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Journal Article

Assessing Student Success in a Peer Assisted Learning Program Using Propensity Score Matching

The Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program at Sacramento State was established in 2012 with one section supporting introductory chemistry. The program now serves 17 courses with high rates of students who receive a D or an F or withdraw (DFW) from the ...

By Corey Shanbrom, Michelle Norris, Caitlin Esgana, Matthew Krauel, Vincent Pigno, and Jennifer Lundmark

Assessment Inclusion Research STEM Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Teaching Preservice Teachers the Water Cycle With a Conceptual Change Model

The purposes of this study were to examine preservice elementary teachers’ conception of the water cycle; determine if participating in a conceptual change–based role-play alters these conceptions; and ascertain if any conceptual change brought a...

By Patricia Morrell and Adele Schepige

Earth & Space Science Inquiry Preservice Science Education Teacher Preparation

Journal Article

Fostering Scientific Literacy With Problem Sets That Generate Cognitive Presence and Fulfill Basic Psychological Needs

Guided by self-determination theory to design an authentic learning environment, we attempted repeated engagement in critical evaluation of evidence to foster accuracy-oriented reasoning and critical thinking in an applied science course for non-STEM...

By Guang Jin, Alicia Wodika, Rebekka Darner, and Jianwei Lai

Literacy Research Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

An Online Introductory Biology Laboratory Utilizing Inquiry-Based Methods Leads to High Student Satisfaction

Online laboratories can be an effective way to introduce students to lab concepts while providing flexibility, increased access, and reduced costs. However, online labs might lack the authentic research experience that can be gained by doing hands-on...

By Colin Harrison, Clarke Britton, Hannah Shin, and Yassin Watson

Biology Distance Learning Inquiry Research

Journal Article

Examining Self-Efficacy, Science Identity, and Sense of Belonging Within a Cohort-Based STEM Program

Since 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF)–funded Science, Technology, and Math Preparation Scholarships (STAMPS) project has provided financial and community support for undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Greensbo...

By Ayesha S. Boyce, Cherie Avent, Adeyemo Adetogun, Christopher Hall, Lynn Sametz, P. Lee Phillips, Amelia Kane, Jeffrey Patton, Kimberly Petersen, and Malcolm Schug

Research STEM Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Using the Critical Response Process for Kinder, More Constructive Peer Review in Science Seminar Courses

Existing processes for academic peer review can yield unnecessarily harsh critiques that focus on any vulnerability rather than constructive feedback to improve the work. Efforts to improve the peer-review process recommend training at the graduate l...

By Lekelia D. Jenkins

Assessment Curriculum Research Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Undergraduate Summer Research Program in the Midst of a Pandemic

Although many summer undergraduate research programs made the decision to delay, cancel, or suspend their summer experiences in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Morehouse College McNair Scholars Program instead offered a completel...

By Ethell Vereen, Munichia McCalla, Joshua Fullerton, and Cynthia Trawick

Distance Learning Research Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Argumentation Goes Viral

Although argumentation is a critical historical component of scientific literacy, the recent coronavirus pandemic and associated issues have highlighted the importance of argumentation in science practice. Argumentation that aligns with functional sc...

By David C. Owens, Noah P. Sheridan, and Amanda L. Townley

5E Research Sensemaking Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Using Fiction and Nonfiction Readings in Climate Change Education

Facts about climate change are often ineffective in impacting people’s climate change beliefs or environmentally related behaviors. Multiple theories of environmental behavior use norms to foster behavior change. Science fiction writers may also at...

By Alison Singer, Caitlin Kirby, and Eleanor Rappolee

Climate Change Literacy Research Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Low-Level Learning

More than 8 out of every 10 college students are not STEM majors, yet we have little understanding about learning expectations for them. We used the results of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute BioInteractive learning objectives survey of 38 instru...

By Austin Heil, Cara Gormally, and Peggy Brickman

Biology Preservice Science Education STEM

Journal Article

Learning by Listing

Undergraduate STEM students may be overwhelmed by the complex information they are exposed to during their education. Even so, there are a handful of fundamental and powerful concepts that could be identified for each discipline. General education co...

