JoinAll Resources
Journal Article
Idea Bank: Building Block Transcription
The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. This month’s Idea Bank features the structure of DNA and how it can be explored in various ways and how teachers can choose from among several commercial kits a...
Journal Article
Malaysian educators design a supplemental module that addresses the problems in their national science curriculum. “Elements of Life” (ELF) integrates chemistry, physics, and biology using a Web-based, student-centered approach, which includes a ...
Journal Article
Success with GPS: A look at hand-held technology in the science classroom
Certain technological tools have the capacity to extend student research, beyond traditional boundaries, creating an interesting environment as data are collected and analyzed in the pursuit of scientific studies. A global positioning system (GPS) re...
Journal Article
Science on the Run: Advice for teachers without a classroom
After moving to a school where he has no classroom of his own, a biology teacher embraces his new work style by honing his organizational skills, establishing and maintaining positive relationships with colleagues whose rooms he shares, and keeping a...
Journal Article
A Scientific Approach to Fly Fishing
In a novel approach to bridging scientific disciplines, the author presents a field-based course in which students investigate various aquatic environments and their physical and biological components using fly fishing as the medium of learning. Fly ...
Journal Article
The Trouble with Textbooks: Examining issues in science textbook selection
Previous studies show that most science teachers use science textbooks for most of their instructional time and this has been the norm for many years. So, what can effective science teachers do to overcome the obstacles of inadequate textbooks? The...
Journal Article
The University of Arizona’s Teaching Teams Program allows students who know their course’s lecture material and feel confident with their abilities to assist peers in understanding difficult concepts, completing projects, or solving complex probl...
Journal Article
Constructing Knowledge in the Lecture Hall
The standard lecture/note-taking format is not an effective way for students to learn introductory biology. However, it is difficult to implement an active-learning approach unless the students prepare adequately for class. This article describes a f...
Journal Article
Navigating the Active Learning Swamp
The authors surveyed 29 fellow faculty by asking them to define active learning, to rate how effectively different teaching techniques contribute to active learning, and to list the three teaching techniques they use most frequently. After exploring ...
Journal Article
Editor's Corner: As We Teach, We Learn . . .
The Science Teacher’s editor shares thoughts on the current issue....
Journal Article
Through the Massachusetts Parent Involvement Project (MassPIP), teams of community businesses, service organizations, school personnel, parents, and children joined together and planned and conducted science, mathematics, and technology related activ...
Journal Article
Commentary: He Should Have Seen It Coming When the Spiders Hatched
An opinion piece about education being a lifestyle and how an educator brings a spouse into that lifestyle....
Journal Article
Their Turn to Teach: High school students teach physics to elementary students
As all educators realize at some point in their careers, the best way to learn something is to teach it. This is also an excellent way to demonstrate a sound understanding of a topic. So, when the authors’ physics students spent time teaching at lo...
Journal Article
In Search of Cosmic Rays: A student physics project aimed at finding the origin of cosmic rays
The authors discuss the Cosmic Ray Observatory Project (CROP), focusing on their high school’s participation in the project. Students build and monitor cosmic ray detectors to count and study cosmic rays and to determine whether or not the time of ...
Journal Article
Editor's Roundtable: <i>Dragonfly</i>TV takes flight
Science Scope’s editor shares thoughts regarding the first season of DragonflyTV. ...
Journal Article
Research and Teaching: Gauging Students’ Learning in the Classroom
To find out what helps students to learn, the author administered Elaine Seymour’s Student Assessment of their learning Gains instrument to her introductory biology classes. Using the student feedback from the 1998 semester, she changed her teachin...
Journal Article
Project ASTRO is a nationwide program that pairs educators and their students with professional and amateur astronomers. Educators attend training and receive an activity manual and other curriculum materials to engage students in astronomy. Students...
Journal Article
Teachers can use these activities to teach students the basics of soil permeability, groundwater movement, and pollution risks. Students use inquiry to develop experiments in which they construct models, collect and analyze data, create graphical rep...
Journal Article
Creating Direct Channels of Communication
Biology students in a large-class, active-learning environment used e-mail and in-class written notes for student-instructor communication. Most students sent e-mail messages and about half were content-related. Messages from females and males reflec...
Journal Article
“How can we prepare students to function in a democratic society if we don’t model democracy in our schools and classrooms?” The author works with his students to develop the class syllabus and vote on which Earth science topics to cover, witho...
Journal Article
In the interdisciplinary, team-taught course described here, the authors use the subjects of art and art history to bridge to math and chemistry. Specifically, the course investigates ways in which chemical and mathematical concepts inform artistic t...
Journal Article
Practicing Real Science in the Laboratory
In a molecular biology laboratory, students study the role of the enzyme polygalacturonase in the softening of tomatoes during ripening, developing their own hypotheses and designing their own experiments. While the experiment is new to the students ...
Journal Article
Action Research Brings Results
Action Research, defined as long-term efforts by teachers to collect and examine their own data to make informed decisions about instruction, is one form of professional development that allows teachers to choose from a variety of options and design ...
Journal Article
Switching Students on to Science
The Extended Physics courses at Rutgers University provide a successful alternative to the traditional introductory physics classes for students at risk of failure. The authors discuss methods for addressing at-risk factors in introductory physics an...