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Journal Article

Teaching Through Trade Books: A Season to Inquire

Aside from learning about naturally occurring cycles that happen over time, trade books about seasons can help students learn about the cause of the seasons. The activities based on this month’s books deepen students' conceptual understanding of se...

Journal Article

Technology and Society: Their Impact on Each Other

As part of the National Science Foundation–funded Internships in Public Science Education (IPSE) program, the authors created a classroom activity that encourages middle school students to think about the interactions between technology, individual...

Journal Article

The Case Study: Racism and All Sorts of Politically Correct <em> isms </em> in Case Studies

Case studies typically do not promulgate a particular viewpoint about a subject. They may, however, take a particular stance on an issue—one the author does not necessarily personally support or believe in—to challenge students to examine a diffi...

Journal Article

Science 101: What Is Acid Rain?

Acid rain is the collective term for any type of acidified precipitation: rain, snow, sleet, and hail, as well as the presence of acidifying gases, particules, cloud water, and fog in the atmosphere. This section gives a brief description of the sci...

Journal Article

Editorial: A’s and F’s

In many schools, students who fail all of their classes are passed to the next grade if the students’ parents or guardians want them to be passed. The justification for this policy is that failing a student would hurt the students’ feelings and d...

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: The 6-E Learning Model

Most teachers are familiar with the 5-E model of science instruction—Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand, and Evaluate. This model adds a sixth "E" to the tool: "e-search." E-search encompasses any use of electronic media that provides students the op...

Journal Article

Bridging the Gap

A newly appointed joint hire in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences and the College of Education, Department of Middle/Secondary Education, was charged with the responsibility of bridging the communication gap between the...

Journal Article

Teaching the Stories of Scientists and their Discoveries

It takes very little extra time and effort to correlate required science concepts with history. For example, teachers can provide the historical background for Mendeleev’s development of the periodic table as students learn the concept of periodici...

Journal Article

Revising Instruction to Teach Nature of Science

Despite numerous attempts, including the major curricular reform efforts of the 1960s to improve students’ understandings about the scientific endeavor, students have consistently been shown to possess inadequate understandings of several aspects o...

Journal Article

Mountains Majesty: Ecosystems of the Rocky Mountains

Traveling from the East, one can see the towering snow-covered peaks of the Rocky Mountains long before reaching foothills. But to fully appreciate these mountains, one must venture into them and experience up close the colorful bursts of summer wil...

Journal Article

The Ice Hockey Injury

A high school hockey team is playing the last of three games in one day. The game gets rough, and the star player is slammed against the boards. Injured, he is escorted off the ice. This case follows his health as it deteriorates over the next severa...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Sun and Moon upstage each other in October

This issue of Scope on the Skies sheds light on the partial lunar eclipse and the total lunar eclipse that occurred within two weeks of each other during the month of October, 2004. In addition, it describes the sequence of events that ensue during a...

Journal Article

The Strongest Mountain

After learning about weathering and erosion, fifth-grade students worked in cooperative groups to create a “mountain” that could resist the effects of water erosion and demonstrate their understanding of the subject....

Journal Article

Tried and True: A touch of neuroscience

The preteen years of the middle grades represent a time of incredible physical and mental development. Understanding the parts and functions of the brain and the nervous system gives middle grade students the opportunity to explore and understand the...

Journal Article

The Case of the “Tainted” Taco Shells

This case study introduces students to the use of genetically modified foods. Students learn how genetically modified plants are made, and then they read primary literature papers to evaluate the environmental, economic, and health issues....