All Resources

Journal Article

The Making of "The List" (2005-Understanding the Selection Process for the Outstanding Science Trade Books List

Have you ever wondered how the mountain of trade books out there gets evaluated or how books are chosen as "outstanding"? This list doesn't just magically appear but is the result of a careful evaluation process by the NSTA/Children's Book Council Jo...

Journal Article

Career of the Month: Scientific Illustrator

If your students' have an eye for nature's details--such as the way some petals of a flower catch sunlight or how its stem is covered in tiny hairs--then they may be a good candidate for a career in Scientific Illustration. Introduce your high schoo...

Journal Article

Science Shorts: Tarred and Feathered

We rely on the transportation of oil around the world to meet our energy needs. Oil is carried across the oceans on large ships called tankers. Unfortunately, sometimes things go wrong and oil spills occur, putting great stress on wildlife, especia...

Journal Article

Field Ecology in a Cultural Context

Ecological studies that examine how organisms interact with their environment provide a particularly useful backdrop for high school students to both quantitatively and qualitatively explore the natural world. In Hot Springs, South Dakota, the author...

Journal Article

Reading & Writing Nonfiction with Children: Using Biographies to Learn about Science and Scientists

Students are introduced to real life accounts of scientists in this fun and hands-on activity. Through biographies, students identify examples that reflect aspects of the nature of science and scientists. Pop-up books are used to expand students' un...

Journal Article

Tech trek: Viewing volcanoes

Help students make real-world connections to Earth science concepts such as volcanoes with the help of modern technology. This article enumerates several websites where students can explore these forces of nature in a variety of ways - all from a sa...

Journal Article

Savvy Consumers Through Science

Is Bounty the "quicker picker upper?" Are expensive shampoos better? Are all antacids the same? Fourth grade students posed and answered these questions during a "Consumer Product Testing" unit in which they designed experiments to assess these pr...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Field Trips and Their Effect on Student Achievement and Attitudes -- A Comparison of Physical Versus Virtual Field Trips to the Indian River Lagoon

This study examined the effect of physical and virtual field trips on undergraduate, nonscience majors. No significant differences were seen in achievement, attitudes, learning styles, interactions between field trip and learning styles, or students�...

Journal Article

Mathematics in the Biology Classroom: A Model of Interdisciplinary Education

This article describes an interdisciplinary course that develops essential mathematical modeling skills within an introductory biology setting. The course embodies recent recommendations regarding the need for interdisciplinary, inquiry-based mathema...

Journal Article

A Decade of Concern: A review of multicultural science education issues in the The Science Teacher

Multicultural science education has long been of interest to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). As a result, The Science Teacher has devoted one issue each publishing year to multicultural science education. This article examines the i...

Journal Article

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (2004 List)

The annual list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for K-12 students was selected by a committee of National Science Teacher Association members. This comprehensive list of selected books were all published in 2004....

Journal Article

Scope on Safety: Greener is cleaner, and safer

Indigenous people of many continents have practiced the concept of going"green" for centuries--you should too! Green chemistry, or sustainable chemistry, substitutes nonhazardous chemicals for those that pose high risks, thereby reducing the quanties...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Interview Assessment

Do you worry that your high school chemistry students are not learning enough from lab activities? If so, it is possible that they aren't learning enough from writing basic lab reports. To encourage concept retention among students, try using Intervi...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Content Reading Strategies

Since effective reading and comprehension skills impact achievement in science, this collection of reading content strategies will be useful in helping students improve reading skills before, during, and after an exercise. ...

Journal Article

The Making of "The List"

Have you ever wondered how the mountain of trade books out there gets evaluated or how books are chosen as "outstanding"? The Outstanding Science Trade Books (OSTB) for Grades K-12 doesn't just magically appear but is the result of a careful evaluat...

Journal Article

A Rationale for Cultural Awareness in the Science Classroom

Across the United States, only 10% of all teachers are members of minority groups, indicating that teachers are far less diverse than the current populations of students they teach. The danger of this disparity is that the delivery of academics may h...

Journal Article

Are They Really Learning What We're Teaching? An Informal Survey and Student Self-Assessment

While enrolled in either the first or second semester of a two-semester human anatomy and physiology sequence, students self-assessed their mastery of material presented in the prerequisite course. Fifty-seven percent of the students reported that th...

Journal Article

Editorial: Tsunamis and Other Disasters -- A Response from Scientists Who Teach

Scientists who teach have a unique opportunity and an ethical obligation to ensure that the scientific and technical basis for analyzing natural and man-made threats is communicated to citizens. As predictions are borne out, scientists need to think...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Mock Immunoprecipitation - "Who Done It?"

Many biologists have admitted that much of what is taught in biology is explained with principles of chemistry and physics. Chemistry and physics demonstrations work as well in biology teaching as they do in their respective disciplines. The demon...

Journal Article

Editor's Note (March 2005)

In science, students learn about their place in the natural world. In social studies, they learn about our social systems and history. Both are vitally important subjects. What better way to "prepare students to lead personally fulfilling and resp...

Journal Article

Libros de Ciencias en Español (2005)

This article lists the current trade books in Spanish useful for young learners. Books are grouped under such categories as For the Very Young, Biology, Technology, and Physical Science....