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Book Chapter
This chapter discusses teacher education from the preservice teachers—the period when they are learning to teach as undergraduate or graduate students—to induction—the period when they are making the transition from student teacher to an experi...
Book Chapter
This section offers insights about the uniqueness of teaching in a two-year college. Hello! Is Anybody Out There? explores one commonality that exists among many two-year colleges—isolation, including the social, financial, and political isolation ...
Book Chapter
Natural Forces of Decay and Renewal
Through biodegradation, dead plants and animals get broken down and so do the waste products they produce while living. For plants, these waste products include dead leaves and the remnants of seeds and blossoms. For animals, wastes include excrement...
Book Chapter
This section covers understanding biodegradation, including biodegradation protocols providing specific instruction on research. The section also provides techniques in interactive research for developing experiments and field studies using the proto...
Book Chapter
This section outlines possible assessment criteria for student research, as well as example assessment rubrics for posters and written reports. Engaging in peer review provides both opportunities and challenges for assessment. Some of the assessment ...
Book Chapter
Decay and Renewal presents an inquiry-based approach to studying biodegradation, the assortment of biological processes that cause organic matter to decay. Biodegradation occurs in nature and in human-engineered systems to prevent or clean up envir...
Book Chapter
Biodegradation Protocols: Introduction to Research
This section presents 14 research protocols. Using one or more of these protocols, students will be able to design and carry out their own experiments. Students will also experience some of the ways in which scientists work together to discuss ideas,...
Book Chapter
Interactive Research: Experiments and Field Studies
This section provides advice to help students choose from a wide range of ideas for research projects. It also provides a series of worksheets designed to guide progress through the various steps of designing and carrying out an experiment, presentin...
Book Chapter
Interactive Research: Wastewater Treatment Design Challenge
When engineers and scientists design systems for wastewater treatment, they must meet certain criteria concerning treatment effectiveness, and they must work within specified constraints such as cost. This section gives step-by-step directions for an...
Book Chapter
Understanding Invasion Ecology: Introduction
How can a single species of insect pose a threat to millions of acres of forests, orchards, and street trees? What can we do about the Asian longhorned beetle and other plants and animals that invade our farms, cities, and forests? The study of ecolo...
Book Chapter
Understanding Invasion Ecology
This section emphasizes one of the three main branches of ecology—population, community, and ecosystem. Extensive, real-life examples of how ecological concepts and principles can be applied to problems with invasive species are included. It also i...
Book Chapter
In assessing student research, clearly defined "right" or "wrong" answers rarely exist. Instead, the goal of assessment is to evaluate the process used by students and the conceptual understandings they have achieved through research experiences. Thi...
Book Chapter
Why Ecology of Invasive Species?
Students may think of ecologists as people who pick up trash and protest for a cleaner environment. In this book, the term ecologist is used to refer to scientists who study ecology—the study of relationships among organisms and between organisms a...
Book Chapter
Invasion Ecology Protocols—Introducing Research
This section is designed for students to learn some of the basic principles of ecology and how they can be applied to studying and managing invasive species. It will also help students experience some of the ways in which scientists work together to ...
Book Chapter
Beyond Protocols—Conducting Interactive Research
This section provides instructions for two research projects that students have carried out in cooperation with Cornell scientists and these projects could be of interest to other students. It also suggests ideas for research projects to conduct usin...
Book Chapter
Setting the Scene: Basic Rules for a Safer Science Classroom
Six classes, six teachers—just navigating middle school is a voyage of discovery for early adolescents. Students are offered a confusing array of choices, many in science. Sometimes it seems teachers spend too much science class time teaching organ...
Book Chapter
The Kitchen Sink: A Potpourri of Safety Tips
Middle school teaching isn’t just about the curriculum. When students rotate from class to class, minutes are precious. Teachers must plan to structure a class period to everyone’s best advantage, anticipating a myriad of issues that will have to...
Book Chapter
Live Long and Prosper: And Remember You Are Responsible
The teachers are the professionals—responsibilities include more than the education of students. The chapters in this book are meant to sharpen teachers’ observational skills so they can recognize the issues and circumstances that require attenti...
Book Chapter
Communities of Learners: Promoting Safety for Every Student
One pervasive theme in the National Science Education Standards is that goals are meant for all students—regardless of learning style, background, or ability. Supporting all learners becomes more difficult in middle school. Students exhibit greater...
Book Chapter
Where Science Happens: Equipping Your Lab for Safety
Unless a middle school facility was built fewer than 20 years ago, chances are it was originally designed and built for another purpose—a solution to an enrollment or facility problem—not an educational concept. But for inquiry-based middle schoo...
Book Chapter
Finders Keepers: Essentials of Safer Storage
It takes a lot of “stuff” to conduct a middle school science program. Middle school science teachers look enviously at their peers in the English department who neatly carry everything they need for class in a single tote bag. The science teacher...