By Nora Demers

Pre-service Teachers Preservice Science Education Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Student Self-Care in the Sciences

Instructor support is associated with various positive outcomes for students. Self-care (taking care of one’s physical, mental, and emotional health) has become a mainstream concept. Self-care may be one way for students to increase wellness, parti...

By Carly Yadon

Advocacy Leadership Preservice Science Education Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Development and Implementation of an Undergraduate STEM Peer Coaching Program

Undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) experiences have academic, psychological, and social challenges that require additional support to navigate. This article explains the implementation of a STEM peer coaching progr...

By Laura E. Swann, Jonathan L. Hall, Katie Vaccaro-Garska, Samantha R. Seals, and Pamela P. Benz

Pedagogy Preservice Science Education STEM Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Using a Socioscientific Issues Approach in an Undergraduate Environmental Science Course

A perennial goal of science educators is to develop functional scientific literacy in their students, especially those who will not become professional scientists. This article provides an example of implementing a socioscientific issues approac...

By Mark H. Newton

Environmental Science Preservice Science Education Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Emphasis on Quality in iNaturalist Plant Collections Enhances Learning and Research Utility

Following the switch to remote online teaching in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plant taxonomy course at the University of Georgia (UGA) switched to iNaturalist for the specimen collection portion of the course requirements. Building off ext...

By Mason C. McNair, Chelsea M. Sexton, and Mark Zenoble

Biology Citizen Science Preservice Science Education

Journal Article

Undergraduate Learning Assistants Foster Students’ Resilience During Transition to Online Learning in a Large Microbiology Classroom

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a series of emergency transitions to online learning for academic institutions around the world. Previous studies have shown that undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) improve student engagement in classroom activities ...

By Kathleen Hefferon and Esther Angert

Pre-service Teachers Biology Distance Learning New Science Teachers Preservice Science Education

Journal Article

Family Science Clubs

Educators are increasingly recognizing that significant amounts of science learning take place over the course of one’s lifetime and that much of this learning takes place outside of school settings (NRC 2009). Americans spend on average “less th...

By M. Gail Jones and Megan Ennes

Elementary General Science Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Q: What Can My Students See During the Upcoming Solar Eclipses?

A: It depends on where you are located. But first let’s briefly review what happens during a solar eclipse and clear up a few popular misconceptions about solar eclipses. You probably know that a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between th...

By Matt Bobrowsky

Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Phenomena

Journal Article

Making the Most of Field Trips

Field trips can be a unique way to engage elementary students in science content. However, budget cuts and a focus on standardized testing are causing some schools to greatly reduce the funding for field trips (Meyer 2008). In the wake of the last re...

By Nicole Hesson

Elementary Preservice Science Education Professional Learning Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Cardboard City

Cardboard, a common maker space material, is inexpensive, readily available, and durable. It is also easy to manipulate. It can be folded, cut, painted, and taped or glued together. Caine’s Arcade, a video featuring Caine Monroy’s cardboard arcad...

By Julie Jackson, Julie Brenegan, Kristi Wagner, and Michelle Berry

Elementary Engineering Instructional Materials Makerspace Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning

Journal Article

How Does Sound Travel in a String?

In Chinese science curriculum, the sound unit generally starts with observing various sound making phenomena and finding out that they all involve vibration....

By Gang Shu, Xiaowei Tang, and Huimin Chen

Elementary NGSS Phenomena Physical Science

Journal Article

Computational Modeling With Multilingual Learners

While the vision for science education through A Framework for K–12 Science Education (NRC 2012) and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) continues to take hold in classrooms across the nation, computational modeling is becoming increasingl...

By Alison Haas, Scott E. Grapin, Lorena Llosa, and Okhee Lee

Elementary Computer Science Crosscutting Concepts English Language Learners Multilingual Learners NGSS Three-Dimensional Learning

Journal Article

Growing Students' Meaning-Making

In this sensemaking lesson, K–2 students explore how different factors influence seed germination and explain the elements necessary to sprout. Notebook strategies are embedded throughout the explore-before-explain lesson to help students organize ...

