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Journal Article
Science Sampler: The science of skin color
For many teachers of life science, one of the favorite parts of the curriculum is the unit on heredity. Students love to discover how and from whom they’ve inherited certain traits such as tongue rolling, earlobe shape, and dimples. In this fun and...
Journal Article
Linking General Education and Science Teacher Preparation
This educational project involves prospective science teachers in implementing a natural science course for nonscience majors. The model creates a space for nonscience majors to experience learner-centered teaching practices while giving prospective ...
Journal Article
Methods and Strategies: Developing Investigative Skills Purposefully
Members of a team of educators and university students participating in the project, Pittsburgh Partnership for Energizing Science in Urban Schools, addressed the issue of helping students develop investigative skills within the context of an introdu...
Journal Article
Editor’s Corner: A Flat World?
Beyond preparing our students for imminent economic realities, we should prepare them to think globally. American economic competitiveness in a global economy is a significant challenge that will be addressed at least in our schools. But the greatest...
Journal Article
Science Sampler: Modeling the effects of drugs on the brain
The following activity teaches students about the neurobiological consequences of drug use on their brains and behavior. Students make clay models that allow them to visualize how drugs affect neural communication. If you’re concerned that this act...
Journal Article
Editor’s Roundtable: Health Literacy
In his 2003 testimony, the Surgeon General called for combating the obesity epidemic in America by increasing health literacy among our citizens, and especially among the nation’s children. Schools must teach students to lead healthy lifestyles and...
Journal Article
The Building Migratory Bridges (BMB) program—a collaboration between the Marvelwood School and Audubon Sharon in Connecticut and Conservation Research Education Action (CREA), a U.S. not-for-profit in Panama—uses neotropical migratory bird resear...
Journal Article
This article describes an approach to minimizing the “fear factor” in a chemistry course for the nonscience major, and also addresses relevant applications to other science courses, including biology, geology, and physics. The approach emphasizes...
Journal Article
Every Day Science Calendar—November 2007
This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer. ...
Journal Article
Teaching Through Trade Books: Words to the Wild
A notebook is perhaps the single most important piece of equipment a naturalist takes into the field. But notebooks are not only for use by field scientists: They are also excellent tools for helping students record observations outdoors, develop com...
Journal Article
Thomas Locker’s book about nature entitled Water Dance (1997) provides the basis for this interdisciplinary project on Earth’s water cycles. Through thoughtful consideration of the text and art in Water Dance, students build and express deep...
Journal Article
Case Study: Why I Like Clicker Personal Response Systems
For those of you unfamiliar with clicker personal response systems, a clicker is a handheld remote that students use to enter their responses to multiple choice questions. The question is displayed on the classroom overhead screen, usually within a P...
Journal Article
Idea Bank: Clay Pot Refrigerators
Access to refrigeration is something we take for granted in the United States. However, for many countries refrigeration is not an option for keeping food fresh. In 1995, a teacher in Nigeria named Mohammend Bah Abba developed and began to popularize...
Journal Article
Tried and True: Making the connection—Addressing students’ misconceptions of circuits
Electricity is an abstract phenomenon that students interact with every day. Interestingly enough, many eighth-grade students do not fully understand the requirements for a complete circuit. In an effort to "short-circuit" misunderstandings, the circ...
Journal Article
Science Sampler: You can learn a lot from your dog
Recently, dogs have been the focus of a great deal of scientific research. In fact, dogs were the inspiration for Professor Bruce Blumberg’s class, The Cognitive Dog: Savant or Slacker, at Harvard University. This course serves as the impetus for...
Journal Article
Scope on the Skies: Neptune—The planet exterior to Uranus
This month, the three most outer planets—Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune—and one of the larger dwarf planets, Pluto, will be in the evening skies after sunset. While only Jupiter and Uranus will be visible through small telescopes or binoculars, thi...