All Resources

Journal Article

"New Science" and Societal Issues

As a “new science,” nanotechnology has brought many nanoscale-based applications to the forefront of society. This article describes one such application—a nanosensor that can precisely detect a variety of chemical stimuli in the environment�...

Journal Article

Everyday Engineering: What makes a squirt gun squirt?

You may not think of engineering and squirt guns in the same sentence. However, like many examples of engineering design, the squirt gun pump mechanism is uncomplicated, yet elegant, and very inexpensive to manufacture. The design is widely used beca...

Journal Article

Deer Tracks in the City?

“Why would a deer print be in the city?” wondered a student. She had noticed the track near a grocery store that morning with her mother. She was familiar with deer and had noticed their prints on a trip to a local museum; however, she had never ...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Chemistry in action—Triple delight

Melt away the winter blues with this series of chemistry investigations. Here the author describes how she capitalizes on students’ love for snow days, bubble gum, and ice cream to reinforce what they have learned about percentage concentration of ...

Journal Article

Career of the Month: An Interview With Science Writer Tina Saey

The term science writer describes a range of careers. Some science writers author books. Others work for colleges, universities, or businesses and communicate research underway at those institutions. Some help scientists compose grant applications fo...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: October Skies (2009)

Our Sun is an incredible fusion machine that has been churning out energy for approximately five billion years. In another five billion years, when the internal temperature of the star begins to change, the balance between the thermal pressure pushin...

Journal Article

Health Wise: October 2009

Labels such as “low-fat” and “trans-fat free” are seen on food products everywhere, and yet most of my students do not know what these terms really mean. Can you help me?...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Enhancing student understanding of physical and chemical changes

Students within the Findlay, Ohio, City School District, as well as students across the country, struggle with understanding physical and chemical changes. Therefore, in this article, the authors suggest some standards-based activities to clarify mis...

Journal Article

Editor’s Corner: Science in Society

There are many important reasons for students to learn science. It prepares them, as the next generation of workers, for careers in the ever-expanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. It also enables them to understand...

Journal Article

CSI for Trees

The circles and patterns in a tree’s stem tell a story, but that story can be a mystery. Interpreting the story of tree rings provides a way to heighten the natural curiosity of students and help them gain insight into the interaction of elements i...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Chemistry beyond the chemicals

Middle level teachers need to show students that chemistry is not just about blowing things up or memorizing the periodic table of elements. We should help them see that chemistry involves living organisms as well as nonliving objects and is much mor...

Journal Article

Socratic Seminars in Science Class

Discussions are important classroom tools—and those that focus on science in society have the potential to interest and engage students. However, a conversation can quickly veer out of control if expectations are not clearly set by the teacher and ...

Journal Article

Science Shorts: Astronomies of Scale

Astronomical scale is a difficult concept for elementary students to grasp when they begin studying the solar system. A school yard solar system model gives students a tangible experience of astronomical distances. After determining the distances bet...

Journal Article

Korean Kimchi Chemistry

Connecting science with different cultures is one way to interest students in science, to relate science to their lives, and at the same time to broaden their horizons in a variety of ways. In the lesson described here, students make kimchi, a delici...

Journal Article

The Prepared Practitioner: Historical Perspectives

In the June 2009 issue of Phi Delta Kappan, author Noah Feinstein argues that a discrepancy exists between society’s stated goal—that science education prepare all citizens for the future—and the reality, which is oriented toward creating a sci...

Book Chapter

Is It Possible to Turn Coal Into Diamonds?

How cool would it be to be Lois Lane? Anytime she wants a diamond, she just has Superman use his super strength to squeeze a lump of coal. But is this really possible? Using a high enough temperature and enough pressure, can you turn coal into diamo...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Wiffle Ball Physics

Projectile motion, a cornerstone topic of introductory physics, is usually a student’s first exposure to the problem-solving techniques used in this subject. Often, this is an inactive learning experience—students work with pencil and paper to re...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Helping students write scientific explanations

Constructing explanations is an important scientific practice that brings meaning to all that scientists do. But just because it’s important to scientists doesn’t mean it’s going to be important to students. However, getting students to engage ...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Getting into the habit of persistence

Habits of mind are the behaviors commonly exhibited by successful people when the solution to a problem is not immediately evident (Costa and Kallick 1992). In a science classroom, persistent students stop and think about a problem they encounter bef...

