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Blog Post
Students communicate their results
I am interested in strategies to help students write lab reports. I have gone over this at the beginning of the year and a few times in between. But students still have trouble explaining the purpose, hypothesis, process, and conclusion. I want the s...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Do you “Pin?” Early childhood preservice teachers on the NSTA Learning Center forums are recommending Pinterest as a source for lesson plans and activities: “Dig into pinterest!!!! It has been my best friend as a student teacher this year!”...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Do You Have Adequate Time to Teach Science in Middle School?
“I have all the time I need to teach my science content and processes,” said no teacher, ever! When I was an elementary teacher, I often felt pressured to spend more time on math and reading than on science because, after all, those were the subj...
By Guest Blogger
Blog Post
Planned, Purposeful Activities
My fifth grade students get excited about hands-on activities, but sometimes they use an activity as a reason to socialize or joke around. Sometimes the class appears chaotic. I’m looking for ideas on what I can do to make sure this is a good use o...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
A "Spring" in December
The unusually warm December weather has brought out flowers in some of the plants that usually bloom in Spring in m...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Ideas and info from NSTA’s December K-12 journals
The Science Teacher: Novel Science Tools...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
"Group" work in elementary science?
I’m a first year teacher, teaching third grade. In my undergraduate work and student teaching, I worked with math and reading groups, but not much was mentioned about using small groups in science or social studies. I’m curious about how to go ab...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
The Science of Art by guest blogger Carrie Heflin
Welcome to guest blogger Carrie Heflin! Carrie was a pre-k classroom educator at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center for four years. With everyday access to the museums on the National Mall, she developed her students’ understanding of art conc...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Education Gets $1.2 Billion Increase in FY16 Omnibus
Earlier this week the House Appropriations Committee released the FY 2016 Omnibus Appropriations bill, which provides for discretionary funding for the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2016....
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Constructivist theory and its use in the Next Generation Science Standards
The people involved with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have indicated that they did not plan to “mess” with teaching goals, professional development of teachers, and the ways teachers teach which were used as headings in the 1996 ...
By Robert Yager
Blog Post
[youtube]https://youtu.be/ThHYGzvrxZ0[/youtube] In this video, columnist Jared Mader shares information from the Science 2.0 column, “Did They Really Read It?” that appeared in a recent issue of The Science Teacher. Read the article here. ...
By sstuckey
Blog Post
Shadow formation and natural or electric light
At mid-December the children’s morning shadows are recognizably long. Over time, through repeated observations made formally or just in casual comments, children begin to notice that the position of the sun in the sky changes during the day. Kinder...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
The Paris Agreement: What Do Science Teachers Need to Know for Class on Monday?
The Paris Climate agreement is top news this weekend. Here are a few resources teachers can share with their students on Monday. Share this tweet Seeing the Earth from 250 miles up gives you a new appreciation for why we need to take care of it. #Pa...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
My principal tells me I have “leadership potential.” I’ve been teaching Earth science for 11 years. I like my students and I feel confident with the curriculum. I don’t want to leave the classroom, but a little voice keeps whispering that she...
By Mary Bigelow