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Science of the Winter Olympics: Movement & Robotics
Did you see an Olympic performance (perhaps Davis & White’s gold-medal ice dance) that looked so perfect, so flawless, that it seemed almost robotic? If so, you’ll want to watch Olympic Movement & Robotic Design—another installment in t...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
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Are you attending the NSTA conference in Boston this spring?...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Physics of Figure Skating
Many would call the figure skating events the most elegant of all of the winter Olympic sports. The spins. The tosses. The leaps. How on earth do they stay in balance? Find out by watching the latest installment of the Science and Engineering of the ...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
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Planning and carrying out investigations
According to the editor, “Although the practice of planning and carrying out investigations has always been a part of good science instruction, the student focus often has been more on carrying out than on planning, with teacher-structured inve...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Faster & Safer Bobsleds
Controlled violence. That’s what Steve Langton of the U.S. Bobsled Team calls his sport, in which he’s huddled in a bullet-shaped, finned shell made of carbon fiber and Kevlar hurtling down a curving track at speeds over 70 miles per hour. The te...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Social Science Teachers: Meet Us at #NSTA14
How do you start an #organellewar? Create a virtual Professional Learning Community? Use Facebook with preservice teachers? Flip your classroom? Use YouTube in your science classroom?...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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DiscoverE brings us Engineers Week
Next week is Engineers Week, February 16-22, “a time to:...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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NSTA’s K-12 Science Education Journals: February Issues Online
It’s February, and many of us are focused on groundhogs, candy, and hoping never to hear the words polar vortex again! Spring is still a few months away, so this is a good time to bundle up and get a fresh look at what your science teaching pee...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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If you think that the “history and nature of science” means students reading biographies of scientists of the past, your thoughts may change after browsing this issue of Science Scope. These articles represent lessons that incorporate the...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Engineers Week Resources from the National Science Teachers Association
Engineers Week is February 16–22, 2014. Engineering is in the spotlight right now—and science teachers need to know how to incorporate it into their STEM curriculum, what resources really work, and where to get online PD to stay current....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Science of Snow
SUPERCOOL! More than just an expression, this state of water figures prominently in snow formation. Find out more about snow and how snow conditions might impact winter Olympians whose gold medals are inextricably linked to this frozen base material....
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Engineering the Halfpipe
Imagine locking both feet onto a board, hurtling down a vertical face and up the opposing one before becoming airborne, where you twist and flip with near abandon. Now, imagine doing that with the equivalent weight of five people clinging to your bac...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
This April, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Engineering and Science: Technological Partners” at our 2014 National Conference on Scie...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
What the new NSTA Early Childhood Science Education position statement means to me
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has adopted a new position statement, the Early Childhood Science Position Statement. This thoughtful document was inspired by the clamor of early childhood educators looking for guidance informed by ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
My colleague and I are early–career science teachers at a middle school. Rather than our reinventing the wheel, do you have any suggestions how to make lab days run more smoothly, especially at the beginning and end of the class? –Sean, Oakla...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Each month, columns on safety in the science lab are featured in NSTA’s Science Scope (Scope on Safety) and The Science Teacher (Safer Science). These columns are written by Ken Roy, Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Glastonbury P...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Concepts that cut across science disciplines
Patterns…cause and effect: mechanism and explanation…scale, proportion, and quantity…systems and system models…energy and matter: flows, cycles, and conservation…structure and function…stability and change…...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
This April, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Leading From the Classroom” at our 2014 National Conference on Science Education, in...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Injury & Recovery
Lindsey Vonn—probably the closest to a household name as any winter Olympian. Sadly, we won’t be able to see her defend her women’s downhill gold medal in Sochi due to her ACL injury. But you can find out a bit more of the back story in Injury ...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
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This month’s guest editorials address the theme of science for ALL students:...
By Mary Bigelow
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Kindergarten teacher shares her class' bird investigation
Talking with other early childhood educators enriches my understanding of how children learn and I often learn good ideas for teaching about particular science concepts. I had an online conversation with Mary Myron who I met at the 2013 annual confer...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
What science teachers are reading in January 2014
From data literacy to citizen science to using trade books in science lessons, take a look at what science teachers are reading so far in 2014 at NSTA’s website....
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Competition Suits
You’re barely in the door of your local sporting goods store before you’re bombarded with displays of clothing designed specifically for every sport—even fishing! Are you better at any one of these sports when you’re wearing the specially des...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
I feel overwhelmed by the grading process. It seems like I spend most of my waking hours grading homework, lab reports, tests, quizzes, notebooks, and projects. I teach two science courses at the high school and meet 150 students every day. What ca...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
There are many ways students can be motivated in science. Some students have a passion for the subject that goes beyond the classroom. Others may find the types of activities in the classroom to be motivational—working with others, using technology...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Science of Ice
The phrase “a level playing field” has a lot of different meanings. But for the skaters, curlers, hockey players, lugers, and bobsledders in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games it means just one thing—ICE. And how is it that all of these athletes can...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
This April, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Teaching Elementary Science with Confidence!” at our 2014 National Conference on Science...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Science of the Winter Olympics: Slopestyle Skiing
The count down is on for February 7, the start of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia! Twelve new winter sports will join those we always look forward to watching. Among them is Men’s and Women’s Ski Slopestyle. To the uninitiated, it ...
By Judy Elgin Jensen
Blog Post
Science of ice, brief explanation
For all those who are experiencing the solid form of water or teaching about it, here is a cool video from the National Science Foundation (NSF) about the science of ice. In this short video, athletes J.R....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Basic Data Literacy: Helping Your Students (And You!) Make Sense of Data
We are surrounded by data. When you read, watch, or listen to the news, you are presented with the conclusions drawn from data someone else has collected....
By Carole Hayward
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NSTA's K-College Science Education Journals: January 2014 Issues Online
Communicating science—NSTA’s journals are all about it this month—helping children be captivated by the wonders of science, empowering them to share, and making science relevant to students as they grow into responsible citizens. The links ...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Learning about shapes, with tips from a special education teacher
Working in a school with teachers who have a different expertise than I have means I have access to an informal professional learning community’s broader depth of knowledge. Early childhood teachers represent a wide variety of cultures, ages and ed...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
This April, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Science and Literacy: A Symbiotic Relationship” at our 2014 Nat...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Lab Incident at a Manhattan High School: Another Hard Safety Lesson to Learn
On January 2, 2014, a chemistry lab safety incident involving a fire injured students at Beacon High School in Manhattan (NYC). An article in The New York Times reported that two students were burned as a result of a fireball of methanol vapor create...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
I’m a new teacher fresh out of college, and I took a job as a chemistry teacher in a different state. I had a good student teaching experience, so I’m okay with the students and the curriculum and I love the area, but as a newbie I feel i...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
On the winter solstice I took a walk through the yard and thought about the amount of sunlight that it receives throughout the year....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Navigating the authority-figure/friend territory
At least these no longer apply!...
By Mary Bigelow
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We’ve certainly had a variety of weather-related events in recent history: killer tornadoes, devastating hurricanes and floods, and fluctuating temperatures. But the “hazards” that are the focus of this issue are those related to fo...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Connecting science and students' interests
It’s hard to think of a science topic that children are not interested in! Just about anything will stimulate their thinking and inquisitiveness. The cover of this issue brought back memories of these interests—I had a set of specimens embedd...
By Mary Bigelow