All Resources

Journal Article

The Dimensions of the Solar System

A few new wrinkles have been added to the popular activity of building a scale model of the solar system. Students can learn about maps and scaling using easily accessible online resources that include satellite images. This is accomplished by taking...

Journal Article

Reading to Learn Science as an Active Process

One way to help students learn to read science and teach the content simultaneously is by incorporating classroom strategies that actively engage students in thinking, talking, reading, and writing about science. To maximize the probability that stra...

Journal Article

Floating Boats

The purpose of this article is to describe a simple laboratory activity in which students collect a series of measurements and then use graphical analysis to determine the nature of the relationship between an object’s mass and the volume of water ...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Current Events in Science

Create an ambience of focus and organization in your high school science classroom by implementing the strategy described here. This 10-minute silent reading routine exposes students to current events in science and the relevance of science to their ...

Journal Article

Every Day Science Calendar: July 2007

This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer. ...

Journal Article

Editorial: A Night at the Circus

Student evaluations of faculty teaching are imperfect and incomplete, but they are here to stay. Students’ ignorance of what it takes to do our jobs would be mostly a source of amusement, except for the fact that many—perhaps all colleges and uni...

Journal Article

The Dirty Water Challenge

“The Dirty Water Challenge” is a fun activity that teaches children about their environment in an engaging and practical way. Inquiry is embedded within the practical—students have to design, plan, and then build their own design of water filt...

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Need Money? Get a Grant!

There is no one single place for grants—grants are everywhere, even places you might not think. The internet is one of the easiest ways to locate potential grants. Grants for specialized areas are also often sent through emails. You can find inf...

Journal Article

Teaching for Conceptual Change in Space Science

Nearly 20 years after the release of The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ video, A Private Universe, much research has been done in relation to students’ understanding of space-science concepts and how to effectively change these id...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: What to do about Pluto?

Perhaps Pluto is no longer a planet, but does that mean we should remove it from our solar system models? Is it time to order new textbooks, buy new posters, and invent new mnemonic devices? Slow down, no need to panic! Pluto hasn’t gone anywhere o...

Journal Article

College Science Teaching Changing to Mirror Real Science in Turkish Higher Education

College science is often poorly taught and it is rare that any consideration is given to the nine visions for reform of science teaching featured in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) (NRC 1996, p. 52). It is even more rare to see interd...

Journal Article

Time on Your Hands: Modeling Time

Building physical models relative to a concept can be an important activity to help students develop and manipulate abstract ideas and mental models that often prove difficult to grasp. One such concept is time. A method for helping students unders...

Journal Article

Society for College Science Teachers: Putting Inquiry Teaching to the Test: Enhancing Learning in College Botany

Can you imagine a class where students cover the content with each other rather than simply listening to the professor’s lecture? Can you envision students developing their own laboratory investigations and quizzing each other weekly to check for u...

Journal Article

The Case Study: A Symphony for Your Brain

In this case study, students examine an advertisement claiming that listening to classical music in an advertised CD set will enhance their cognitive skills and creativity. Students evaluate the claims and evidence cited to support them and then dete...

Journal Article

Commentary: Summer School … for Teachers

Professional development programs allow science teachers to learn, grow professionally, and even travel. Summer, in particular, is the perfect time for science teachers to participate in professional development opportunities or research possibilitie...

Journal Article

Every Day Science Calendar: August 2006

This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer. ...

Journal Article

Perspectives: Cultural Diversity in the Science Classroom

When students come to science class, they bring a variety of perspectives formed in part from their cultural heritage, religious beliefs, and family background. This may create challenges for students whose experiences are different from typical “w...

Journal Article

Point of View: Intelligent Design: Jonathan Wells and the Tree of Life

In recent years, the intelligent design (ID) movement has been very successful in attracting the attention of the general public. The ID movement is centered predominantly at the Center for Science and Culture in the very conservative think tank, th...

Journal Article

Precipitation Matters

Although weather, including its role in the water cycle, is included in most elementary science programs, any further examination of raindrops and snowflakes is rare. Together rain and snow make up most of the precipitation that replenishes Earth’...

Journal Article

Teacher’s Toolkit: It’s a big, busy solar system

Anyone who teaches about the solar system can’t help but be impressed by the vast array of solar system objects, all of the robotic explorers, and the rapidly evolving view of each object and the systems they inhabit. Far from being a disconcerting...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: The Science Belief Quiz

The Science Belief Quiz is an online instrument that was developed to assess and increase student understanding of science concepts and to combat misconceptions. The following are four items from the quiz related to astronomy. A follow-up teacher dem...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: How long is your day?

The tilt of the Earth on its axis and the manner in which sunlight strikes the Earth remains one of the most misunderstood concepts taught in an introductory astronomy course. The misconceptions that surround the reasons for the seasonal variations w...

Journal Article

The Early Years: Water Works

“You worked hard digging that hole,” “You really had to work to push that wagon,” and “Climbing on the monkey bars is hard work,” are phrases commonly heard on the playground. Children love to try difficult physical tasks that require ...

Journal Article

Every Day Science Calendar: August 2007

This monthly feature contains facts and challenges for the science explorer. ...

Journal Article

Cape Wind: A Public Policy Debate for the Physical Sciences

Since the industrial revolution, technological innovation and the application of basic scientific research have transformed society. Increasingly, critical conversations and legislation regarding national and international public policy have sophisti...

Journal Article

Science Shorts: A Matter of Volume

You may have frozen water in a bottle to take hiking or camping. Perhaps you’ve had the unfortunate experience of filling the bottle too full and discovering that the ice burst out of its container. This change in volume in going from a liquid to a...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: How Constructivist Are We? Representations of Transmission and Participatory Models of Instruction in the <em>Journal of College Science Teaching</em>

Constructivism has become a widely understood and broadly accepted learning theory. Constructivism contends that each of us makes sense of our world by connecting new experiences to our existing understandings. Learners, as they encounter new situati...