All Resources

Journal Article

The Traveling Scientist

“We love science! We love science!” cried the first- and second-grade students at Rice Lake Elementary School in Lino Lakes, Minnesota. The science program for primary grade students here is so good that students wanted more. To satiate their add...

Journal Article

The Science-Mathematics Connection: Using technology in an interdisciplinary module

This workshop uses technology-based modules that emphasize multicultural instructional activities, materials, tools, and assessment for integrating concepts in Earth science, algebra, geometry, and statistics. Instruction in the culturally responsiv...

Journal Article

Tech Trek: Cool Science

Science teachers face many hurdles in their quest to train young minds to understand the precise planning, thinking, and actions required for success in this field of study. Read about the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Enviro...

Journal Article

Exploring Alternative Conceptions

Teaching is an inexact science. Even experienced teachers have difficulty assessing the effectiveness of their lessons and students’ mastery of concept. Teachers must be particularly careful to avoid introducing or reinforcing student misconception...

Journal Article

Commentary: Building on Strengths

An opinion piece about being positive with students....

Journal Article

Bringing Back the Analemma

Although the analemma derives from days when advances in technology meant building a more accurate sundial, the hands-on process of incrementally constructing a model of the analemma is still a worthwhile educational experience. It teaches science, p...

Journal Article

Chemistry Rocks: Redox chemistry as a geologic tool

Teachers can use students’ interest in the color in rocks as a starting point for a redox chemistry lesson. In this activity, each group of students examines one or more of the rocks. By matching a rock’s color to a form of iron allows students t...

Journal Article

All That Glitters May Not Be Gold

In this decision case, a congressional staffer must weigh a number of competing needs, including the popular reactions to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the need to eliminate vitamin A deficiency, in deciding how to present information to ...

Journal Article

Editor's Corner: Making a Difference

The Science Teacher’s editor shares thoughts on the current issue, as well as one of the authors sharing stories and background on her teaching career....

Journal Article

Rice is Rice, Right? Who knew that rice could facilitate inquiry?

Inquiry in the classroom can take many forms. The hands-on activity in this article is an economical and simple way to spark the inquiry process. Who knew that rice could facilitate inquiry?...

Journal Article

Leaders, Readers, and Science

It was students’ fascination with the television show Survivor that led the author to incorporate the novels Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World (Armstrong 1998) and Carry On, Mr. Bowditch (Latham 1983) into the science curriculum. For four and a ...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Building a Periodic Table

The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. In this month’s Idea Bank, an introductory unit on the periodic table of elements is adapted for a blind physical science student, and this unique adaptation en...

Journal Article

After the Bell: Bridging the Knowledge Gap

Driving over bridges may be a daily activity for many of us. But, do we ever consider the scientific factors that keep bridges intact and functioning when we go over them? This article offers suggestions for how to begin a scientific exploration of b...

Journal Article

Creative Writing and the Water Cycle

Creative writing provides one strategy for helping students combine their powers of imagination with their arsenal of knowledge. Teachers also can use creative writing exercises to assess student understanding of science content. Use the story, “Th...

Journal Article

Issues in Sociobiology: The nature vs. nurture debate

The implications of recent advances in genetic science have been called “America’s next ethical war.” Teachers should be prepared to discuss the controversial and sensitive dimensions of these topics because citizens will be faced with hard dec...

Journal Article

Exploring the Evolution of Plate Tectonics

Students often view science, especially Earth science, as being “set in stone.” They don’t realize that scientific theories are continually being developed, refined, and discarded as new information is discovered. The American Geological Instit...

Journal Article

Technology-Based Learning: Using water studies as the basis for an alternative teaching strategy

The Technology-Based Learning in School Science (tBLISS) project was developed with two purposes in mind—to investigate the feasibility of implementing a technology-based science curriculum with a small group of teachers and students and to examine...

Journal Article

Atomic Poetry: Using poetry to teach Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus

Most students regard literature and science as two separate subjects with no obvious connections to one another. This interdisciplinary, cross-curricular approach integrates the two to teach physical science students about atomic theory through Rober...