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Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: The Laporte Selection Rule in Electronic Absorption Spectroscopy

The Laporte selection rule states that electronic transitions between two gerade (g) states are forbidden; electronic transitions between two ungerade (u) states are forbidden; and electronic transitions between a gerade state and an ungerade are all...

Journal Article

The Molecular Evidence for Evolution: Narrowing the Definition of Evolution to Represent a Single Concept

The best way for students to discover how DNA sequences confirm descent with modification is to let them analyze data from the public sequence databases themselves. But first they must understand the significance of the sequences, and of variations i...

Journal Article

Learn with Levers

This is an exciting unit on levers that culminates with a student lever launch contest that takes them to Mars. The student whose probe lands closest to the center of Mars is awarded a medal and a small token of appreciation. Students and their famil...

Journal Article

After the Bell: The neurological tourist

Teachers sometimes have difficulty suggesting appropriate activities for specialized topics, such as neuroscience. This article directs students to a fully interactive activity-based learning program, and it all begins with a visit to the Neuroscienc...

Journal Article

Time-out for Science

The purpose of the time-outs, which last from five to seven days, is to sharpen and assess students' process skills. One of the keys to successful time-outs is developing an interesting selection of assessment tasks. This article provides a list to h...

Journal Article

Point of View: Scientific “Truth”—A Barrier to Understanding? Truth, Knowledge, and the Pursuit of Meaning in Science

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. In this month’s issue, the author discusses the question of proper usage of the scientific vocabulary—it’s not new and continues to be argued....

Journal Article

Journal Articles as Case Studies: The New England Journal of Medicine on Lactose Intolerance

Students use as the basis for a case study a journal article investigating whether people who claimed to have severe lactose intolerance really were unable to digest lactose. This type of case is referred to as an “issues” or “analysis” type ...

Journal Article

Editorial: Headwinds Over Kansas—Making Good on Our Commitment to Science Education

The Journal of College Science Teaching’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

The Case Study: Avogadro Goes to Court—The Price to Pay for Calculating the Cost of a Single Aluminum Atom

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. In this month’s issue, the case study was inspired by a novel assignment that Pace University Profe...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Contemporary Student Attitudes About Mathematics, Science, and Technology

To more effectively educate their students at Drury College in Springfield, Missouri, the authors developed a new, integrated science and mathematics curriculum (Deeds 1999) that emphasizes the nature of science and how we acquire scientific knowledg...

Journal Article

The Case Study: Avogadro Goes to Court

The case study that follows was inspired by a novel assignment that Pace University Professor Carroll Zahn gave to his introductory computer class. The result of this assignment was certainly far different than anything that either the professor or h...

Journal Article

A Workshop Approach: Using learning centers to teach early childhood science

The science workshop approach is a method of organizing learning centers in developmentally based primary programs. The approach centers on providing a series of meaningful experiences around core science concepts. These experiences are presented in ...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Biggest and brightest

This column focuses on astronomy throughout the year. In this month’s issue, learn about the two brightest planets—Venus and Jupiter....

Journal Article

The Fifty-Cent Optics Lab

Any teacher who has had the pleasure of giving students their first view of an image made by a handheld lens will agree that optics is addictive. Seeing how a magnifying glass works, building a telescope, and discovering that a partial lens produces ...

Journal Article

Writing to Learn

By using the writing process to explore science, students and teachers can find new ways of clarifying, revising, and consolidating knowledge. To achieve this goal, try using The Writing in Science Wheel activity described in this article. The Writin...

Journal Article

The Nature of Haiku: Students use haiku to learn about the natural world

Haiku takes advantage of children’s curiosity and interest in nature. The open-ended nature of haiku writing is motivational and student centered. Also, the simplicity of haiku allows children to have successful writing experiences. This article de...

Journal Article

Parachuting Paraboloids

A parachute drop is a fun way to engage students in science while sneaking in a lesson on average velocity, wind resistance, and gravity. The following hands-on activities ask students to first build and then test parachuting paraboloids (the larger ...

Journal Article

Playful Activities for Young Children: Assessment tasks with low reading and writing demands

Alternative assessments in science instruction have been developed for the upper elementary grades but are limited in the area of early childhood instruction. Because younger children have limited abilities in reading and writing, teachers have diffi...

Journal Article

After the Bell: Modeling museum collaboration

Entering a partnership with a local museum is a great way to gain access to materials, facilities, and science expertise that might be unavailable at the school. This article contains a description of a museum/school collaboration that can serve as a...

Journal Article

Tech Trek: Science on the fringes

Conducting investigations over extended periods of time that use process skills in context is important but it's hard to find the time for such an investigation. This article proposes a solution—“science on the fringes”—ongoing low-maintenanc...

Journal Article

Teaching Teachers: Taking the Good from the Bad

Creating an environment where preservice teachers can reach an understanding about the merits and problems of science activities was the rationale for development of a favorite assignment—The Worst Activity. This assignment helps develop critical t...

Journal Article

Science Object Boxes: Using object boxes to promote hands-on exploration of both concrete and abstract science topics

Object boxes—plastic shoe boxes containing carefully selected figures, toys, and household items—can provide a hands-on opportunity for students to explore both abstract concepts, such as scale, and more concrete topics, such as bird body adaptat...

Journal Article

Editor's Note: Is There Nothing New . . .

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