By Patrick Brown, Jessica Fries-Gaither, and Kathy Renfrew

Elementary 5E Crosscutting Concepts Pedagogy Sensemaking Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning

Journal Article

Using Argument to Reason About Science Practice

We have been working for nearly two decades with teachers across all grade bands to promote productive argumentation. From this experience, and those of others interested in the same goals, we have extracted a simple strategy for promoting and suppor...

By William Sandoval, Jon Kovach, Leticia Perez, Lynn Kim-John, and Jarod Kawasaki

Elementary Pedagogy Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning

Journal Article

The Astronomical Event of the Decade

On Saturday, October 14, 2023, and then again on Monday, April 8, 2024, sky gazers all across North America will experience what is arguably the most breathtaking of astronomical phenomena: a solar eclipse. During the October eclipse, everyone in Nor...

By Anna Hurst, Julia Plummer, Suzanne Gurton, and Dennis Schatz

Early Childhood Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Phenomena

Journal Article

Making the Most of the Upcoming Solar Eclipse Double-Header

Eclipses of the Sun, where the Moon gets in front of the Sun and blocks its light, are among the most spectacular of natural events. The total eclipse visible in the United States in 2017 fascinated and involved millions of people all across the coun...

By Andrew Fraknoi and Dennis Schatz

Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Phenomena

Journal Article

How it All Happened

A circle of fourth-grade students sit around Mrs. Ray, who shows videos and images of two natural events: large rocks that have fallen from a cliffside and large rocks in the middle of a dry stream near a road. She asks, “What caused these events t...

By Lindsey Mohan, Emily Harris, and Candice Guy-Gaytán

Elementary Crosscutting Concepts Phenomena

Web Seminar

Archive: WI24: Lab Safety Considerations for Pre-Service Secondary Science/STEM Teachers, March 4, 2024

This interactive web seminar will begin with an overview of safety protocols specific for doing secondary-level safer science/STEM laboratory activities. The presenters will be Dr. Ken Roy, NSTA and NSELA Safety Compliance Advisor/Specialist and Dire...

Middle School High School Postsecondary General Science

Web Seminar

Archive: WI24: Lab Safety Considerations for Pre-Service Elementary Science/STEM Teachers, February 26, 2024

This interactive web seminar will begin with an overview of safety protocols specific for doing elementary level safer science/STEM classroom/laboratory activities with Dr. Ken Roy, NSTA and NSELA Safety Compliance Advisor/specialist and, Director of...

Postsecondary Elementary Preschool General Science

Journal Article

The Upcoming Solar Eclipses

By Janet Struble, Kevin Czajkowski, Angela Rizzi, and Jessica Taylor

Astronomy Earth & Space Science

Journal Article

Space Science for All!

By Heather Pacheco-Guffrey

Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Technology

Journal Article

Solar Eclipse

By Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Literacy

Journal Article

Exploring Eclipses

By Christine Anne Royce

Elementary Astronomy Earth & Space Science Literacy

Journal Article

Astronauts Zoom: An Astronaut Alphabet

Astronauts Zoom: An Astronaut Alphabet  By Deborah Lee Rose September 2020 Persnickety Press 36 pages $16.95 ...

By Peggy Ashbrook and Ann Caspar

Pre-K Early Childhood Astronomy Earth & Space Science Literacy

Journal Article

Looking Toward the Skies

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By Shelly Lynn Counsell

Pre-K Early Childhood Astronomy Earth & Space Science

Web Seminar

Archive: Science Update: Get Ready for the April 8 Total Solar Eclipse, February 8, 2024

In this Science Update, the presenters will share the tools that will help you make the eclipse a great experience for your students, your school, and your community....

Preschool Elementary Middle School High School Postsecondary Informal Education Astronomy Earth & Space Science STEM