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Journal

The Science Teacher—May/June 2024

Journal Article

Program Evaluation in Formal and Informal STEM Learning Environments

Evaluation Insights is a new column about program evaluation that will help readers build their capacity as program evaluators....

Informal Education Administration Assessment STEM

Journal Article

Best Practices for STEM-Focused Mobile Instructional Spaces

Mobile instructional spaces such as retrofit buses, customized trucks or trailers, and repurposed shipping containers are innovative, unique venues for teaching and learning. STEM-focused mobile instructional spaces have emerged as vehicles for provi...

By , ,

STEM

Journal Article

A Safer “Flubber” Recipe

A material commonly known as Flubber, with properties that are excellent for teaching about glaciers, has been widely used in geosciences education. Yet, the original recipe contains borax, which has health risks that should be avoided. A new recipe ...

By , , , ,

Informal Education Earth & Space Science Life Science STEM

Journal Article

How Do You Sample a Frozen River?

Through the Sediment, Ice, & Learning on the Tanana (SILT) project, a team of university scientists engaged two middle school student groups in testing innovative environmental research technologies to measure sediment flowing underneath river ice. T...

By , , , , , , ,

Environmental Science Labs STEM

Journal Article

Changing Elementary Students’ Environmental-Based Attitudes Using an Outdoor Learning Experience: Watershed Investigations

The Learning Team at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa received funding in 2014 to create and conduct a long-term outdoor learning experience for Hillsborough County, Florida, fifth-grade students. The program was designed with four parts to optimize stu...

By , ,

Informal Education Environmental Science Life Science STEM

Journal Article

Transition Complete! So What’s Next?

From the outside, it may not have seemed like a big deal, but transitioning the NSTA journals to an external publisher was a complex process. Of course it was worth it. New features such as DOI numbers, the ability to download and print PDFs of artic...

Journal Article

Engaging STEM Learners of All Ages: A University, Community, and K–12 Solar Eclipse Outreach Partnership

Solar eclipses are a rare phenomenon that everyone should have the opportunity to explore in depth. This article describes two programs developed by a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach center with the goal of bringing ...

By , ,

Earth & Space Science STEM

Journal Article

Science in Preschool, Part 2

The Early Years...

By Cindy Hoisington

Preschool General Science Pedagogy

Journal Article

Climate Justice

Editor's Note...

Elementary Climate Science Social Justice

Journal Article

Nature at your door: Partnering with families to support nature-based engagement

Through regular classroom communications teachers facilitate family partnership in nature-based learning. Teachers can promote family engagement in the local environment and foster lifelong naturalists with a strong commitment to the earth through co...

By Jennifer Gallo-Fox, Ariadni Kouzeli

Elementary Citizen Science Earth & Space Science Inclusion Life Science

Journal Article

Developing Dispositions for Indigenous Science Knowledge to Design and Assess Lesson Plans in Elementary Environmental Science

This article presents a framework to design lesson plans for elementary science teachers using insights from a summer-long research experience for teachers (RET) workshop (National Science Foundation, 2021) to learn strategies to weave ISK (and WMS) ...

By Linda Rost, Rebecca Hite, Gina Childers

Elementary Assessment Curriculum Inquiry Pedagogy Teacher Preparation

Journal Article

Comprehensiveness, frequency, and consistency of science in elementary schedules The role of leaders in supporting elementary science

Science in the elementary grades is often deprioritized in comparison to ELA and mathematics. We wondered, how comprehensively, frequently, and consistently is science included in elementary schools’ schedules? We reviewed daily schedules for 14 sc...

By Elizabeth Davis, Christa Haverly

Elementary Curriculum General Science Pedagogy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Sustainable Schoolyards: A Professional Development program for teachers to engage their students in local action to develop Global Competence

Sustainable Schoolyards is a 5-month professional learning program run by the California Global Education Project to facilitate teachers working with teachers to create and implement climate justice projects. The program meets virtually 3 times betwe...

