JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
Interacting with NSTA colleagues
I am the only science teacher at my school and I do not have anyone to ask for help. How can I post a question to all the members of NSTA? (I became a NSTA member in September.) I see there are forums and [e-mail] lists, but I do not know how to ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Diagnosis for Classroom Success: Making Anatomy and Physiology Come Alive
I was intrigued with the concept of Diagnosis for Classroom Success as soon as I heard about it....
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Thank You to NSTA's Outgoing Board, Council, Committee, Advisory Board, and Panel Members
On behalf of the staff of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and our leadership team, I would like to thank the following members of our Board, Council, Standing Committees, Advisory Boards, and Panels whose terms of appointment end on ...
By Karen Ostlund
Blog Post
Science of Innovation: anti-counterfeiting devices
Knockoffs. You can buy them anywhere—from a street vendor, a flea market, or the local discount shop. But what if you’ve decided to pay more for the “real thing”? How can you be sure you’re getting the handbag, shoes, device, or even medica...
By admin
Blog Post
In addition to NSTA publications, I read many others related to science and education, both in print and online. I usually scan the pages and images, focusing on articles of interest. However, the May 2013 issue of Smithsonian was so compelling, I ha...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Science of Innovation: synthetic diamonds
You’re celebrating a romantic little restaurant or some other special place. Your significant other presents you with a small velvet box containing a huge diamond ring or flawless diamond cuff links. Would you like the sparkling gems any less if yo...
By admin
Blog Post
Guest Post by LaMoine L. Motz, PhD, Sandra West Moody, PhD, and James T. Biehle, AIA...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
With the heavy spring rains in my neighborhood there has been some erosion of soil on a slope in the park and soil from the baseball field has been washed across the sidewalk. There are not many fiction or non-fiction books for young children that in...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Rodger Bybee Makes The Case for STEM Education
What do we mean when we say “STEM education”? For years now, we’ve recited that STEM means “science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.” We’re often somewhat less precise when it comes to defining what STEM ...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Classroom Science: Finding the Right Balance Between Supervision and Curious Experimentation
A recent Huffington Post article (Kiera Wilmot, 16, Arrested And Expelled For Explosive ‘Science Experiment’) has drawn quite a bit of attention from our readers. And it certainly got our attention as well. The National Science Teachers Associati...
By David Evans, NSTA Executive Director
Blog Post
NSTA Press: 2013 AEP Distinguished Achievement Awards Finalists
The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is pleased to share the news that several of our publications have been named finalists for the 2013 Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards. We would like to thank our s...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
Communicating with parents and other caregivers is important for student success. The topic of parental involvement has been addressed in NSTA blogs and publications, with ideas for parent conferences, back-to-school nights or open houses, summer act...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Flatten the Classroom with the iGo Microscope
Although many handheld technologies of Star Trek seem antiquated, or perhaps even steam punkish in todays world, there are still a few pieces of Treknata that we dream of. But that list just got one item shorter with the iGo wireless microscope....
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
Toward the end of the school year, you might be looking for a culminating activity in which students can apply what they’ve learned during the year to new situations or problems. This issue has ideas that help students investigate the big idea of t...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What will we do, where will we go with the NGSS?
On Tuesday, April 9, the final Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards for K—12 science education, were released....
By Christine Royce
Blog Post
I am a student teacher in sixth grade earth science. My question is about makeup exams. I have several ideas, but can you suggest other systems or procedures for allowing students to make up exams? —Dawn, San Jose, California...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Upping the Ante: A Classroom Gas Chromatograph!
The gas chromatograph, until recently, has been a founding member in the exclusive club of scientific instrumentation that lived only in the rarified air of serious scientific laboratories....
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
What science happens in your sandbox?
A pile of sand, a sandbox or a sensory table full of sand are tools for imaginative play, sensory exploration and science investigations....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Including Students With Disabilities in Advanced Science Classes
The 2013 National Science Foundation (NSF) report Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in Science and Engineering...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
One of the themes in several articles and blogs I’ve read makes the case that the study of earth science should not stop at the end of middle school!...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
At a session this morning, when the presenters described the agenda it was not exactly what was described in the program. I was already familiar with the topic, so I slipped out. Since other sessions had already started, I decided to use the time on ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
“It’s IMPOSSIBLE not to love science!” That’s what Dr. Rui Vogt Aives de Cruz told a group of several hundred science teachers Thursday at NSTA’s National Conference on Science Education....
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
A great day from start to finish
It’s understandable that conference-goers are tired at the end of the day. The Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center is huge, and fortunately the schedulers built in some time to trek from one session to another. With the gorgeous weather, itR...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
From Elementary Ed to Inspiring Speakers
I started the morning with a visit to the Elementary Extravaganza. So much activity was going on. I overheard one attendee exclaim, “I didn’t know we had so many elementary teachers!” I’m not sure if he meant in Texas or in NSTA!...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
Sensory experiences to invoke an environment described in a book
We did more than watch as early childhood educator Sarah Glassco read the book Senses at the Seashore by Shelley Rotner (Millbrook Press 2006) during her presentation on using imagination to explore science concepts. She ha...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Sometimes it seems that some students are excluded from an expectation of success in the sciences – those with cognitive or physical disabilities, those who do not speak English, or those who do not appear to have the intellectual or reading levels...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
I’m incorporating several strategies this year to help my life science students understand written information. I provide study guides with questions to answer, graphic organizers, and quizzes on the information, but they still don’t seem...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Get what you need at conferences, big and small, national and local
I think of conferences as meetings with multiple science coaches, each of whom help me improve my teaching in some way—if I implement the updates or changes once I’m back at school. That may be a big if....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Science of Innovation: fuel cell efficiency
Innovation rarely occurs in a vacuum, and this installment of the “Science of Innovation” video series emphasizes that. Neither scientist involved in the research highlighted would have succeeded as quickly without the knowledge and input of the ...
By admin
Blog Post
How many of us in the K-12 science environment use word puzzles to help students review concepts and learn vocabulary? I haven’t been convinced of the value of find-a-words or jumble puzzles are effective learning tools, but crossword puzzles a...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Are my tests "unfair"?
When I return tests, the students look at their grades, complain the test was unfair, and don’t pay much attention when we go over it. How can I deal with this? I teach ninth grade earth science. —Ava, Lexington, Kentucky...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Incorporating the History of Science
In the most recent issue of the Leaders Letter, one of the features includes a discussion about the new NOVA Series which is appearing on PBS. The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers which is developed and produced by PBS as part of the NOVA Seri...
By Christine Royce
Blog Post
Uncovering Student Ideas in Astronomy
I’m already a fan of the Uncovering Student Ideas series, but authors Page Keeley and Cary Sneider piqued my interest with the 45 new formative assessment probes in this latest volume, ...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Science of Innovation: biofuels
It’s widely reported that the first “flex fuel” automobile able to run on either gasoline or ethanol was Henry Ford’s Model T. With hemp and other types of cellulosic biomass as the source instead of corn, Ford is quoted as saying that ethyl ...
By admin
Blog Post
Teaching that uses the Project Approach is one way for children to learn deeply about a topic or concept. Early Childhood Investigations Webinars hosted Dr. Sylvia C....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
When I was little, I had an “electric” map of the U.S. There were two wired probes, and the object of the game was to use them to connect the name of the state capital from a list in the margin with a state on the map. (This was long befo...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
I’m student teaching now at an elementary school, and I want to emphasize science. In the classrooms I observe, I see many different layouts and arrangements, but what is the best way to organize a classroom? When I get my own classroom, where ...
By Mary Bigelow