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Journal Article
Developing an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Framework for Aquatic-Ecosystem Modeling
This paper presents results from a July 2005 workshop and course aimed at developing an interdisciplinary course on modeling aquatic ecosystems that will provide the next generation of practitioners with critical skills for which formal training is p...
Journal Article
Using Japanese Lesson Design to ANTicipate an Invasion on Maui
Native ant species do not exist on the island of Maui, the second largest of the Hawaiian Islands. However, one ant, the little fire ant (LFA or Wasmannia auropunctata) has recently appeared in the region, being discovered on the Big Island of Hawaii...
Journal Article
Commentary: Looking Back—A Nation at Risk and National Standards
Looking back, we were a nation at risk in the early 1980s, and, looking around, we still are. As the pace of global change and technological innovation increase, preparing our students for their adult lives is like hitting a moving target. We are not...
Journal Article
Invite an Alien to Astronomy Night
Dozens of inflatable aliens recently “descended” upon the authors’ middle school to kick-off their first school-wide Astronomy night. With an estimated attendance of over 500, their eighth-grade students hosted over a dozen activity-rich sessio...
Journal Article
Teaching the Nature of Science Through the Concept of Living
By virtue of its connection with scientific literacy, the nature of science has been considered essential subject matter for the science curriculum. With this in mind, seventh-grade students were introduced to three aspects of the nature of science: ...
Journal Article
Wondering how to make the study of the immune system and infectious agents more relevant to your students’ lives? The online adventure series, Medical Mysteries, can provide the context and motivation. The series combines the drama of television’...
Journal Article
The Prepared Practitioner: Constructivism and Conceptual Change, Part II
As complex and theoretical as constructivist principles sounds, classroom application often boils down to two precepts. First, learning is an active process—it does not happen passively. Learners need to mentally process new ideas to assimilate or...
Journal Article
The Early Years: Science Tickets
Teachers can spark interest in a science topic by using “science tickets”—special objects offered to children as a way to transition to the science room or into a small group to do a science activity. Objects ranging from ordinary (shells, leav...
Journal Article
Childhood obesity and its long-term health implications should be of major concern to science educators. In an effort to support teachers and youth about this growing problem, a five-unit, 19-lesson module entitled Choice, Control, and Change (C3) wa...
Journal Article
Science Teaching and International Assessments
This article is an introduction to the international assessments Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and a review of results from 2003. International comparisons,...
Journal Article
Career of the Month: An Interview with Green Product Chemist Andy Chen
Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce, recycle, or eliminate the use of generation of hazardous substances. The fundamental idea of green chemistry is that the designer of a chemical is responsible for consider...
Journal Article
Perspectives: Reading and Science
To become good readers, students need experience in reading for information. Science class is an ideal place for students to develop motivation and strategies for informational reading. Yet with the promotion of hands-on science, many teachers get th...
Journal Article
So, what does “sun safety” have to do with middle school science teachers, especially during the winter months? With the movement toward hands-on science and environmentally oriented curricula, more students and teachers in science classes are do...
Journal Article
Native American and other cultural stories provide students with a broader perspective on the world. In addition, cultural stories connect science content and knowledge about the world to cultural interpretations and people’s life ways. By implemen...
Journal Article
A prop box is a teacher-created resource full of age-appropriate and meaningful activities focused on a central theme. Prop boxes work much like learning centers in an elementary classroom with the important addition of providing opportunities for so...
Journal Article
The study of electricity in general science or physics is fascinating for students. Unfortunately, a number of electrical dangers exist in the laboratory that are applicable to all types of science including biology, chemistry, physics, and Earth sci...
Journal Article
Inquiring Into The Digestive System
Teaching science by means of inquiry-based projects has the potential to transform the science lab into a place of debate and discovery, but teachers run the risk of either leaving students to work too independently or forcing them to be too dependen...
Journal Article
Design briefs are plausible situations in which students are asked to solve problems given limited materials, a specific time frame, and a number of rules and limitations. It is the author’s contention that the design brief, an established format i...
Journal Article
Science Shorts: Taking a Look at the Moon
The communication skills of reading and writing go hand in hand with science as natural partners for fostering students’ understandings of the world. The similarities that exist between reading and writing strategies and science-process skills add ...
Journal Article
In this month’s column, the experts address the following questions: If you are in a car traveling at the speed of light, what would you observe if you turned on the headlights? and Given that absolute zero is the lower limit to temperature, a theo...
Journal Article
This set of botany demonstrations is a continuation of the inquiry-based lecture activities that provide realistic connections to the history and nature of science and employ technology in data collection (see the September/October issue of JCST fo...
Journal Article
In his article, Dale had constructed a tiered triangle to rank students’ ability to recall information that had been taught six weeks earlier (Dale 1969). Dale had found that only 5% of the knowledge gained through lecture was remembered by student...
NSTA Press Book
Prize-winning scientist and bestselling author James Trefil contends that in order to participate fully in the democratic process, people must understand fundamental scientific concepts. In Why Science? Trefil details the concepts needed in order to ...
By James Trefil