All Resources

Journal Article

A Coprolite Mystery: Who Dung It?

Discover the secrets contained in fossilized feces. Few topics in middle school classrooms capture students' enthusiasm and interest as do coprolites. These trace fossils offer classroom opportunities for integrated life and Earth sciences study, a s...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Incorporating Active Learning Techniques Into a Genetics Class

We revised a sophomore-level genetics class to more actively engage the students in their learning. The students worked in groups on quizzes using the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) and active-learning projects. The IF-AT quizzes all...

Journal Article

First-Year Students Benefit From Reading Primary Research Articles

Primary research articles discuss aspects of scientific inquiry that are important in understanding the nature of science. Yet, most introductory science courses use textbooks that ignore the scientific process; opportunities for explicit discussion ...

Journal Article

The Green Room: School Gardens

A School Garden fits nicely within the guiding principles for sustainable schooling. As the sustainability coordinator at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School, this column author's most fulfilling, inclusive, well-received, and challenging project was ...

Journal Article

Taming the Testing/Grading Cycle in Lecture Classes Centered Around Open-Ended Assessment

Testing strategies centered around open-ended assessments are generally thought to result in deeper learning compared with close-ended questioning. However, the time requirements involved in grading open-ended assessments on exams often limit the fea...

Journal Article

A Twenty-Year Survey of Science Literacy Among College Undergraduates

First results from a 20-year survey of science knowledge and attitudes toward science among undergraduates are presented. Nearly 10,000 students taking astronomy as part of a general education requirement answered a set of questions that overlap a sc...

Journal Article

Does Active Learning Improve Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes Toward Research Methods?

We incorporated an active, collaborative-based research project in our undergraduate Research Methods course for first-year sports medicine majors. Working in small groups, students identified a research question, generated a hypothesis to be tested,...

Journal Article

Lose the Recipe

First graders experience inquiry during a lesson on seed germination and plant growth. Although limited inquiry is used in the beginning while students are planting, once the seeds germinate, students take control! Students were able to construct the...

Journal Article

Science Vocabulary for All

Teaching new biology concepts to ninth graders can be tough, and teaching students with disabilities even tougher—but we are accountable for all students. These authors used a cooperative learning strategy called Collaborative Strategic Reading in ...

Journal Article

From "Adding Inquiry" to "Doing Science"

Students get outside and wonder about trees. This leads to many questions, and one particularly interesting one: "Why do leaves change color?" Student inquiry guides and empowers this investigation!...

Journal Article

Editor's Corner: Our Science Report Card

Despite some gains, significant disparities in achievement remain a major challenge for educators and schools. In this month's column, TST's Field Editor presents the results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress—the "Natio...

Journal Article

The Early Years: Inquiry Follow-Up

This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. In this month’s issue, young children go birding to observe and document their natural world. Children will not only practice reflecting on their experience...

Journal Article

A Thoughtful Approach to Instruction: Course Transformation for the Rest of Us

Faculty often wish to devote time and resources to improve a course to be more in line with principles of how people learn but are not sure of the best path to follow. We present our tested approach to research-based course transformation, including ...

Journal Article

Point of View: When Problems on Exams Are Harder Than the Identical Problems in the Homework

Have you ever had a student approach you after an exam, asserting that the problems on the exam were much harder than the homework you assigned—yet the test problems were taken directly from the homework? (OK, maybe some numbers were changed to pro...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: The Development of a Novel Measure of Scientific Reasoning Growth Among College Freshman—The Constructive Inquiry Science Reasoning Skills Test

The development of students’ science reasoning abilities is a goal of science education. Researchers measure science reasoning using a variety of instruments, each with limitations and restrictions. In this study, contrasting instructional modes we...

Journal Article

A Learning Cycle for All Students

The National Science Education Standards are designed to provide a vision of scientific literacy for all students—regardless of age, race, ethnic background, English-language proficiency, socioeconomic status, disability, or giftedness. One of the ...

