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Journal Article
Using an Authentic Radioisotope to Teach Half-Life
Traditionally, nuclear chemistry appears in the last few chapters of chemistry textbooks and is not normally considered a mainstream topic. Yet nuclear chemistry is a very important topic that should be taught in all chemistry classrooms. Today's tec...
Journal Article
Editor's Corner: Why is This Important?
When interconnections among science, technology, and society are made part of science teaching, we empower students with skills that allow them to become responsible, and thoughtful citizens. The articles in this issue of The Science Teacher provide ...
Journal Article
Finding innovative ways to teach 10th grade physical science students about the properties of the states of matter--as stated in the Physical Science Standards for Levels 9-12--can be a difficult task. To address this challenge, the author discovered...
Journal Article
Ask the Experts -- December 2005
The Experts give their "spin" on physical science concepts as they answer the question, "What does "spin" refer to in particle physics? Why is this concept necessary?" and "My physics teacher tells me that when I go around a sharp curve in my car, th...
Journal Article
Designing Project-Enhanced Environments
The concept of waves is fundamental due to its occurrence throughout the natural world (water, sound, and electromagnetic waves). Because the concept occurs in so many places, high school students come to the classroom with prior knowledge and miscon...
Journal Article
How to Have a Successful Science and Ethics Discussion
Students often come to class discussions with preformed opinions on many ethical issues. The challenging task for teachers is to help students learn to identify the facts of a case, recognize the underlying ethical dilemmas, and to understand the dif...
Journal Article
Teaching molecular technology within the framework of open scientific inquiry provides a dynamic learning experience for students. Because a wide variety of molecular protocols are now so reliable, teachers can emphasize scientific inquiry and experi...
Journal Article
High school students should understand that environmental issues and concerns accompany both the production and consumption of petroleum. To help students explore this topic further, this article discusses how petroleum is used in everyday life, and ...
Journal Article
Science education reform requires innovative professional development initiatives. Here we report the success of an interdisciplinary learning circle that met regularly over the course of a year to explore pedagogical theory and develop action resear...
Journal Article
While many states are facing challenges to the teaching of evolution in their science classrooms, the University of California Museum of Paleontology, working with the National Center for Science Education, has developed a useful web-based resource f...
Journal Article
Commentary: Improving Science Instruction
In this month's Commentary column, the author discusses the disturbing but true picture of science instruction in the United States, as outlined in a report from the National Research Council (NRC). As the NRC report editors concluded, we must become...
Journal Article
Learning Logs: Writing to Learn, Reading to Assess
Good inquiry activities help students hone their inquiry abilities and teach them about the nature of science. Inquiry is also a way to teach science content, and teachers need to know if this instruction is helping children gain these important ide...
Journal Article
Career of the Month: An Interview with Cryptographer Bruce Schneier
For the general public, the field of cryptography has recently become famous as the method used to uncover secrets in Dan Brown's, "The Da Vinci Code." But the science of cryptography has been popular for centuries--secret hieroglyphics discovered i...
Journal Article
Editor's Corner: Building Together
As modern science becomes more interdisciplinary, teachers look for activities and ideas that require thinking across the disciplines and include material from outside a strictly focused, discipline-based curriculum. In this issue of The Science Teac...
Journal Article
Teaching Through Trade Books: From Sap to Syrup
Warm days, cold nights, melting snow—signs winter is waning and spring is nearing. Though winter may just be getting started in your area, it’s always fun to appreciate the good things about winter, including the special time at the end of winter...
Journal Article
Piquing Student Interest with Pharmacology
Motivating high school students to learn basic biology and chemistry concepts is an ongoing challenge. To help students learn science concepts, the Pharmacology Education Partnership (PEP) was developed. This science education program incorporates re...
Journal Article
Aspirin History and Applications
Of the thousands of drugs and medicines available for the prevention, treatment, and control of human disease and discomfort, the most widely used is aspirin. This article explores the historical development of aspirin and provides teachers with inst...
