All Resources

Journal Article

Wetlands: At the Water's Edge

May is American Wetlands Month—an opportunity to leave the classroom and excite students with guided hands-on experiences in nature. In this article, the National Audubon Society provides a naturalist's view of wetlands, an activity, and a list of ...

Journal Article

Frances Hamerstrom: Wildlife Biologist

The main purpose of this article is to provide a series of science lessons geared around the work and life of wildlife biologist Frances Hamerstrom. The activities are grouped around specific books she wrote....

Journal Article

Productive Questions: Tools for Supporting Constructivist Learning

The six types of productive questions—attention-focusing, measuring and counting, comparison, action, problem-posing, and reasoning—enable teachers to create a bridge between activities and students. A teacher's own style and knowledge of student...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: "Chemical-Free" Foods—An Investigation of Senior Chemistry: The Struggle to Reach a Definition of “Chemistry”

The aim of this study is to determine what students' conceptions of a chemical are as they graduate with degrees in chemistry. With the knowledge of what preconceptions students are bringing into the classroom, educators must alter their plan of stud...

Journal Article

What Should Students Learn About the Nature of Science and How Should We Teach It? Applying the "If-And-Then-Therefore" Pattern to Develop Students' Theoretical Reasoning Abilities in Science

Teaching in ways that help students understand the nature of science and how to use scientific reasoning patterns have long been central goals of science education. This article attempts to explicate the basic pattern of scientific reasoning, show ho...

Journal Article

After the Bell: Problem solving with parents

This article features activities for students and parents to perform at home in an effort to get students and parents to work together on science....

Journal Article

Scientific Reasoning for Nonscience Majors: Ronald N. Giere's Approach: Analyzing Scientific Press Reports to Teach Nonmajors the Value of Research

Ronald Giere has created a novel and effective approach for teaching general education science courses. His textbook provides students with an opportunity to understand the sciences in the context they will typically encounter the material—in the p...

Journal Article

SCST: SCST Turns Twenty. Now What? Asking How We Can Better Serve Our Members—Can You Provide the Answers?

In this column the leadership of the Society for College Science Teachers (SCST) shares its views with JCST readers. In this month’s issue the new president focuses on where the Society goes from here in addressing the changes that have taken place...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Planets on the Move

This column focuses on astronomy throughout the year. In this month’s issue read about the orbital paths of the planets....

Journal Article

Writing Abstracts on a Central Theme: Linking Diverse Course Material to Create a More Complete Understanding of Engineering Geology

The abstract writing assignments described in this article focus on a central theme and require the students to apply, rather than summarize, course material. This method has the additional benefit of making connections between different course topic...

Journal Article

Teaching Teachers: Connecting to Resources on the Internet

This article addresses using the World Wide Web (WWW) as a technology tool in science methods courses to help preservice elementary teachers learn about science and science education....

Journal Article

Editor's Note: Ending and Beginning

Science and Children’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

Take Five, Write Five

This adapted activity—Take Five, Write Five—helps students write concise, informative, and articulate summaries in just five sentences....

Journal Article

Constructing Flying Discs

In this activity, students create unique, colorful flying discs and their interest in science soars! Once the discs are finished, they are tested for flight distance and the students return to the classroom to do the mathematics, with distances poste...