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Tired of teaching genetic concepts with the same old pink petunias and Mendel’s peas? With Garden Genetics, you can present core content in ways that are fun for students and fresh for you.
Tired of teaching genetic concepts with the same old pink petunias and Mendel’s peas? With Garden Genetics, you can present core content in ways that are fun for students and fresh for you.
Your students need to understand that stuff doesn’t just happen—it has a life cycle. Using common products like the telephone, this lively book helps students learn about the flow of energy and matter through Earth’s system. Seven illustrated sections (useful as stand-alone units or as a cumulative program) give you hands-on activities to teach:
• What is a life cycle?
• How does product design influence the life cycle?
• What are products made of and why?
• How can products be less wasteful at the end of their useful lives?
Your students need to understand that stuff doesn’t just happen—it has a life cycle. Using common products like the telephone, this lively book helps students learn about the flow of energy and matter through Earth’s system. Seven illustrated sections (useful as stand-alone units or as a cumulative program) give you hands-on activities to teach:
• What is a life cycle?
• How does product design influence the life cycle?
• What are products made of and why?
• How can products be less wasteful at the end of their useful lives?
 

Student-Centered Learning in an Earth Science, Preservice, Teacher-Education Course

Journal of College Science Teaching—July/August 2009 (Volume 38, Issue 6)

Student-Centered Learning in an Earth Science, Preservice, Teacher-Education Course

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it’s evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that only those students whose schools teach them about the nature of science will truly understand evolution, the collection gathers 12 influential articles first published in the NSTA member journal, The Science Teacher.
If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it’s evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that only those students whose schools teach them about the nature of science will truly understand evolution, the collection gathers 12 influential articles first published in the NSTA member journal, The Science Teacher.
 

Science Sampler: Classroom management, rules, consequences, and rewards! Oh, my!

Science Scope—Summer 2009

Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
 

Staying up-to-date on professional issues

By Mary Bigelow

Posted on 2009-06-30

I subscribe to many blogs and other RSS feeds to try to stay up-to-date. In a previous post, I noted how RSS feeds from organizations such as NASA, Scientific American, and the National Science Foundation provide summaries of current issues and interesting topics in science.
There are many other resources that can give us up-to-date information on issues related to teaching and learning. I particularly like the Inside School Research blog from Education Week. It includes brief summaries of current research with a link to the full report or study. Recent topics include independent-study schools, teacher mobility, the value of frequent quizzes, cell phones in the classroom, and value-added measures.
I also like the ASCD (Association for Curriculum and Supervision) Inservice blog. Recent topics include Tracking “Makes You Feel Like You’re Not Smart”, Hypotheses: They’re Not Just for Science Anymore, Practice, Practice, Practice (Or: Homework, Homework, Homework?), Middle School Math and the Achievement Gap with links to reports or book chapters with more details.
I’ve also started to follow some interesting “tweets” on Twitter. Yes, I know that people post trivial and mundane information (I’m eating lunch. I’m at the beach.), but I’ve found some interesting folks to follow (e.g., NSTA’s Lab Out Loud guys) as well as organizations such as NSTA, ASCD, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that provide leads on interesting information. And I’ve started to tweet with some of my own “finds.”
Of course, you don’t have time to read everything, but when you can get summaries or abstracts to skim, you can pick and choose what is relevant.
Please share any of your favorites!

I subscribe to many blogs and other RSS feeds to try to stay up-to-date. In a previous post, I noted how RSS feeds from organizations such as NASA, Scientific American, and the National Science Foundation provide summaries of current issues and interesting topics in science.

If you’re waiting to be convinced that computers offer more than pricey bells and whistles in the classroom, this is the book that will open your mind to technology’s potential. But even if you’re an early (and avid) adopter, you’ll discover intriguing new concepts for technology-based teaching strategies that help students really learn science concepts.

The featured technologies range from the easy to master (such as digital cameras) to the more complex (such as Probeware and geographic information systems). Among the chapter topics:
If you’re waiting to be convinced that computers offer more than pricey bells and whistles in the classroom, this is the book that will open your mind to technology’s potential. But even if you’re an early (and avid) adopter, you’ll discover intriguing new concepts for technology-based teaching strategies that help students really learn science concepts.

The featured technologies range from the easy to master (such as digital cameras) to the more complex (such as Probeware and geographic information systems). Among the chapter topics:
If you work with linguistically and culturally diverse students, you and your students will benefit from the foundation this book provides for teaching both science and language. Science for English Language Learners brings you the best practices from different but complementary fields of science education and English language teaching, integrating the two.

The book is designed so you can easily dip in and out of the topics you want. It’s organized into four sections:

1. Principles and practices that science and English teaching share
If you work with linguistically and culturally diverse students, you and your students will benefit from the foundation this book provides for teaching both science and language. Science for English Language Learners brings you the best practices from different but complementary fields of science education and English language teaching, integrating the two.

The book is designed so you can easily dip in and out of the topics you want. It’s organized into four sections:

1. Principles and practices that science and English teaching share
A classic resource for teachers is now back in an updated edition! Using an inductive and experimental approach, Animal Coloration aims to increase students’ awareness of the ways wild organisms are adapted to their environments. Even though the activities suggest a specific teaching procedure, each activity is also intended to be an investigation by the students and an opportunity for them to make and test hypotheses based on their observations. Through these activities, students will begin to appreciate how scientific knowledge and understanding are attained.
A classic resource for teachers is now back in an updated edition! Using an inductive and experimental approach, Animal Coloration aims to increase students’ awareness of the ways wild organisms are adapted to their environments. Even though the activities suggest a specific teaching procedure, each activity is also intended to be an investigation by the students and an opportunity for them to make and test hypotheses based on their observations. Through these activities, students will begin to appreciate how scientific knowledge and understanding are attained.
Behind the stereotype of girls’ not doing well in science are some reasons, mostly based on one fact: They are often—and most often inadvertently—treated differently in the classroom. The authors of Girls in Science engaged in years of working under a grant funded by the National Science Foundation on this all-too-real problem of gender-equitable science teaching.
Behind the stereotype of girls’ not doing well in science are some reasons, mostly based on one fact: They are often—and most often inadvertently—treated differently in the classroom. The authors of Girls in Science engaged in years of working under a grant funded by the National Science Foundation on this all-too-real problem of gender-equitable science teaching.
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