By Devon Azzam, Kaylee Laub, Danielle Harlow

Earth & Space Science Labs Professional Learning Teacher Preparation

Journal Article

One Tree at a Time

The Poetry of Science...

By Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Elementary Climate Science Earth & Space Science Literacy

Journal Article

Designing Trellises: Cultivating Science and Engineering in the Garden

Schoolyards and school gardens present a rich context for students to engage with engineering and design. We describe the Designing Trellises unit, an example of a guided 3rd-5th grade engineering experience in the garden. In this unit, students work...

By Emily Harris, Ilana Lowe, Lindsey Mohan, Whitney Cohen, Sara Severance, Terra Giotta, Carlo Albano, Jeffrey Snowden

Elementary Earth & Space Science Engineering Lesson Plans Life Science Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Meeting Needs for Survival

Meeting Needs for Survival...

By Christine Anne Royce

Elementary Environmental Science Literacy

Journal Article

Q: Which is more important—weather or climate—when planning where to be on April 8, 2024, to see the total solar eclipse?

Science 101...

By Matthew Bobrowsky

Elementary Astronomy Climate Science Earth & Space Science Inquiry

Journal Article

“Hope is a Thing with Wings”: Building Capacity and Resiliency in Urban Students Through a Engaging in a Local Bird Phenomenon

In an age where catastrophic damage from climate-related events circulates through social and print media, it is important to build communities of hope for our elementary students (Hestness, et al., 2019, Sanchez, et al., 2021). Climate justice educa...

By Candace Penrod

Elementary Citizen Science Environmental Science Inclusion Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Developing Climate Justice

In this edition of Tech Talk, climate education is addressed with two engaging digital resources: the Maine Online Open-Source Education (MOOSE) Climate Education Module and Google Earth. Climate education resources for elementary students, specifica...

By Heather Pacheco-Guffrey

Elementary Climate Science Social Justice Teaching Strategies Technology

Journal Article

Community Connections to Support Early Science Learning

Community resources offer extensions of early science learning that can deepen connections to the local ecosystem. This column offers ideas to extend early childhood classroom science through community mapping....

By Alissa Lange

Early Childhood Elementary Inclusion Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning

Journal Article

Community Gardens as Places for Ecological Caring in Action

Current and future Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine (STEMM) students must grapple with one of the most pressing scientific issues of the century: climate change. Teaching about climate change with our youngest learners requ...

By Amal Ibourk, Lauren Wagner, Deb Morrison, Syrena Young, Justin Milledge

Elementary Environmental Science Inclusion Life Science Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Civic Engagement for Climate Action, Resilience, and Hope for Local Waterways

Climate education in elementary grades offers a chance to teach climate science, to help students understand how serious climate change is, to focus on ecosystems and global social systems, and to work toward justice-oriented solutions. This article ...

By Melissa Braaten, Tiffany Boyd, Jessica Bean

Early Childhood Elementary Citizen Science Environmental Science Inclusion

Journal Article

Children Communicating Care through Curiosity Walks: Using Scientific Practices to Cultivate Knowledge about Climate Justice

Children experience and grapple with the ongoing effects of climate change in their daily lives. While they did not cause climate change nor should they have to solve it, children deserve educational opportunities to understand why and how it occurs ...

By Kathleen Schenkel, Cassie J. Brownell, Jon M. Wargo

Pre-K Early Childhood Elementary Pedagogy Science and Engineering Practices Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Here Come the Robots: A Century of Fear and Fascination with Automated Machines

Teaching resources from the Library of Congress...

By Kelsey Beeghly

High School General Science STEM Technology

Journal Article

Teacher Spotlight: Kate Harding

An interview with Kate Harding...

By Ann Haley MacKenzie

High School New Science Teachers Teacher Preparation

Journal Article

Metallurgical Engineer Wendi Cooksey

An interview with metallurgical engineer Wendi Cooksey...

By Luba Vangelova

High School Careers Engineering General Science