Journal Article

Becoming Wildlife Investigators

Students love learning outdoors, but how do you ensure they are absorbing the science and gaining skills as they do so? The authors found a way—a fourth-grade classroom teacher, a gifted/science resource teacher, and a group of fourth graders—emb...

Journal Article

Green Science: Building for the Future

This first Green Science column will focus on the environmental features of NSTA’s new headquarters, the John Glenn Center for Science Education. The new building, which is currently being designed, will be constructed next door to NSTA’s current...

Journal Article

The Gift of the Tree

A piece of children’s literature can be a powerful tool for teaching and learning science; however, it takes more than reading about a topic to qualify as “doing science.” Inspired by the book, The Gift of the Tree, the author developed an in-d...

Journal Article

Fostering Preservice Teachers’ “Nature of Science” Understandings in a Physics Course

In this paper, the authors examine an algebra-based physics course designed for preservice teachers and explore how the course integrated two pedagogical strategies to bridge the gap between inquiry-learning experiences and the teachers’ nature of ...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Ecosystem Jenga!

To give students a tangible model of an ecosystem and have them experience what could happen if a component of that ecosystem were removed; the authors developed a hands-on, inquiry-based activity that visually demonstrates the concept of a delicatel...

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Role-Play in the Science Classroom

The activity shared here is an animal role-playing lesson developed, field-tested, and refined for Nature’s Neighborhood, a newly designed children’s education facility at the Toledo Zoo. The activity is targeted at students in kindergarten throu...

Journal Article

Thirsty Plants in Arid Places

In order to demonstrate how plants remove water from the soil and release it to the atmosphere, students compared open- and closed-growing systems using drought-tolerant and higher water requirement plants. Then, students designed a drought-tolerant ...

Journal Article

Science 101: How do plants move?

Just as with any organism, simple growth causes plants to move, but we’re going to focus on movements that are unique to plants and, in some cases, pretty creepy. Sorry for the pun. Here the author describes a bunch of plant movements and then expl...

Journal Article

Using Web Logs in the Science Classroom

As educators we must ask ourselves if we are meeting the needs of today’s students. The science world is adapting to our ever-changing society; are the methodology and philosophy of our educational system keeping up? In this article, you’ll learn...

Journal Article

Case Study: The Mystery of the Blue Death—A Case Study in Epidemiology and the History of Science

This case study introduces students to John Snow, considered to be one of the founders of both epidemiology and anesthesiology, and a remarkable figure in the history of science. Although historical case studies are often less popular with students t...

Journal Article

Health Wise: September 2009

What causes diabetes, and how does it affect a person’s health?...

Journal Article

Safer Science: EMFs: Pulling the Plug!

Over the past decade, many headlines have noted the potential dangers of extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field (EMFs) exposures—especially for children and young adults. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on EMF(s) and their long-te...

Journal Article

Natural Resources: If You Build It…

They will come! Wildlife, that is, when you create the right conditions. A wildlife habitat can provide you with an outdoor classroom for studying the needs of organisms. It also provides a place to learn about soil, weather, and plants. If you want ...

Journal Article

Point of View: Saving Energy in the Chemistry-Teaching Process and Improving Student Learning

Somewhere between high school chemistry and first-year college chemistry courses, there is a disconnect. Whatever the reason, most students are not prepared for college chemistry. As a beginning chemistry educator, the author found this to be frustra...

Journal Article

Investigating Membranes

While not organic in nature, quick-“growing” artificial membranes can be a profound visual aid when teaching students about cellular processes and the chemical nature of membranes. Students are often intrigued when they see biological and chemica...

Journal Article

Editor’s Note: Classroom Windows

Little did Linda Froschauer know that she would one day find herself in the position of editor of the very journal that helped in the formation of her teaching… the journal that inspired her teaching and affected her students. She viewed Science an...