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The RSC’s (Royal Society of Chemistry) Chemistry Week is a themed week of events that is held every two years to promote a positive image of chemistry and increase the public understanding of the importance of chemical science in our everyday...
By Mary Bigelow
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Dissolving the Barriers to Measuring Dissolved Oxygen
The amount of dissolved oxygen (DO) in water is a critical component in the aquatic ecosystem. While measuring the level of DO is a common practice in water quality studies, the sensors often used to capture the data were far from the instantaneous m...
By Martin Horejsi
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NAEYC conference this week in Washington, DC. See you there!
Wednesday through Saturday I’ll be attending sessions at the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). I love that the worlds of science teaching and early childhood teaching overlap!...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Translating the NGSS for Classroom Instruction
Rodger Bybee’s new book Translating the ...
By Carole Hayward
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If you’re not a high school physics teacher, don’t put this issue aside! There are many ideas for interdisciplinary activities and strategies that apply to other subjects and grade levels. And many of them can be done even on a shoestring...
By Mary Bigelow
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The House Subcommittee on Research and Technology began work on reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act with a hearing on Wednesday, November 13. Lawmakers are reviewing draft legislation introduced by committee Republicans to reauthorize this ke...
By Jodi Peterson
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After a lab activity I try to engage students in a discussion of their findings. I use a variety of strategies to involve the students, but I find they don’t really know how to have a meaningful discussion without interruptions, off-topic state...
By Mary Bigelow
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Problem solving and investigating the properties of materials
Does the way a child approaches finger-painting or eating a somewhat messy snack tell us anything about how she or he will approach building with blocks or participating in a science activity?...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Brush up on your science content knowledge
At NSTA’s recent fall conferences in Portland and Charlotte, NSTA Press author Bill Robertson led teachers in refresher courses on physical science topics such as sound, light, and force and motion. Robertson’s bestselling book series, Stop Fakin...
By Claire Reinburg
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NSTA's K-College Journals: Live for November
You’ve turned the clocks back an hour, but you’re still short on time—that’s what most teachers tell us! How can the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) help? With grade-level journals targeted to your needs, written by e...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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Assessment products and processes
What is the purpose of an assessment? The featured articles in this issue show assessment as a true part of the instructional process, not an add-on to get a score for a grade. As I read the articles, I was impressed at how the assessments were desig...
By Mary Bigelow
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#NSTA13 Charlotte Twitter Contest
Join the #NSTA13 Charlotte Twitter contest! If you’ll be attending the National Science Teachers Association’s Conference on Science Education in Charlotte, NC, November 7–9, 2013, tweet for a chance to win NSTA Gear or a $50 Gift Certifica...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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I’m a new elementary teacher, and I love seeing how students get excited doing hands–on science activities. But the students can get out of hand and I have a hard time focusing them on the activity. Any advice on channeling their enthusiasm with ...
By Mary Bigelow
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Fall changes in trees bring science and art together
The colors of the autumn leaves in my area call out to me for attention and to bring inside in a basket for the kitchen table. Outside I arrange them into patterns pleasing to myself....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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I’ve talked with teachers who are concerned about the E in STEM. “I barely have time for science, and now I’m supposed to teach engineering, too? I’ve never studied engineering!”...
By Mary Bigelow
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The classroom as learning center
Last year (my first year teaching) I floated among several classrooms. A few days before the beginning of this year, I learned that I have my own biology lab! I didn’t have much time, so I just put up a few posters. Now I want to make this plai...
By Mary Bigelow
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Reading to support science learning begins with babies
Welcome back to guest blogger Sarah Erdman! Sarah writes about her first-hand observations of sharing books with a toddler....
By Peggy Ashbrook
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So – who’s ready for Mole Day? Rather than competing with the commercial hoopla around Halloween, perhaps we science teachers could get a head start on October 23 (10/23) from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m. The timing of this event celebrates Avogadr...
