All Resources

Journal Article

The Poetry of Science: What Do Scientists Do?

Building literacy in playful, meaningful ways. Students use poetry to learn about Rachel Carson. ...

Elementary General Science Lesson Plans Teaching Strategies Literacy

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Science 101: Can Electromagnetic Waves Affect Emotions?

This column provides background science information for elementary teachers. This month’s issue discusses electromagnetic waves....

Elementary Middle School Physical Science Physics Professional Learning old

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Science 102: Area of a Circle Conundrum

This column shares exercises to challenge content knowledge. This month's issue presents a new challenge and answers the Match Magic challenge from last month....

Elementary Middle School STEM Inquiry Phenomena

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Engineering Encounters: Teaching Educators About Engineering

This column presents ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month's issue describes preservice elementary teachers learning engineering principles from engineers....

Postsecondary Engineering STEM Interdisciplinary Preservice Science Education

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Designing a Sustainable Neighborhood: An Interdisciplinary Project-Based Energy and Engineering Unit in the Seventh-Grade Classroom

Learn to design homes that are both energy efficient and affordable....

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Teaching Thermal Energy Concepts in a Middle School Mathematics-Infused Science Curriculum

Explore thermal energy transfer while reinforcing students’ graphing skills....

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Exploring the Engineering Design Process Through Computer-Aided Design and 3-D Printing

Build and race soap box derby cars as part of a unit on force and motion....

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What’s in Your School Yard? Using Citizen Science Wildlife Cameras to Conduct Authentic Scientific Investigations

Use motion-triggered wildlife cameras to study mammals in your neighborhood....

Journal Article

Teacher's Toolkit: STEM Career Bingo

This column provides how-to strategies and practical advice for the science teacher. This month’s issue describes STEM Career Bingo, which is an activity that raises student awareness of career opportunities in STEM fields. During the activity, stu...

Journal Article

Integrating Technology: Enhancing a Scientific Inquiry Lesson Through Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning

This column shares how teachers use technology for assessment, student learning, or classroom management. This month's column describes an activity for eighth-grade classrooms that addresses energy transformation and renewable energy. This activity a...

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From the Editor's Desk: STEM Integration: A Tall Order

Science Scope’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

Citizen Science: Navigate Classroom Citizen Science Throughout the School Year with Journey North

This column highlights formal and informal science research projects that students can join and contribute to by gathering and sharing data. Journey North invites students to serve as scientists while they construct a greater understanding of season...

Journal Article

Disequilibrium: Colorful Covalent Bonds

This column shows how to use discrepant events to confront misconceptions. This month’s discrepant event is a colorful way to help students visualize changes in molecular bonds and explore the concept of surface tension. The activity provides stud...

Journal Article

Listserv Roundup: Add More STEAM to Your Classes

This column shares recent conversations taken from the NSTA listserv community about current science education topics. Add STEAM to your classroom by using STEAM-based icebreakers and team-building activities on the first day of school. You can also ...

Journal Article

Science for All: Breaking the Cycle: Thoughts About Building Grit in the Classroom

This column shares strategies for increasing student engagement. Learn how to foster two important skills in students: perseverance and passion to achieve long-term goals....

Journal Article

Teacher to Teacher: Written Assessment in Three Dimensions

This column provides practical advice from your peers. This month’s column will illustrate how you can use the NGSS evidence statements to create a summative assessment, focusing on the question: What are the characteristics of waves, and how can t...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Cassini’s Grand Finale

This column focuses on astronomy throughout the year. This month’s issue discusses the last portion of Cassini's mission....

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The Case of Dinosaur Metabolism

Using evidence-based reasoning in biology....

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Reasoning From Models

Using metacognitive modeling in the physics classroom....

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Modeling Periodic Patterns

Analyzing chemical reactions to determine trends in ionization energy and electron affinity....

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Learning Iteratively

Iteration is at the heart of science and engineering....

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Editor's Corner: Evidence-Based Reasoning

The Science Teacher’s editor shares thoughts on the current issue....

