JoinAll Middle School resources
Blog Post
When informal science institutions (ISIs) offer professional learning opportunities to teachers to support science in schools, they create the potential for dynamic science educators and classrooms that can support high-quality science learning for s...
By Dr. Vanessa Lujan
Blog Post
Out-of-School Time (OST) organizations play a vital role in our education system by providing youth with ways of discovering and exploring the world of STEM that complement the learning they experience during the school day. But OST programs often fa...
By Dr. Irene Porro
NSTA Press Book
Making Sense of Science and Religion: Strategies for the Classroom and Beyond
The authors of Making Sense of Science and Religion believe that addressing interactions between science and religion is part of all science educators’ collective job—and that this is the book that will help you facilitate discussion when the top...
By Joseph W. Shane, Lee Meadows, Ronald S. Hermann, Ian C. Binns
Virtual Conference
Blended STEM learning experiences that connect in-school and out-of-school learning are a key recommendation in the recently released America’s Strategy for STEM Education: Creative, blended educational opportunities that combine elements from t...
Blog Post
Arguing From Evidence to Discover the ‘Why’
In my science classroom, students look at evidence all the time. Sometimes it is in photos or videos; sometimes in charts and graphs; and sometimes we generate our own data through investigations. A more traditional approach previously used is asking...
By Rebecca Schumacher
Journal Article
Saturday Seminars for Urban Scholars Program
The K–16 academic journey to a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is often described as having serious barriers, such as uninspired teaching, an unwelcome environment, and poor math and science preparation that lea...
By Michele W. McColgan, Robert J. Colesante, Albert G. Andrade, and Kenneth Robin
Journal Article
Teaching Environmental Awareness in Baltimore
A national movement, sparked by Richard Louv’s (2005) treatise Last Child in the Woods, has catalyzed collaborations among government agencies, schools, and nonprofit and community organizations to reconnect children with the environment. Research ...
By Sarah Haines, Chelsea McClure, and Symone Johnson
Blog Post
Modeling How Students Can Share Ideas and Make Sense of Phenomena by Aaron Mueller
One of the most important steps I take to elicit student ideas in the classroom is to establish a classroom culture that makes students feel comfortable sharing their ideas. I take the time to develop a strong, receptive culture at the beginning of t...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Under Indefinite Construction: Creating an NGSS-Friendly Classroom Community
When the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) were first released, I struggled with how to create opportunities that allowed the students to investigate and question. These standards ask alot of our students and require more planning an...
By Megan Rowlands Elmore
Journal Article
Innovation and progress in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce is critical to the growth of the United States in the global economy (NRC 2007). Men are more likely to pursue a degree in STEM fields, with almost 27% of ma...
By Sarah Rhodes-Ondi, and Maryam Ghadiri
Blog Post
As several reports have shown, it is critical for teachers to understand instructional strategies that are consistent with the NGSS vision, as well as to have the skills to implement them in their classrooms. I had the privilege of working with two e...
By Diane Johnson