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Journal Article

Say Cheese! Digital Collections in the Classroom

Children love gadgets. And what better "gadget" to work with in the classroom than a digital camera? Digital cameras are easy to find, easy to use, and offer great potential for incorporating technology into your lessons. One fourth-grade class em...

Journal Article

Knowledge Retention of Exercise Physiology Content Between Athletes and Nonathletes

Based on the idea that learning is linked to personal relevance, this study examined knowledge retention of exercise physiology content between college athletes and nonathletes. No differences were observed between the groups. These findings have i...

Journal Article

Reading Questions: Encouraging Students to Read the Text Before Coming to Class

College science teachers know that students get the most out of class if they have completed the assigned reading. To reinforce this expectation, we ask our introductory physics students to submit a question they had about reading. In this paper we...

Journal Article

Science 101: What Causes Lightning and Thunder?

The mechanism that leads to lightning is complicated and not well understood. That it's not well understood isn't surprising, as this is often the case when going from scientific models to the real world. Even so, we can paint a reasonable picture ...

Journal Article

JELL-O and Detergents: A Successful Inquiry Recipe

The beginning of a new school year is an exciting time. Capture that excitement by engaging your 10th-grade biology students in an inquiry project that demonstrates the nature of science and scientific inquiry. The Next Step Inquiry Project was devel...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Fossil detectives

Middle school students are transformed into Fossil detectives as they examine the fossil record and use evidence about paleo-environments to develop an understanding of structure and function in living systems and changes over time in Earths history....

Journal Article

Editor's Corner: Summer Magic

Does the question, “Why do I even bother?” ever occur to you at the end of the school year? If so, you’re in good company—the Field Editor asks himself this perennial question every June. He shares his reflections of summer renewal in this mo...

Journal Article

Methods and Strategies: Getting Creative With Assessments

There are many creative ways to assess student science learning beyond traditional paper and pencil tests. Interviews, focus groups, surveys, card sorts, and more--the options are plentiful and exciting. Creative assessment can reveal different inf...

Journal Article

Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer Reading

There are a mere 99 "lazy, hazy, crazy" days of summer--from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Therefore, it is vital that you prioritize your personal plan to make the most of your summer--to fit in rest, exercise, perhaps travel, and certainly some good b...

Journal Article

The Distant Exploration of Wolves: Using Technology to Explore Student Questions About Wolves

Radio telemetry data available via the internet are used to facilitate long-term inquiry projects. Through these projects, students gain a deeper understanding of specific inquiry and the nature of science, while developing their own questions and p...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Six rules for integrating the arts

How can teachers help their students to imagine and construct knowledge in the way that science sees it and simultaneously weave the arts into science lessons? By using the following six simple rules for integrating the arts into science learning, st...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Assessment Results Following Inquiry and Traditional Physics Laboratory Activities

Preservice elementary teachers in a conceptual physics course were given multiple resources to use during several inquiry activities in order to investigate how materials were chosen, used, and valued. These students performed significantly better o...

Journal Article

Society for College Science Teachers: What They Don't Know

When you read the title, your first thought it was probably about the undergraduates you are teaching and perhaps some "common scientific knowledge" that they should have acquired in high school. Perhaps you started lamenting about the reading, writ...