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Science 2.0: Enhancing Google Sheets for the Classroom

This column shares web tools that support learning. This month’s issue focuses on one of the benefits of Google Sheets that sets it apart from similar tools: the add-ons....

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Commentary: Reasoning Versus Post-Truth

An opinion piece about how the history of science reminds us of the qualities that support all the practices of science, including evidence-based reasoning....

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Focus on Physics: Eight Tips for New (and not so new) Teachers

This column helps teachers build an understanding of physical principles. This month's issue discusses traits and practices that make the difference between loving teaching and enduring teaching....

Journal Article

The Green Room: Exploring Our Public Lands

This column focuses on making your teaching more environmentally friendly. This month's issue discusses the different uses of public lands....

Journal Article

Health Wise: Be Prepared for Opioid Overdoses

This Q&A style column provides up-to-date information on current health topics—helping students (and teachers) make healthy choices. This month’s issue discusses student overdoses related to the national opioid epidemic....

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Idea Bank: Setting the Stage: Your First Week of Science Class

The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. This month’s Idea Bank shows how to engage your students on the first day in stimulating activities....

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Career of the Month: Epidemiologist

This column shares interviews with professionals using science in the workplace. This month’s issue describes Jennifer McQuiston's career path to becoming an epidemiologist....

Journal Article

Right to the Source: A Nose for Poison Gas Saved Lives

Exploring science and history with the Library of Congress. This month's issue discusses the Chemical Warfare School notebook of Earle Covington Smith who in WWII was responsible for sniffing the air to determine whether a gas attack was underway an...

Journal Article

Two Departments, Two Models of Interdisciplinary Peer Learning

On graduation, teacher candidates (TCs) are typically underprepared to teach science, particularly physical science, whereas physics graduates frequently lack training in teaching or effective communication. In response, the authors created two model...

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A Serendipitous Benefit of a Teaching-Exploration Program at a Large Public University: Creating a STEM Workforce That Supports Teachers and Public Education

This study surveyed students who had participated over a 10-year period in California Teach courses, which integrate evidence-based, best practices of pedagogy, internship, and reflection. The authors found that well-crafted service-learning courses ...

Journal Article

Improving Undergraduate Climate Change Literacy Through Writing: A Pilot Study

A climate-literate population, capable of making informed decisions related to climate change, is of critical importance as society faces ever-increasing global temperatures and changes in the climate system. This project evaluates the effectiveness ...

Journal Article

Issues with Tissues: A Tale of Gameful Learning in an Introductory Undergraduate Biology Laboratory Course

An introductory undergraduate biology laboratory session about vertebrate tissues was gamified to elucidate the effects of gameful learning on students’ perceptions of their own learning and motivation....

Journal Article

An Integrated Approach to Training Graduate Teaching Assistants

We describe the implementation of a graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program in the Department of Chemistry designed to integrate with the professional development initiatives of the Graduate School at a large, public, research-intensive u...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Writing to Learn in the Natural Sciences: Does Source Material Matter?

For over 4 decades, educational researchers have been studying best practices for introducing writing into the curriculum. One successful strategy, a low-stakes writing exercise called “writing to learn” (WTL), has been implemented across severa...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Integrating Lecture and Laboratory in Health Sciences Courses Improves Student Satisfaction and Performance

Students often struggle in introductory health sciences courses; some students have difficulty in upper level classes. To address this, the authors converted three lecture/lab courses, traditional first-year Anatomy and Physiology (A&P I), upper lev...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Delivery of Summative Assessment Matters for Improving At-Risk Student Learning

This study investigates how summative assessments could be used to reduce the achievement gap among at-risk groups of students in an introductory biology course....

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: The Impact of a Four-Step Laboratory Pedagogical Framework on Biology Students’ Perceptions of Laboratory Skills, Knowledge, and Interest in Research

Authentic undergraduate research laboratory experiences are essential to aid in the implementation of science education reform mandates and to effectively train a new generation of biology students. The authors present assessment data on a unique fou...

Journal Article

Two-Year Community: Resolving Misconceptions Through Student Reflections

This study aimed to identify and resolve misconceptions in three important STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) courses by using student reflective activities....