I had an exchange with some teachers in one of our professional development programs. One teacher said, “I think I do a lot of modeling in my class. I have my kids draw pictures of the science ideas they are learning all...
Blog Post
Modeling in Science Instruction
With the shift toward three-dimensional teaching and learning that the Next Generation Science Standards requires, the Crosscutting Concept of Modeling has become a major focus of my instruction. I use a process that involves revisiting the sam...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Ed News: New Girl Scout STEM Badges & Back-to-School Spending Hits $82 Billion
This week in education news, the Girl Scouts have added 30 new badges in STEM to encourage more female involvement; back-to-school spending will hit $82.8 billion for K-12 and college combined, and more teachers are digging into their wallets; and m...
By Kate Falk
Blog Post
Freeze! We're doing science!
I have accumulated a large number of the freezer gel packs from a meal service. I’d like to find a way to use them in a classroom activity. —P., Georgia The best thing about these freezer packs is that they provide a constant that will help ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Moving water involves using the practices of science and engineering
Sometimes the discovery of materials on a play area inspires children’s exploration and use of the NGS...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Do you have any advice for creating bottle ecosystems with my seventh grade class? I would like them to do two-tier systems with terrestrial and aquatic organisms. —S., Missouri...
By Gabe Kraljevic