JoinAll Resources
Journal Article
A color-sorting activity in which students collect data and articulate scientific explanations....
Journal Article
Kindergarteners discover bats through using models of different types of bats....
Journal Article
A Look at the <i>Next Generation Science Standards<i/>
This article and the accompanying diagram provide an overview on the architecture of the Next Generation Science Standards....
Journal Article
Health Wise: Unplug to Power Up
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 National Screen-Free Week....
Journal Article
This article describes an inquiry-based lesson to deepen preservice teachers' understanding of the spherical Earth model using the Global Positioning System....
Journal Article
This article reports outcomes that individuals experienced through participation in International Polar Year—Research and Educational Opportunities in Antarctica for Minorities as related to their career and educational aspirations....
Journal Article
Using Social Networking Sites to Facilitate Teaching and Learning in the Science Classroom
Connect students to information and each other as they learn how to access, retrieve, process, and communicate information....
Journal Article
The <i>Next Generation Science Standards</i>: A Focus on Physical Science
This article focuses on the NGSS disciplinary core ideas in physical science, the development of those ideas across time, the importance of blending core ideas with scientific and engineering practices to build understanding, and the development of p...
Journal Article
Field-Trip Pedagogy for Teaching "Sense of Place" in Middle School
Head outdoors to explore local geology, ecology, and the interactions between humans and the environment....
Journal Article
The community college transfer pathway is vital for students pursuing 4-year degrees in science, technology, engineering and math fields today. The study discussed in this article focused on the important role of advising by examining the ways in whi...
eBook
Everyday Earth and Space Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (e-book)
What are the odds that a meteor will hit your house? Do you actually get more sunlight from Daylight Saving Time? Where do puddles go? By presenting everyday mysteries like these, this book will motivate your students to carry out hands-on science in...
eBook
Everyday Life Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (e-book)
How do tiny bugs get into oatmeal? What makes children look like—or different from—their parents? Where do rotten apples go after they fall off the tree? By presenting everyday mysteries like these, this book will motivate your students to carry ...
eBook
Everyday Physical Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching (e-book)
What can make a ball roll faster? Does the temperature of wood affect the heat of a fire? How can old-fashioned tin can telephones teach today’s students about sound and technology? By presenting everyday mysteries like these, this book will motiva...
NSTA Press Book
Everyday Earth and Space Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching
What are the odds that a meteor will hit your house? Do you actually get more sunlight from Daylight Saving Time? Where do puddles go? By presenting everyday mysteries like these, this book will motivate your students to carry out hands-on science in...
By Richard Konicek-Moran
NSTA Press Book
Everyday Life Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching
How do tiny bugs get into oatmeal? What makes children look like—or different from—their parents? Where do rotten apples go after they fall off the tree? By presenting everyday mysteries like these, this book will motivate your students to carry ...
By Richard Konicek-Moran
Book Chapter
The story in this chapter tries to set the stage for discussions and inquiry into the nature of temperature and heat and to the fact that heat exchange is the cause of what scientists call a phase change—when something goes from liquid to solid or ...
Book Chapter
In this chapter, this story really leaves us hanging! It’s a great one for real investigation! There are two purposes of the story: the first is to investigate closed systems. Anything that happens inside uses up only the materials in the jar, beca...
Book Chapter
The incident described in this story actually happened to the author during a camping trip in Everglades National Park years ago. The humidity was fierce but the air cooled down and overnight he awoke to a wet face and wet pillow. This story is des...
Book Chapter
This story is aimed at promoting not only inquiry into the germination of tree seeds but seeing trees as typical flowering plants, also known as angiosperms. There is also ample opportunity to take an excursion into fruits and seeds and the germinati...
Book Chapter
Trees From Helicopters, Continued
Maples are very interesting trees with lots of variation in form. They provide a view of diversity in plants as well as a chance to look at natural phenomena that is very common to anyone who has had a maple tree near them. The main purpose of this s...
Book Chapter
Flowers: More Than Just Pretty
Children love to look at flowers but few are inclined to become familiar with the structure and function of the flower. This story is aimed at providing some motivation for children to learn about one of the most important evolutionary developments i...
Book Chapter
Children as well as adults are usually intrigued by the ideas of bargains. More seeds for less money is often enough to convince them to buy a larger, cheaper package. In this case, the children are savvy enough to question the value of either packag...
Book Chapter
Children and adults alike are prone to believe that if a little of something is good, more is better. In the case of this story, your students will probably believe that if fertilizer is good for growing plants, it must be good for germinating seeds....
Book Chapter
Water makes up a very high percentage of all living things. This story is aimed at providing children with the opportunity to measure the surprising amount of water found in fruit. It also provides an opportunity for the teacher to emphasize the impo...
Book Chapter
What happens when seeds are soaked in water, you may find that your students cannot perceive of seeds absorbing so much water, for they may equate the seeds with how a sponge soaks up water. The story in this chapter offers students an opportunity to...
Book Chapter
Students are usually aware that seed plants have adapted to overcrowding by developing mechanisms that disperse their seeds to other locations. In this chapter, the story explores one of the important characteristics of plant evolution, the wide dist...
Book Chapter
Students may well have the usual “bigger is better” conception about comparing different items. Pumpkins are the perfect object to help engage students in investigative science and answer most of their questions by direct observation....
Book Chapter
Children may not be aware of what is exactly happening when they have their pulse taken by a doctor or nurse or even why it is important. The story in this chapter is aimed at helping children discover what kinds of activities change their heart rate...
Book Chapter
Most students are totally unaware of the amount of sugar in bubble gum and don’t know that they are literally eating sugar in huge amounts. In this chapter, the author is concerned with finding out what happens to the weight of gum when it is chewe...
Book Chapter
Just what kinds of characteristics do living things receive from their parents and what kinds of traits do they not? What makes the offspring of any animal or plant have the basic characteristics of the parents? There happen to be a great number of h...
Book Chapter
Hardly a day goes by without something arriving by e-mail or being posted on the internet that just doesn’t sound true. The students in this story are depicted as having alert skepticism about things that don’t actually add up in their minds and ...
Book Chapter
Students may have the impression that all kinds of reaction time responses can be improved through practice. They may believe also that every kind of stimulus produces the same kind of reaction time. The story, in the chapter, provides the opportun...
Book Chapter
Segmented worms are considered “yucky” by a great many people, yet they are members of a large animal group that populates the entire world and provides a great service to our planet. This story should stimulate students to want to know more abou...
Book Chapter
This story is true, although Maria and Enrique are fictional characters. A barred owl does live in the rafter of the chickee at Shark Valley and does drop owl pellets from its nest almost daily. The purpose of this story is twofold: (1) to learn more...
Book Chapter
The story, in this chapter, is meant to show students the importance of leavening agents in making baked goods. Yeast, a living organism (a fungus), is necessary for baking risen yeast breads. This fungus can be ineffective if it is not healthy. The ...
Book Chapter
The mystery here has a lot to do with the life cycle of the insect in the cereal and what the various stages were that Emma found in the box. However, it is important that children get to know more about the most populous animals on our planet. It is...
Book Chapter
Lichens are everywhere, yet most people fail to notice them because they are so familiar. The story in this chapter was written to help persuade teachers to acquaint their students with these unique forms of life. Many biology teachers tend to gloss ...