Journal Article

Every Day Science Calendar: March 2011

Facts and challenges for the science explorer....

Journal Article

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Books Published in 2010)

Science is passion, science is wonder. The best books about science stir the minds and hearts of readers in very special ways and this impression can last for years. These books published in 2010, identify the best in science trade books for young re...

Journal Article

Five Strategies to Support All Teachers

Five strategies are outlined that have been used with elementary school teachers as they moved from a "cookbook" approach in science to an approach that is inquiry based. Suggestions to get off the slippery slope of "cookbook" science teaching....

Journal Article

Myths, Misconceptions, and Misunderstanding: Alien Contact: Proof positive or a case of let's play pretend?

This column identifies and corrects misinformation in the classroom. This month’s issue explores claims of extraterrestrial life and our efforts to communicate with inhabitants of worlds outside our solar system. Even though there's no "proof posit...

Journal Article

Students’ Perceptions of Using Personal Response Systems (“Clickers”) With Case in Science

The authors explored whether a new pedagogy using personal response systems (clickers) along with case study teaching improved students’ perceptions of their understanding of science in large introductory biology classrooms. Twelve faculty from nin...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: Inquiry Is Essential

An opinion piece about teaching children science as inquiry and the challenges to elementary teachers. One specific challenge is incorporating full inquiries as part of the school science program. With the process described here, elementary teachers ...

Journal Article

Teaching Science to ELLs, Part II

Despite the burgeoning numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in our schools, many science teachers have little training in meeting their specialized needs. By the year 2010, it is estimated that 40% of K–12 classrooms in the United States wil...

Journal Article

Case Study: In Case You Are Interested—Results of a Survey of Case Study Teachers

Case study teaching had a long tradition in law and business before it made the jump to medical school education in the form of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in the 1970s. Today, both the University of Delaware’s Clearinghouse and the University of ...

Journal Article

Teaching Science to ELLs, Part I

Since 1995, the population of English language learners (ELLs) in the United States has increased by an astonishing 57% (Maxwell 2009). Though ELLs come from many different backgrounds, they share the common challenge of learning English while respon...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Online Homework, Help or Hindrance? What Students Think and How They Perform

To improve students’ retention rates in general chemistry, online homework was introduced into our curriculum. Replacing quizzes directly by online homework significantly improved (p < .0005) success rates in second-term general chemistry. Attitudi...

Journal Article

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12 (Books published in 2010)

What makes an outstanding book for a young reader? Although it would be hard to create a rubric for every book, experienced teachers recognize them quickly. They fascinate and captivate with both their content and style. Award-winning trade books ins...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Selecting Software for Students With Learning and Other Disabilities

Have you ever bought a computer program that you thought would be great for your struggling students, only to find that it did not work on your school computers, or that your students found it difficult to use? Selecting science software for students...

Journal Article

JCST Sunsets Favorite Demonstration Column

The Journal of College Science Teaching announces that this long-running column will be discontinued. We will continue to publish those articles which have been previously accepted, but we will no longer accept new manuscripts for this column. We wis...

Journal Article

The New Teacher's Toolbox: Combating Cheating in the Classroom

Cheating is nothing new—students have been finding ways to do it for years. Though you'll never be able to catch every cheater, there are some steps you can take to minimize cheating in your classroom. This month's column provides tips that take li...

Book Chapter

Theory Behind The Book

This book, and particularly the stories which lie within, provide an opportunity for students to take ownership of their learning and learn science in a way that will give them a more positive attitude about science. In addition, it will serve to hel...

Book Chapter

Baking Bread

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

Springtime in the Greenhouse: Planting Season

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

Reaction Time

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

Seedlings in a Jar

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

Sweet Talk

Melting and dissolving are two of the most often misunderstood concepts in both child and adult populations. Many children believe that when a substance dissolves in a solvent it does not exist any longer. This chapter’s story’s purpose is to a...