By Mary Bigelow
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Documentation and discussion at the fish tank
An aquarium in the classroom may be a science center and the site of a morning separation ritual for some children. In addition to daily feeding and casual observation, children can make scientific drawings and notes. To encourage close observation, ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Science for the Next Generation: Preparing for the New Standards
If you’re an elementary school teacher who teaches grades K-5, the authors and editors of ...
By Carole Hayward
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Putting Science Words on the Wall
I’ve seen “word walls” in elementary classrooms, but I wonder whether older students would find them helpful in dealing with vocabulary. What should I consider in trying this idea? —Wendy, Chattanooga, Tennessee...
By Mary Bigelow
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Science of Golf: physics of the golf swing
What do the trebuchet, said to have been invented in China in about 300 BC and Paula Creamer, the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion, have in common? They both owe their success to the double pendulum effect. Find out why in Science of Golf: Physics o...
By admin
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This December, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Engineering the Engineering: Connecting the Why to the How” at our Conference on Science Education in Denver, CO, December 12–14....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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Earth Science Week Resources from the National Science Teachers Association
Earth Science Week is October 13–19, 2013. Take a world tour, solve a mystery, apply to be named the Environmental Science Educator of the Year, or delve into an entire year’s worth of lessons with this resource collection from the National S...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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This December, the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “PreK–8 Science: A Playground for Literacy and Mathematics” at our Conference on Science Education in Denver, CO, December 12-14. Classrooms are the p...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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Citizen Science: Engaging Students Through Public Collaboration in Scientific Research
Too often, students think of science as a static collection of facts rather than an ongoing process of discovery in which they can play a part. Citizen science offer opportunities for students to engage in authentic investigations....
By Carole Hayward
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Chemistry: Strategies and activities
October — The school year is well underway and it’s the month in which science teachers celebrate Mole Day (so who needs Halloween to have some fun?) It’s also the month for featured articles on chemistry....
By Mary Bigelow
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October K-12 Journals Available from the National Science Teachers Association
October’s K–12 journals from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) highlight unique trends in science eduction....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
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One of Apple’s more recent releases may cause problems in your classroom: You and your students will be fighting over it to see who can create the splashiest electronic books! Given Apple’s remarkable success with its iPad, the company has moved ...
By Ken Roberts
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Using "kits" in science
I’m a second-year teacher at a small elementary school. I was poking around the supply closet and found several unopened science kits. Last year, I did some basic science activities that I did while student teaching, but this year, I’d ...
By Mary Bigelow
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Assessments: Part of the learning process
Do you have advice on assessments that would be helpful for sharing with my mentee, a new teacher? —Shirley, Lexington, Kentucky Assessing student learning can (and should) include more than final tests. The process has components before, during, a...
By Mary Bigelow
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I’ve been a longtime fan of Understanding Science from the University of California Museum of Paleontology at Berkeley. It’s a comprehensive resource for learning more about the processes of science as used in the real world. The processe...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What are science teachers reading in September?
Check out this month’s most popular books, e-books, and children’s science trade books! Click over to our NSTA Recommends Catalog app to see what’s new. Between now and October 31, 2013, save $10 off your order of $40 or more of NST...
By Amy America
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Talking about the Top Ten Technology Items Administrators Think About
This month’s The Leading Edge asks science education leaders to share their views on The Top Ten items identified by administrators as part of the Speak Up National Research Project which focused on the changing environment for digital learning....
By Christine Royce
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Aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment with the NGSS and Framework
One of the big ideas from my teaching courses was “congruency”—an alignment of curriculum (What content and skills will you teach?), instruction (What learning activities will help students learn and use the content and skills?), and as...
By Mary Bigelow
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Just in Time: The New Science Teacher's Handbook
As a new science teacher, your first year of teaching is well underway....
By Carole Hayward
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Our parents’ association is giving mini-grants to each teacher. This is only my second year teaching at the elementary level, so I still need lots of stuff for my classroom. I’d like to spend the funds on science-related materials. Any su...
By Mary Bigelow
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First week of preschool for two-year-olds
The first week of school is when we begin to know our students and make observations about their skills, personalities and interests. I was surprised by the abilities of this year’s two-year-old class, but I shouldn’t have been....
By Peggy Ashbrook