All Resources

Journal Article

Editor's Note (April 2004)

Have you ever worked with your students on some authentic problem? An issue in the school or community comes up and your class studies it? Most of you probably have. You have taught using some instructional technique for years, then someone "inven...

Journal Article

Editor’s Corner: Spirit and Opportunity

Throughout the 2004 school year, The Science Teacher (TST) feature articles focused on providing inquiry experiences with meaningful assessments in our classrooms. Issue themes focused on developing skills in the classroom for “doing science.” ...

Journal Article

Exploring Native Science

This article describes an innovative summer camp program that serves middle school Iñupiat and Athabascan students from the interior and the arctic regions of Alaska. The camp enables students to learn from Native Elders while completing hands-on sc...

Journal Article

Touchable Tornadoes

Tornado machines are scaled-down versions of the type exhibited in children’s museums. However, unlike those in the museums, these machines allow students to change the flow in and out of the tornado and observe how the twister changes. This articl...

Journal Article

Inquiry and Developing Interpretations from Evidence

When developing a rubric or criteria for assessment, teachers should be sure that they are accurately gauging student understanding. Good questions for teachers to ask themselves are, “What would I consider evidence of understanding on this task?�...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Scope it out!

A multitude of celestial opportunities were present during the month of April, 2004. This issue of Scope on the skies highlights some of the celestial events that occurred during this timeframe; such as planet conjunctions, the phenomenon of Daylight...

Journal Article

Teaching Through Trade Books: Exploring Ecosystems

This month’s Teaching Through Trade Books column explores the complex relationships of living things to their natural environment and to each other. Investigations for grades K-3 and 4-6 are included....

Journal Article

Ladybugs Across the Curriculum

A thematic unit centered in ladybugs offered cross-curricular opportunities for kindergarteners. A series of activities designed to build on individual learning styles included observing ladybugs, role-playing, drawing, peer sharing, and singing. A l...

Journal Article

Tried and True: Bean plants: A growth experience

To enhance a seventh-grade life science unit, the author had students grow bean plants in the classroom. Students were then able to observe roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit up close as they learned about them. Students who held misconceptions...

Journal Article

The Quest for the Perfect Weather Forecaster

Just how accurate are weather forecasters, anyway? How can a meteorologist from one television channel predict a completely different forecast for the same area on a different station? To answer these queries, this article describes two projects for...

Journal Article

Severe Weather

Educating the public about safety issues related to severe weather is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) mission. The National Weather Service (NWS)—which is part of NOAA and its parent agency, the Department of ...

Journal Article

Ooey, Gooey, FISH GUTS!

Hook your students onto inquiry-based science by implementing this ooey, gooey fish guts activity into your science curriculum. The author developed this fish dissection lesson as an inexpensive, safe, and clean alternative to the traditional and cos...

Journal Article

Problem Solvers to the Rescue

During a two-week summer camp, third and fourth graders participated in a series of hands-on lessons related to the concepts of mass and volume. Through these measures, organizers were able to assess students in several areas: scientific vocabulary, ...

Journal Article

Looking At Density From Different Perspectives

All too often middle school students equate density with one object simply being "heavier" than another. Even if students are able to accurately calculate the density of an object, that doesn't necessarily mean that they fully understand the concept ...

Journal Article

Severe Weather

Educating the public about safety issues related to severe weather is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) mission. This month's insert, Severe Weather, has been created by NOAA to help educate the public about hazardo...

Journal Article

Home Connections: Up Goes the Water

Have you ever wondered how water performs its gravity-defying act of moving upward from the roots to the leaves of a plant? How does water get all the way up to the top of a tall tree? This month's Home Connections activity demonstrates the process o...

Journal Article

The Adventures of the Bucket Buddies

Through Bucket Buddies—a collaborative online project—elementary students from more than 150 schools in 33 states and 6 countries have taken samples from local ponds and teamed up to answer the question: Are the organisms found in pond water the ...

