All Resources

Book Chapter

Calling in Sick: What to Do When You Are Out of the Classroom

Whether you have been teaching for 1 year or 50, no one likes to miss class. But circumstances will arise throughout the school year that will require you to turn your beloved students over to someone else. And while the thought of this might be scar...

Book Chapter

Interdisciplinary Work: Don't Be Afraid of the Good Teachers

This chapter focuses on how to collaborate with other teachers in your classroom. It provides a guide for identifying teachers to work with, as well as good strategies for building interdisciplinary units with your colleagues. These steps can be used...

Book Chapter

Surviving Year One and Transitioning into Thriving in Year Two and Beyond

As you finish your rookie season in the world of education, every first-year teacher deserves a hearty congratulation. Everyone will tell you that their first year was the most challenging… what they often omit is that their second year was second ...

Book Chapter

Leadership for New Teachers: How to Turn the Job Into a Career

Finally, this chapter talks about how to translate your enthusiasm and energy into becoming a young leader in the world of science education. It will look at possible future career aspirations that science teachers can have, and how to achieve those ...

Book Chapter

Seeds in a Bag

The purpose of the assessment probe, in this chapter, is to elicit children's ideas about the needs of seeds. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize that when seeds are planted in soil, they need to take in water from the soil in ord...

Journal Article

Linked In

Using modeling as a link to other scientific practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts....

Journal Article

The Modeling Toolkit

Making student thinking visible with public representations....

Journal Article

Editor's Corner: Developing and Using Models

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

Journal Article

Science 2.0: Collaborative Microscopy

This column shares web tools that support learning. This month’s issue highlights the new digital microscopes....

Journal Article

The Green Room: Underlying Causes of Environmental Problems

This column focuses on making your teaching more environmentally friendly. This month’s issue focuses on human population growth and consumption patterns....

Journal Article

The New Teacher's Toolbox: Making Your Classroom Your Own

This column shares tips for teachers just beginning their career. This month’s issue offers tips to help you prepare your own classroom or lab....

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Measuring the Music of a Flute

The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. This month’s Idea Bank is about an experiment that measures the frequencies of the musical pitches produced by a flute and the corresponding lengths of their vi...

Journal Article

Career of the Month: An Interview With Mars Mission Manager

This column shares interviews with professionals using science in the workplace. In this month’s issue we learn all about being a Mars mission manager....

Journal Article

Health Wise: Preventing Bullying at Your School

This Q&A style column provides up-to-date information on current health topics—helping students (and teachers) make healthy choices. In this month’s issue the author discusses how health-related issues can be the cause of bullying....

Journal Article

Safer Science: Acknowledging Safety in Physics

This column provides best safety practices for the science classroom and laboratory. This month’s issue discusses using safety acknowledgment forms....

Journal Article

Student Impressions of Academic Cell Phone Use in the Classroom

The study described in this article was designed to assess the perspective of students regarding the use of cell phones as academic tools in the classroom....

Journal Article

Assessment: Can It Lead to a Better Course Design?

Biology faculty at one college took the initiative to develop its own assessment tool for an introductory biology course. The goal was to evaluate student achievement in the course and detect methods for improving the course....

Journal Article

Early Exposure to Research: Outcomes of the ASTER Certification Program

This article describes a novel structure for providing a high-impact, first-year experience for science students. ASTER (Access to Science Through Experience in Research) is an extracurricular certification program designed to introduce students to t...

Journal Article

Unexpected Outcomes: Impacting Higher Education Teaching Practice via High School Outreach

This article describes a four-year project directed by the American Society of Human Genetics from 2007 to 2010 and funded by the National Science Foundation established a network of 70 geneticist-teacher partnerships, each of which developed and imp...

Journal Article

Content-Intensive Courses in an Undergraduate Science Education Minor and Impacts on Participating Students

The California Teach Program at the University of California, San Diego, recruits and prepares undergraduates interested in teaching science and mathematics. One of the products of the program is a set of courses taught by faculty in science discipli...

Journal Article

Bridging the Divide Between Science and Education: Lessons From a Fruitful Collaboration

This study describes the California Teach formula for success, which includes five key ingredients: (1) mutual benefits, (2) recognition of distinct sets of expertise, (3) agreement on core principles, (4) willingness to negotiate, and (5) strong lea...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: Career Readiness: An Old Idea Revived?

An opinion piece about the different aspects of career readiness....

Journal Article

Point of View: The First Day

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. This month’s issue discusses ideas to get students interested starting on the very first day of class....

Journal Article

Two-Year Community: Design and Components of a Two-Year College Interdisciplinary Field-Study Course

The authors present an 11-day interdisciplinary field-study course designed for nonscience majors at a two-year college. Using a theoretical learning framework that emphasizes cognitive and metacognitive gains, the field study curriculum is designed ...

Journal Article

Case Study: The Hunger Pains: Ghrelin, Weight Loss, and Maintenance

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. In this month’s issue the case study involves the topic of weight loss for an introductory-level ph...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: WikiED: Using Web 2.0 Tools to Teach Content and Critical Thinking

This article describes a course in which Web 2.0 tools were used to support the teaching-learning process, including the use of tagging and social bookmarking, academic resource management, and website collaboration and design....

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Impact of a First-Year Seminar in Science on Student Writing and Argumentation

The authors designed and implemented a first-year seminar in science course at the University of British Columbia to allow students to develop and improve their scientific writing and argumentation skills. They found that the seminar format offers th...

Journal Article

Editor's Note: Pondering Instructional Strategies

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

Elementary Lesson Plans NGSS Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

The Moon Challenge

A first-grade research project incorporates trade books and challenges misconceptions....

Earth & Space Science

Journal Article

Interactive Word Walls

Create a tool to increase science vocabulary in five easy steps....

Journal Article

Science as a Second Language

Integrating science and vocabulary instruction for English language learners....

Journal Article

Small Wonders Close Encounters

Introducing students to the world of digital microscopy....

Journal Article

Desert Survivors!

A game show–style puppet play teaches students about argumentation and desert habitats....

Journal Article

What Does Culture Have To Do With Teaching Science?

Teaching plant growth from an Asian-Hindu lens....

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Derby Design Day

Connections and collaborations between elementary and high school students in physical science, math, and engineering design....

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: The Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards: Proposing a Happy Marriage

The author suggests ways in which these two documents complement one another and can support teachers to bring a subject-matter serious perspective to teaching and learning in grades preK through five....

Journal Article

Teaching Through Trade Books: Habitable Homes

This column includes activities inspired by children’s literature. This month’s issue focuses on the diversity of different animal habitats and the adaptations of the organisms within them....

Elementary Preschool Life Science Instructional Materials

Journal Article

The Early Years: Food for Thought

This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. In this month’s issue students focus on possible evidence of animals using plants for food or shelter....

Early Childhood Elementary Environmental Science Life Science Disciplinary Core Ideas Inquiry Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Formative Assessment Probes: When Is the Next Full Moon? Using K–2 Concept Cartoons

This column focuses on promoting learning through assessment. This month’s issue uses concept cartoons to assess students' ideas about the moon....

Earth & Space Science