All Resources

Journal Article

Engaging First-Year Undergraduates in Hands-On Research Experiences: The Upper Green River Barcode of Life Project

To improve retention and engagement, first-year college science majors enrolled in University Experience orientation courses participated in a hands-on laboratory research experience: a DNA barcoding project to facilitate species identification. Stud...

Journal Article

Journey to the Reef

Despite their experiences with a cartoon sponge, most elementary students know little about the diverse inhabitants of coral reefs. Therefore, with vivid photography and video, diverse coral reef inhabitants were brought to life for the author’s fi...

Journal Article

Tried and True: Inquiry-based environmental science investigations with the fantastic fruit fly

The use of inquiry in life science can be particularly daunting because of the additional management and care living systems require. However, there are some low-maintenance organisms that work well in the classroom. One of these is the common fruit ...

Journal Article

A Case-Based Approach Improves Science Students’ Experimental Variable Identification Skills

Incorporation of experimental case studies into the laboratory curriculum increases students’ abilities to identify experimental variables that affect the outcome of an experiment. Here the authors describe how such case studies were incorporated u...

Journal Article

Editor’s Corner: Literacy 2010 (and Beyond)

The ability to read and write should be a baseline expectation for all. In the modern world, competent reading and writing is only the beginning of true literacy. Our students must now be competent in multiple “literacies”: technological, media, ...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: IT’s here!

From Copernicus to Galileo, from Schleiden and Schwann to Watson and Crick, our understanding of the world around us has changed with developing technologies. Information technology, or the input, sharing, and publication of data and graphics in dela...

Journal Article

Feathering Your Nest

The first-grade classroom was like a natural history museum. Bird nests of every shape and size lay on top of bookshelves that lined two walls. Methods students, who were visiting the classroom in preparation for the science lessons they would teach ...

Journal Article

Exploring Sound With Insects

Differences in insect morphology and movement during singing provide a fascinating opportunity for students to investigate insects while learning about the characteristics of sound. In the activities described here, students use a free online compute...

Journal Article

Science 2.0: Introducing Science 2.0!

The internet of the mid-to-late 1990s was defined by static web pages created by people with specialized technical skills. Today, that barrier has been all but eliminated with the emergence of easy-to-use online tools for creating and sharing content...

Journal Article

Gel Electrophoresis on a Budget to Dye For

Gel electrophoresis is one of the most important tools used in molecular biology and has facilitated the entire field of genetic engineering by enabling the separation of nucleic acids and proteins. However, commercial electrophoresis kits can cost u...

Journal Article

What Undergraduates Choose to Think and Write About When Reading Science News Articles on the Internet

Students are scientifically literate when they can read material about science and intelligently communicate their viewpoints, comments, and critiques, using scientific vocabulary and applying the ideas of the process and nature of science. As part o...

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Inventive Learning Stations

Learning stations can be used for myriad purposes—to teach concepts, integrate subject matter, build interest, and allow for inquiry—the possibilities are limited only by the imagination of the teacher and the supplies available. In this article,...

Journal Article

Health Wise—January 2010

What should I know about mercury levels in fish? And are there any recommendations for the types and amount of fish I should eat?...

Journal Article

Science 101: What’s behind the biological classification system in use today?

Whether students should memorize classification schemes (taxonomies) is a column in itself, but the author can address the role that this system plays in the study of biology. To that end, it will help to address how the system developed over time. A...

Journal Article

Building Acceptance for Pedagogical Reform Through Wide-Scale Implementation of Clickers

Many instructional strategies exist that address poor student success in the sciences. They often go untapped, however, due to the knowledge or time needed for implementation. This article presents a formula for success that has encouraged a signific...

Journal Article

How to Make a Plant Field Guide

Every year, an elementary school celebrates different aspects of Central Texas ecology. This year, they focused on Blackland Prairie, the ecoregion on which the school is located. A schoolwide event at the end of the year offers students the opportu...

Journal Article

More Than Writing-to-Learn

Writing-to-learn activities are designed to use writing as a process in which students generate and clarify understanding of scientific concepts for themselves, rather than simply communicating with a teacher for evaluation. Instead of having student...

Journal Article

Rocks and Rhymes!

Field-note poetry is the product of the authors’ efforts to combine current research in learning and cognition with integrated geoscience and language arts activities. In this article, they present a fun and effective activity that teaches students...

Journal Article

The Early Years: If You Were a Dinosaur…

Dinosaurs are one of those science topics that draw children in and teach them about concepts like measuring and using descriptive language. Learning about dinosaurs, although not hands-on like observing and recording caterpillar growth, develops cri...

Journal Article

Worms in the College Classroom: More Than Just a Composting Demonstration

Although worm bins have been used by K–12 and nonformal educators for decades, there is little evidence of their use in postsecondary education. The ease of use, maintenance, affordability, portability, and diversity of scientific concepts that can...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: CSI web adventures—A forensics virtual apprenticeship for teaching science and inspiring STEM careers

CSI: The Experience, a traveling museum exhibit and a companion web adventure, was created through a grant from the National Science Foundation as a potential model for informal learning. The website was designed to enrich and complement the exhibit ...

Journal Article

Editor’s Note: Approaching Adaptation

As students approach adaptations lessons, keep in mind that according to research, most lower-elementary school students are still forming a basic understanding of how animals survive in their environments. For example, many students understand a sim...

Journal Article

Nature Watch

Children are naturally curious about the world in which they live. To focus this sense of wonder, have your students investigate their local habitat as it changes over the year. This multiseason study will build connections and add relevance to the h...