Journal Article

Snail Tales

“Snail Tales” is an inquiry-based exploratory lesson for students to investigate learning and memory using common garden snails. This classroom laboratory is based on research by neuroscientists and best classroom practice....

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Expectations and Difficulties of First-Year Biology Students

In a study done at Tel-Aviv University, Israel, the author tracked 410 students who majored in biological sciences. He focused on different variables, such as students’ preferred instructional methods and learning styles, expectations from learning...

Journal Article

Mercury's MESSENGER

A salient feature of our species is the impetus to explore. Now that most of our own planet is well explored, the Space Age has opened the heavens for our excursions. One of the most challenging space exploration missions that will be conducted this ...

Journal Article

The Case Study: The Case of the Dividing Cell—Mitosis and Meiosis in the Cellular Court (Part II—Court is Back in Session)

The jury filed back into the courtroom, hardly visible to the spectators seated on the benches. Their tiny prokaryotic bodies seemed to bounce along to some inner music. There had been 3 days of testimony and the jury had become comfortable with the ...

Journal Article

Newton's First Law: Not So Simple After All

With the premise that even "simple" ideas aren't always understood by all, these demonstrations and hands-on activities were conducted to help third- and sixth-grade students understand the concepts behind Newton’s First Law....

Journal Article

Editor's Note (March 2004)

If science is the study of the natural world, how can we avoid physics and chemistry? Our students should understand the connections of the biological and physical realms before they hit the more abstract treatment in high school. This editorial in...

Journal Article

Career of the Month: An Interview with Microbiologist Dale B. Emeagwali

Although invisible to the naked eye, viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites can be found everywhere, from the air we breathe to inside our favorite foods. Microbiologists investigate how these organisms exist and affect our lives. Dale B. Emeagwali ...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Melting a Misconception

The following lab was originally designed to teach the importance of manipulating a single variable in an experiment. However, the lab also dispels a common misconception, teaches the value of following lab instructions, and provides a good working d...

Journal Article

Libros de Ciencias en Español (March 2004)

Spanish-speaking children, like children everywhere, are naturally interested in the world around them. If we are to encourage their understanding and appreciation of the natural and physical sciences, we should provide them with a wide variety of b...

Journal Article

Tried and True: Extending paper chromatography inquiry

With some ingenuity and forethought, teachers can make simple modifications to a standard paper chromatography lesson that will improve student interest and extend inquiry learning. After separating the components of a water-soluble marker, students ...

Journal Article

Preparing Undergraduate Women for Science Careers

To learn more about how the barriers women in science face can be eased or circumvented, the authors examined how an undergraduate research program prepared female undergraduates for science careers. The skills, confidence, and increased motivation t...

Journal Article

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12: Books published in 2003

The books that appear in this annotated bibliography were selected as Outstanding Trade Books published in 2003. They are intended primarily for kindergarten through twelfth grade. They were selected by members of a book review panel appointed by the...

Journal Article

Action Research for Teachers

In this article, the authors draw on their experiences as science teacher-researches and present practical guidelines for science teachers who want to learn more about conducting teacher action research. They participated in a yearlong collaborative ...

Journal Article

Hey, There's a Forest in that Classroom!

After a prolonged visit to an elementary classroom, this author was inspired to share his reflections on the effective combination of creative science teaching approaches he observed. In particular, the author highlights the unusual classroom envir...

Journal Article

Helping Students Make Connections

Science teachers want their students to attain scientific literacy for applications beyond the classroom. Unfortunately, many students view school, and especially school science, as disconnected from their lives and interests. Project-based science (...

Journal Article

Linking Environmental Science Students to External Community Partners

This article describes a course that integrates environmental science students into local community organizations. Despite initially high expectations, students who completed the course held negative opinions about their experience because of inadequ...

Journal Article

Science 101: Are there different types of force and motion?

"Red Rover! Red Rover let Jesse come over!" Young students are familiar with the observable effects of force and motion but may not have considered the many varieties demonstrated in simple ways every day on the playground. This brief article offers ...