All Resources

eBook

NSTA Pathways To the Standards: Guidelines for Moving the Vision into Practice – Middle School Edition (Second Edition) (e-book)

Throughout the pages of NSTA Pathways to the Science Standards: Guidelines for Moving the Vision into Practice, we demonstrate how you can bring the "vision" of the National Science Education Standards into the middle school curriculum. It enco...

eBook

Science Educator's Guide to Laboratory Assessment (e-book)

Focus on frequent, accurate feedback with this newly expanded guide to understanding assessment. Field-tested and classroom ready, it's designed to help you reinforce productive learning habits while gauging your lessons' effectiveness. The book open...

eBook

Dig In! Hands-On Soil Investigations (e-book)

Give students the dirt on soil with a practical book that brings new meaning to the term "hands-on." Using these 12 activities and two original stories as guides, kids will soon be up to their elbows in the study of soil formation, habitats and land ...

eBook

Science Fairs Plus: Reinventing an Old Favorite, Grades K-8 (e-book)

At last: a sure cure for science fair fatigue. This new book -- a collection of 20 articles from NSTA's member journals for elementary, middle, and high school teachers -- is bound to re-energize the way you plan and produce these mainstay events. ...

eBook

Start Young! Early Childhood Science Activities (e-book)

You asked for it—now you’ve got it! In a focus group at a recent NSTA convention, teachers of prekindergarten through second grade clamored for help. They do want easy-to-do science activities they can use for everyday teaching. But they don’t ...

eBook

Stepping Up to Science and Math: Exploring the Natural Connections (e-book)

Stepping Up to Science and Math invites you to step back and rethink the way you teach both of these essential subjects. Then it illustrates how you can step up the pace with Standards-based activities that make learning more effective and efficient....

eBook

Garden Genetics: Teaching With Edible Plants (Teacher Edition) (e-book)

Tired of teaching genetic concepts with the same old pink petunias and Mendel’s peas? With Garden Genetics, you can present core content in ways that are fun for students and fresh for you. ...

eBook

The Life Cycle of Everyday Stuff (e-book)

Your students need to understand that stuff doesn’t just happen—it has a life cycle. Using common products like the telephone, this lively book helps students learn about the flow of energy and matter through Earth’s system. Seven illustrated s...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Classroom management à la Goldilocks

Classroom management is a difficult balancing act. Like Goldilocks, teachers should sample all the classroom management techniques available to them to find the ones that are “just right” for their classroom. Therefore, teachers must quickly esta...

Journal Article

Science Shorts: Larger Than Life—Introducing Magnifiers

Even simple technologies can provide important support for the inquiry process. Hand lenses and other magnifiers are ubiquitous technologies in the science classroom. In the following activity, children learn how to use a simple hand lens. They draw ...

eBook

Evolution in Perspective: The Science Teacher's Compendium (e-book)

If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it’s evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that...

Journal Article

Perspectives: Finding a Place for Girls in Science

Because teacher expectations and classroom interactions often favor boys in science, teachers need to consider strategies to create gender-inclusive science classrooms, as suggested by researchers Brotman and Moore (2008) and Jones, Howe, and Rua (20...

Journal Article

Society for College Science Teachers: Wearing Too Many Hats

How do you determine if an incoming freshman is ready for your class? How much responsibility do we bear in helping students make this critical transition? Do students today really process information differently than we did? How well do remedial cou...

Journal Article

Steppin’ Out This Summer

Ready to kick off your shoes and make tracks toward vacation? Whether you run to the nearest beach, or just prop your feet up and relax, there’s no better path to renewal than one that runs through the pages of a good book. Again this year, the tea...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: Elementary Science Education in the K–12 System

Elementary science is a critical part of the K–12 science education system. Tragically, the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has greatly diminished the time spent on teaching science in many elementary schools. In some schools that have not...

Journal Article

Experimental Population Genetics in the Introductory Genetics Laboratory Using Drosophila as a Model Organism

Hypotheses of population genetics are derived and tested by students in the introductory genetics laboratory classroom as they explore the effects of biotic variables (physical traits of fruit flies) and abiotic variables (island size and distance) o...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Student Learning in a Project-Based Molecular Biology Course

Inquiry-based learning was used to enhance an undergraduate molecular biology course. The goal was to use a long-term, in-class project in a studio class setting to enable students to acquire the knowledge and confidence to problem solve. Mixed-metho...

Journal Article

Science 101: How do windmills generate power?

This is a timely question given that you can now buy your own windmill (or more correctly, wind turbine) for residential use. More on that later. Using windmills to generate electricity makes sense once you understand how we generate electricity. So ...

Journal Article

Designing Payloads

Imagine soaring in the Earth’s atmosphere to near the edge of space. Is there air to breathe? Is it dark? Are there clouds? What about air pressure? Fifth-grade students from Ferguson Elementary in Klamath Falls, Oregon, were wondering these questi...

Journal Article

Cartooning Your Way to Student Motivation

Unmotivated, underachieving students pose a huge challenge for teachers. One way to motivate and stimulate student interest in a topic is to use humor. Humor can help students make new connections in learning and improves retention of information (Ga...

Journal Article

Editorial: Bewilderment Disorder

Once upon a time in a land far from here, there lived a farmer’s son. Stu was a hard-working and pleasant lad, always willing to put his shoulder against any project. He was cheerful, friendly, strong, and obedient, happy to do as he was asked by h...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Scaffolding the Unbelievable—Understanding Light and Vision

In this article, the author describes how to challenge students with three intriguing questions and scaffolding techniques to help them develop a deeper understanding of light and vision. Through these surprising empirical experiences, students gain ...

Journal Article

Wonderful Wikis and Internet Forums

Wikis are collaborative websites where visitors can edit anything they want, anytime they want. Essentially online “whiteboards,” wikis allow groups of people to create documents and projects together. Internet forums, also known as message board...

Journal Article

Talking Science

Science is a social process—one that involves particular ways of talking, reasoning, observing, analyzing, and writing, which often have meaning only when shared within the scientific community. Discussions are one of the best ways to help students...

Journal Article

Teaching the Human Dimension of Science

Teachers have the important responsibility of providing students with accurate and engaging science content while also helping them establish authentic views of scientists. Though there are numerous curriculum materials to assist in the teaching of s...