Journal Article
Learning to write well is a long process that comes through teacher modeling, instruction, practice, and feedback. Luckily, the writing process can be used to improve science learning too. This article describes how nonfiction writing activities hel...
Journal Article
Moving from Content Knowledge to Engagement
Combining service learning with environmental and science issues allows students to move beyond awareness toward engagement. The action team service project requires students to build in-depth knowledge, apply skills directly related to taking action...
Journal Article
Science Sampler: Learning from amphibians
Create an exotic frog nursery in your classroom to engage sudents in the process of scientific inquiry, benefit the scientific community, and the natural world simultaneously. This project will expose students to the many facets of Life Science....
Journal Article
Interactive Learning with Java Applets
Science teachers face challenges that affect the quality of instruction. Tight budgets, limited resources, school schedules, and other obstacles limit students' opportunities to experience science that is visual and interactive. Incorporating web-bas...
Journal Article
Scope on the Skies: Dance of the planets
This article highlights the movements of the planets during the months of November and December. It includes a set of observation-based questions for students, and the dates to observe the various phases of the moon. Everyone is invited to the spect...
Journal Article
A Message from the NSTA President
NSTA has unveiled a new name--and an enriched format--for its time-honored conventions. The NSTA national and area conventions will now be called NSTA Conferences on Science Education. Teachers will benefit from the wealth of information contained in...
Journal Article
Science 101: What writing represents what scientists actually do?
This article addresses whether or not a report based on scientific method accurately represents what scientists do as well as what kind of writing scientists engage in that goes beyond the reporting of conclusions....
Journal Article
Scope on Safety: Having a blast, safely! Model rocketry safety guide
Model rocketry is a blast, and it's one of the best ways to get students interested in the physical sciences. However, following safety guidelines is essential. This article contains valuable information for safely launching rocketry into your scienc...
Journal Article
Science Shorts: Seeing What We Can’t See
While observation is critical to science, sometimes we cannot observe things directly. Sometimes things happened long ago (in paleontology, for example) or are too small to observe (like atoms). Many students believe that science progresses only thro...
Journal Article
Connecting Earthquakes and Violins
Violins, earthquakes, and the "singing rod" demonstration all have something in common--stick-slip frictional motion. This article begins with a typical classroom experiment used to understand the transition between sticking and slipping, proceeds to...
Journal Article
Throwing Paper Wads in the Chemistry Classroom: Really Active Student Learning
It is well-known that too many students learn to “plug and chug” formulas while gaining very little concomitant understanding of the underlying concepts. Active engagement in the classroom is one of the best tools available for overcoming concept...
Journal Article
Point of View: Students, Butterflies, and Cancer
This article accounts one research scientist's interest in butterflies and his aversion to dealing with cancer with it hitting so close to home. Prefering to emphasize problem-solving skills rather than recall, this scientist finds himself studying ...
Journal Article
Effectiveness of a Lab Manual Delivered on CD-ROM
Although electronic instructional media are becoming increasingly prevalent in science classrooms, their worth remains unproven. We assessed student perceptions and performance using CD-ROM delivery of lab materials and discovered numerous learning b...
Journal Article
Science Sampler: Hypothesis-based learning
Are visions of students hypothesizing, designing experiments to test their explanations, analyzing data, writing formal publications of results, and debating over scientific procedures in an attempt to justify their control of variables dancing in yo...
Journal Article
Science Sampler: Shark detectives
Oceans are often considered mysterious, fascinating places filled with unique and scary animals. One of the most misunderstood and therefore the scariest animals is the shark. This student-directed activity involves research, deductive reasoning, and...
Journal Article
The Early Years: The Nuts and Bolts of Discovery Centers
Young children are born scientists, exploring everything in their world around them. Yet, many teachers still find it hard to integrate science into the daily schedule. However, open-ended science or discovery centers are a perfect way for teachers t...