JoinAll Resources
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about researching a problem. The probe is designed to determine the extent to which students are aware of the need to learn as much as possible about how others have solved a problem...
By Page Keeley, Cary Snider, and Mihir Ravel
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about brainstorming. The probe is designed to determine the extent to which students understand the norms of good teamwork during the brainstorming process. ...
By Page Keeley, Cary Snider, and Mihir Ravel
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about trade-offs. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize that trade-offs involve sacrificing one or more things in favor of another. ...
By Page Keeley, Cary Snider, and Mihir Ravel
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to provide practice in using a decision matrix. The probe is designed to see if students are able to interpret a decision matrix and to help you determine difficulties they may encounter. ...
By Page Keeley, Cary Snider, and Mihir Ravel
Lesson Plan
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ initial ideas and attitudes about the procedure that should be followed when testing models to determine if a design solves the problem. The probe is designed to see if students recognize ...
By Page Keeley, Cary Snider, and Mihir Ravel
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan
Web Seminar
Archive: Lab Safety Considerations for Back to School, August 31, 2020
This interactive web seminar will begin with an overview and framing of safety protocols specific for science/STEM laboratory considerations with Dr. Ken Roy, NSTA and NSELA Safety Compliance Advisor/specialist and Dr. Kevin Doyle of Morris...
Lesson Plan
Journal Article
By Stacey Forsyth, Kathryn Penzkover, Bridget Dalton, and Gigi Yang
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan
Journal Article
Effect of Exam Wrappers on Student Achievement in Multiple, Large STEM Courses
Metacognition, the ability to think about and regulate one’s thinking, is an important factor in effective student learning. One intervention to promote student metacognition is the exam wrapper—a reflection students complete after an exam noti...
By Linda C. Hodges, Lisa C. Beall, Eric C. Anderson, Tara S. Carpenter, Lili Cui, Elizabeth Feeser, Tiffany Gierasch, Kalman M. Nanes, H. Mark Perks, and Cynthia Wagner
Journal Article
English language learners are increasingly entering classrooms using student-centered instruction that places a greater emphasis on spoken language. While active learning is beneficial for a range of student outcomes, these practices force language...
By Benjamin Wiggins, Hannah Jordt, and Kerri Wingert
Journal Article
Learning Science With Mobile Technologies
The use of technology is increasing rapidly in our society, and classroom teachers must recognize the impact and importance of technology in the lives of their students. It is crucial that college faculty involved in teacher training design courses...
By Deepika Menon, Zarah Salas, Allison Mellendick, Meera Chandrasekhar, and Dorina Kosztin
Journal Article
The main objective of this study was to characterize the acceptance of evolution among biology majors. Semi-structured interviews were carried out to track the opinions of students in relation to two aspects of evolution: (1) attitudes toward evolu...
By Chad Talbot, Zeegan George, and T. Heath Ogden
Lesson Plan
Journal Article
Teaching Sciences With Impact Using the Lectorial Approach: Stimulating Active Learning
This article reports on students’ experiences of the lectorial approach that was implemented for health science students studying sciences at a South Australian university. A lectorial, based on active student-centered learning, is a newly-design...
By Jyothi Thalluri and Joy Penman
Journal Article
The United States is not graduating enough science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors for the increasing number of available employment opportunities and national security needs. The purpose of this study was to quantify the ma...
By Jessica H. Dwyer, Wilson J. González-Espada, Kimberly de la Harpe, and David C. Meier
Journal Article
A Research-Based Checklist for Development and Critique of STEM Instructional Videos
The technical barriers to video production are decreasing and the popularity of video as an instructional medium in science is increasing. Although a large body of education research is available to inform the selection and design of instructional ...
By Sherry Seethaler, Adam J. Burgasser, Thomas J. Bussey, John Eggers, Stanley M. Lo, Jeffrey M. Rabin, Laura Stevens, and Haim Weizman
Journal Article
Designing to Disrupt Traditional Conceptions of Scientific Competence
Pervasive narratives about who and what counts as competent in science disproportionately impact students historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and are perpetuated in the design of STEM courses. Equity-...
By Sabriya N. Rosemond, Erin S. Palmer, Kelly C. Y. Wong, Vishnu Murthy, and Angelica M. Stacy
Journal Article
Metacognition and self-regulated learning are skills that contribute to student success, but few studies have examined these topics within a community college context. We addressed this lack of understanding by asking community college biology stud...
By Matthew R. Fisher, Deborah Cole, Youngha Oh, and Sheela Vemu
Lesson Plan
NSTA Press Book
Once Upon a Physical Science Book: 12 Interdisciplinary Activities to Create Confident Readers
Download and read a sample chapter from this book to learn more. The authors of this book have been in your shoes. These experienced science teachers know what it’s like to work with students who struggle to understand their science texts. Once Up...
By Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, Matthew Hackett, Karen Kraus
Lesson Plan
Lesson Plan
Web Seminar
Archive: Back to School with NSTA, NSELA, and CS3, August 20, 2020
The National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), the National Science Education Leadership Association, and the Council of State Science Supervisors have created a series of one-pagers that focuses on quality teaching and learning in science and pro...
Lesson Plan
Web Seminar
Archive: Teacher Tip Tuesday: Technology Tips for Middle School Teachers, September 8, 2020
Are you in need of technology tools to support distance/remote learning? Join us for this edition of Teacher Tip Tuesday featuring middle school contexts with the choice of multiple breakout sessions focused on a suite of technology tools concluding ...
Lesson Plan
Web Seminar
Archive: Science Update: The Enduring Legacy of Henrietta Lacks, September 16, 2020
As we celebrate Henrietta Lacks’ 100th birthday, this web seminar presentation will highlight the contributions of HeLa cells to science and medicine, as well as NIH’s unique agreement with the Lacks’ family related to access to HeLa genom...
Journal Article
Codesigning With Indigenous Families and Educators
By Carrie Tzou, Elizabeth Starks, Meixi, Amanda Rambayon, Sara Marie Ortiz, Shawn Peterson, Paradise Gladstone, Ellie Tail, Arianna Chang, Elise Andrew, Xochitl Nevarez, Ashley Braun, Megan Bang
Web Seminar
Science Update: The Enduring Legacy of Henrietta Lacks, September 16, 2020
Join us on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, starting at 7:00 pm ET and learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks....
Journal Article
Comparing Academically Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Groups in an Active Learning Physics Class
Many methods have been developed for managing groups in active learning classes, but little research has been done on the effect of group structure itself. Results are presented for an active learning physics class in which half of the class was pl...
By Michael Briggs
Journal Article
Concept maps make connections between ideas apparent, and thus would seem ideally suited to demonstrate learning. Yet, they are not widely used by instructors, particularly in large university classes. In this paper we review the strengths and rati...
By Carl-Georg Bank and Heidi Daxberger
Journal Article
Measuring Computational Thinking Teaching Efficacy Beliefs of Preservice Elementary Teachers
With the release of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), assessing K–12 science teachers’ self-efficacy in Computational Thinking (CT) is an important research gap to study. Bandura defines self-efficacy as awareness of the individual�...
By Erdogan Kaya, Anna Newley, Ezgi Yesilyurt, and Hasan Deniz