All Resources

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Discussion Maps Make Sense!

One warm spring day, a group of 18 young children sat in a classroom discussing their ideas about plants. This was one of several discussions in a multi-age, grades 1–3 classroom in which the children were talking about living things. The plant dis...

Journal Article

Science Shorts: Making Waves

Children do not have to live near the coast to experience effects of water waves. They can throw stones into a pond and see the waves ripple outward, bob up and down while floating in a swimming pool, and splash water about while in a bathtub. As stu...

Journal Article

The Effect of Seat Location on Exam Grades and Student Perceptions in an Introductory Biology Class

The effect of seat location on learning has received surprisingly little attention in education literature (Weinstein 1979). Classroom experience and education literature suggest that students who sit in the front of a lecture hall are more likely to...

Journal Article

The Human HPLC Column

A highly relevant topic for adolescents is the impact of drug abuse on the nervous system. Out of 49,300 U.S. secondary school students surveyed, half of them will have tried an illicit drug by the time they complete high school (Johnson et al. 2005)...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Interactive interdependence

Modifying and building on a lesson created by the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and the Provincial Learning Network (2000) that supports National Science Education Standards Teaching Standard A...

Journal Article

Books, Biodiversity, and Beyond!

Reading in science class doesn’t have to be boring, but it’s no secret to students or teachers that textbooks aren’t much fun to read. To enhance and integrate your science curriculum, try using alternative reading resources such as Biodiversi...

Journal Article

Can Students Learn From Lecture Demonstrations? The Role and Place of Interactive Lecture Experiments in Large Introductory Science Courses

There is little doubt that well performed lecture demonstrations play an important role in science teaching (Straits and Wilke 2006): for many students, exciting demonstrations are what keep them interested and motivated. The demonstrations also help...

Journal Article

Ask the Experts—January 2007

In this month’s Ask the Experts column, the following questions are addressed: I’ve heard that the two sides of my brain are specialized for different tasks (language vs. reasoning, etc.). If I listen to a science lecture on my iPod using only on...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: And then there were eight

This past summer the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved new definitions for objects in our solar system that orbit the Sun. The definitions now allow for only eight planets, while objects smaller than planets will be known as dwarf plane...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Word wall connections

A word wall has many uses in the middle school science classroom. It is ideal for reinforcing vocabulary and connections between concepts. In this article, the author describes an interactive way to use the word wall to create food webs. In addition,...

Journal Article

Coaching to Build Support for Inquiry-Based Teaching

Coaching, as a means to support inquiry-based teaching, starts by changing the culture from within (school, teacher, and student) rather than from external mandates. Recognizing that teacher empowerment is the first step toward increasing student ach...

Journal Article

From <em> Frustrating </em> Forgetfulness to <em> Fabulous </em> Forethought

Teens exhibit many types of behaviors—of both inattention and intense focus. From an adult’s perspective, one cannot help but wonder why this happens. Part of the answer lies in the neural restructuring of the adolescent brain. This article exami...

Journal Article

They’re M-e-e-elting! An Investigation of Glacial Retreat in Antarctica

Why has glacial melting occurred? What happens when that much freshwater enters the ocean? Will this melting continue? These questions inspired the authors to design a directed inquiry in which middle school students simulate glacial retreat in Antar...

Journal Article

How Do You Know That?

The purpose of many animal studies at early grades is to build observation skills, develop a knowledge base, and practice age-appropriate science skills like comparing, describing, and drawing. While these are important learning experiences, the Nati...

Journal Article

Career of the Month: An interview with Clinical Neuropsychologist Deborah Attix

Neuroscience is a field dedicated to learning about the brain and nervous system, which can help us understand, prevent, and treat diseases and disorders such as Alzheimer’s, depression, and addiction. The vast scope of questions neuroscience is tr...

Journal Article

The Case Study: Intimate Debate Technique: Medicinal Use of Marijuana

This article describes the technique called intimate debate. To cooperative learning specialists, the technique is known as structured debate or constructive debate. It is a powerful method for dealing with case topics that involve controversy, such ...

Journal Article

Point of View: Questions From the Edge: Using Informal Surveys to Build Rapport With Students

“Astronomy helps us answer the ultimate question of human existence,” and “Astronomy helps us understand the meaning of our own existence.” These thoughts caught the attention of one professor who wondered what students thought about the mean...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Using graphic organizers as formative assessment

With the move in the last decade toward a standards-based science curriculum, assessment has become an important part of science teaching and learning. National policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act place additional emphasis on the importance...

Journal Article

Editor’s Corner: Brainy Science

Despite being a subject of intense interest and scrutiny for all of human history, many aspects of human brain function are still rather poorly understood. However, this is about to change rapidly, as modern imaging techniques create a revolution in ...

Book Chapter

Advocacy and the Planning Process

Science educators believe that students construct their knowledge of the natural world best in safe, secure, and stimulating learning environments. In order to achieve these goals, teachers, researchers, and planners must become advocates for the sch...

Book Chapter

Current Trends and Future Directions in Science Education: Breaking Down the Walls

The simplest educational concept—and perhaps the most significant—to consider in designing tomorrow’s science programs is inquiry. In keeping with the Standards’ strong emphasis on inquiry-based programs, students increasingly will be explori...

Book Chapter

Safety Guidelines

In order for students to inquire confidently, we must create safe classroom environments. Safety is not just a set of rules but a state of mind, and perhaps, most importantly, it is an attitude and a set of skills that carry over into a students’ d...

Book Chapter

Designing Facilities for the Middle School (6-8)

A high-quality middle school science program requires science classrooms with safe, well-designed laboratory space, and school designers must consider the distance students will have to travel to these classes. Trying to balance high quality science ...

Book Chapter

Designing Facilities for the High School (9-12)

When we participate in a school building program, we create learning environments that will last for many decades. So a major principle of good science facilities planning is to avoid building for a single curricular model. Since continued change in ...

Book Chapter

Green Schools

While everyone in a school community should share responsibility for the “greening” of a school, it is often the science teachers who make the best use of these facilities, basing their lessons on the components of a green school that have been b...

Book Chapter

Buildings That Teach

A periodic table on the ceiling of a chemistry lab/classroom, footprints and fossils of amphibians and animals in a courtyard sidewalk, a 60-foot slinky suspended from the ceiling, and a tessellation pattern in the floor tile extend science learning ...

Book Chapter

Science for All

We say it often, and the phrase appears in the National Science Education Standards and many state and local documents as well. “All students should have opportunities in science.” But that vision is harder to achieve in practice. It is especiall...

Book Chapter

Nanomaterials: Memory Wire

Imagine metal eyeglass frames that you can roll in a ball, only to watch it uncoil back to its original shape! How can an inanimate object, such as metal, do such a thing? There is a metal alloy that can do just that and it’s one of the many discov...

Book Chapter

Nanotech, Inc.

Socks that don’t stink, graffiti-resistant paint, windows and sunscreen that reject UV rays… that’s nanotechnology. Students will learn about some of the latest inventions using nanotechnology by exploring actual products of nanotechnology rese...