Book Chapter
Lively Science: Live Organisms Are Worth the Work
Middle school is the perfect setting for teaching life science. Observing and studying living organisms are critical to a good, strong program. Preserved specimens, computer simulations, photographs, and videos may be excellent supplements, but they ...
Book Chapter
Modern Alchemy: Safer Teaching with Chemistry
From making mud pies in a sandbox to messing with a magic set and sending secret messages with markers that produce invisible writing, chemistry engages students’ passions for mixing things together and producing surprising results. Middle schooler...
Book Chapter
Falling for Science: Physical Science May Be Simpler Than You Think
Many students get their first exposure to quantitative physical science in middle school. The National Science Education Standards recommend that students study motions, forces, and transfer of energy during these years. These are ideal topics for pr...
Book Chapter
The Great Outdoors: Field Trips Near and Far
The classroom is rich with resources and activities, but some things simply can’t be done there. A strong investigative science program depends on providing students with the opportunity to collect and analyze data. Some data can be collected in th...
eBook
Help! I'm Teaching Middle School Science (e-Book)
Like your own personal survival guide, Help! I’m Teaching Middle School Science is a nontechnical how-to manual—especially for first-year teachers. But even veteran teachers can benefit from the plentiful ideas, examples, and tips on teaching sci...
eBook
Inquiring Safely: A Guide for Middle School Teachers (e-Book)
Not your average safety guide, Inquiring Safely is a uniquely readable resource from experienced teachers who know both middle school science content and how middle school students behave. The authors go beyond the standard rules and regulations to ...
Journal Article
Bread Making: Classic Biotechnology and Experimental Design
Bread making activities can help students meet local and national standards for scientific inquiry, experimental design, and problem solving. In the first activity, students make and observe yeast solutions. Then they predict what might happen when t...
Journal Article
Careers in Science: An interview with Artificial Intelligence expert Ruth Aylett
This column shares interviews with professionals using science in the workplace. This month’s issue features the field of Artificial Intelligence—the study of how computer systems can simulate intelligent processes....
Journal Article
Teaching Through Trade Books: Snowflake Science
This month's featured trade book, Snowflake Bentley, introduces students to a self-made scientist who spent his life taking pictures of snowflakes. Background information and snow activities for different age groups are included....
eBook
The Lingo of Learning: 88 Education Terms Every Science Teacher Should Know (e-book)
hat does “constructivism” mean? What is the difference between “reliability” and “validity?” You’ll be surprised at the ease of finding definitive answers to terminology questions like these with The Lingo of Learning. Ideal for the tim...
NSTA Press Book
Decay and Renewal (Student Edition)
Most of us throw or flush things away every day without thinking about the fact that there is no “away.” Whether discarded substances break down or not, they affect our environment. By investigating the processes in wastewater treatment, composti...
By Nancy M. Trautmann, The Environmental Inquiry Team
NSTA Press Book
Invasion Ecology (Student Edition)
Strange intruders are invading our part of the world, threatening our environment and our economy. These newcomers and their impact on our ecological balance are the focus of Invasion Ecology, a guide to learning skills for investigating the behavi...
By Marianne E. Krasny, The Enviromental Inquiry Team
NSTA Press Book
Everyday Assessment in the Science Classroom
Make ongoing, classroom-based assessment second nature to your students and you. Everyday Assessment in the Science Classroom is a thought-provoking collection of 10 essays on the theories behind the latest assessment techniques. The authors offer in...
NSTA Press Book
Teaching Science in the Two-Year College: An NSTA Press Journals Collection
Two-year colleges are critical to science education’s future—in fact, some data indicate that half of future science teachers will take their first years of science at a two-year school. To address the unique challenges of this special setting, T...
NSTA Press Book
The Lingo of Learning: 88 Education Terms Every Science Teacher Should Know
What does “constructivism” mean? What is the difference between “reliability” and “validity?” You’ll be surprised at the ease of finding definitive answers to terminology questions like these with The Lingo of Learning. Ideal for the ti...
By Alan Colburn
NSTA Press Book
Invasion Ecology (Teacher’s Guide—Includes Full Student Edition)
Strange intruders are invading our part of the world, threatening our environment and our economy. These newcomers and their impact on our ecological balance are the focus of Invasion Ecology, a new book that teaches students to investigate the beha...
By Marianne E. Krasny, The Environmental Inquiry Team
NSTA Press Book
Decay and Renewal (Teacher Edition—Includes Full Student Edition)
Are you looking for a new way to teach about respiration, nutrient cycling, energy flow, producers, consumers, and decomposers? Decay and Renewal provides techniques for students to learn the basics while investigating the science behind biodegra...
By Nancy M. Trautmann, The Environmental Inquiry Team