All Resources

Journal Article

How a Dragon Gets its Wings: A fanciful approach to teaching meiosis

The process of meiosis and its contributon to genetic variation are important concepts. But they are challenging for students, many of whom confuse meiosis with mitosis because of the similar terminology and likenesses in how chromosomes align during...

Journal Article

Eyes in the Sky: The Big Picture

Boost your students’ learning experience by using satellite imagery in the classroom. In the activity described here, students assume the roles of research scientists. They work in groups and analyze satellite imagery to investigate the effects of ...

Journal Article

Chemistry on Camera: Integrating technology into the science laboratory

Identifying useful, effective, and feasible methods of integrating technology into science classrooms is very important and can be challenging. With this in mind, this article features a relevant, innovative lab exercise that promotes construction of...

Journal Article

A Key to Science Learning

One way to help students develop their writing skills is through the “key-word process.” In this method, students select key words about a topic and then use those words to build their own sentences and paragraphs. The key-word process can be exp...

Journal Article

Commentary: Wanted—Advocates for science laboratory safety

An opinion piece about the need for safety in school science laboratories and how it has dramatically increased over the past decade....

Journal Article

Burning Questions About Calories

Encouraging students to define problems through asking questions about the topic has a positive impact on classroom morale. First, the teacher benefits from increased understanding of students’ knowledge and background. Second, because students hav...

Journal Article

After the Bell: Turn any science topic into hands-on fun

Many students are turned off by science even before they get out of grade school. This articles focues on making science a discovery process—not just a result—by creative teaching methods and a positive philosophy of science education....

Journal Article

Surveying Safety: How researchers addressed safety in science classrooms in Wisconsin

Safety is an essential ingredient in all facets of our lives and is especially important in today's educational settings. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction became very concerned when preliminary assessments of teacher understandings of s...

Journal Article

Integration and Integrity

This article describes a successful partnership between a special education teacher and a mainstream teacher. As a result, every student became more aware of their own abilities, of the diversity of the people around them, and of the science curricul...

Journal Article

Fact or Fiction? Female students learn to critically evaluate science on the Internet

To introduce students to computer technology, the authors used a web-based science project, “Tabloid Trash vs. Serious Science,” in several secondary science courses at Columbia School for Girls. Their intent was several-fold; given the growing u...

Journal Article

Editor's Note (March 2001)

Science and Children’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

Dynamic Teachers Re-NEW with NASA

NASA’s Implementation Plan for Education provides support to in-service educators in the areas of technology and science. Some programs include financial support, while others require district or individual financial contributions. NASA teacher enh...

Journal Article

Editor's Corner: Establishing a Multicultural Presence

The Science Teacher’s editor shares thoughts on the current issue....

Journal Article

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children—2001 (Books published in 2000)

The books that appear in this annotated bibliography were selected as outstanding children’s science trade books published in 2000. They are intended primarily for kindergarten through eighth grade. They were selected by members of a book review pa...

Journal Article

Conventions—Reasons to Attend & Ways to Finance

There are many obvious reasons to attend conventions, conferences, and workshops. In this article, the author describes the compelling reasons to attend these professional events and fondly remembers her experiences as an attendee at the NSTA convent...

Journal Article

A Journey in Teaching: The National Board Certification Process

The education field recognizes that children need time and encouragement to reflect on and communicate their understandings. By writing, speaking, and drawing what they do and learn, students’ conceptual understandings increase (Battista 1999; Jurd...

Journal Article

Grassroots Grant Writing

The National Science Education Standards states: “Conducting scientific inquiry requires that students have easy, equitable, and frequent opportunities to use a wide range of equipment, materials, supplies, and other resources for experimentation a...

Journal Article

Cultivating Cultural Appreciation: Addressing diversity through ethnobotany

The interdisciplinary activities described in this article require students to study various ethnic groups and cultures within a context of ethnobotany, which is the study of how people use plants. Students engage in perspective taking, learn to appr...

Journal Article

Tie-Dye Chemistry: A multidisciplinary activity for reviewing general chemistry concepts

In their travels to the indigo dye pits of northern Nigeria, the authors were struck by the beauty, history, and chemistry of indigo dyeing. They returned from Nigeria eager to develop a laboratory exercise that would expose students to the science o...

Journal Article

Brain Busters, Mind Games, and Science Chats

In addition to encouraging critical-thinking skills, brain busters, mind games, and science chats help to establish an atmosphere of wonder, contemplation, and speculation. They can also shed light on students' learning styles; their penchant for “...

Journal Article

An Authentic Science Conference

Students are interested in learning how science works, and an effective way to introduce elementary students to the nature of science is by explicitly incorporating it within the context of their regular science activities. Without this overt attenti...

Journal Article

Supporting Special Students: Including special needs students in the science classroom

Many secondary science teachers feel overwhelmed by directives to adapt curriculum and instruction for students with special needs. So, how can science teachers juggle their familiar responsibilities as well as the new skills needed in today's divers...

Journal Article

Singing in the Choir

Teacher preparedness programs like those offered by NASA rely on the vocal cords of the “choir” to spread the word about the motivational benefits of participating in such programs. In addition to gaining creative ideas, curriculum materials, equ...

Journal Article

Science Teacher as Student Abroad

The Summer Science Program at Bath University in England provides an intimate study of different approaches to teaching science; offers an informal and extended opportunity to work with educators from all over the United States, England, and many oth...

Journal Article

How Do You Choose Science Trade Books?

Using trade books is one strategy that has the potential to increase students’ interest and achievement in science; to enhance scientific and technological literacy; and to help open doors to exciting careers. Because there are over 120,000 childre...