All Resources

Journal Article

Why Do Students “Cook” Data? A Case Study on the Tenacity of Misconceptions

This paper describes an extraordinary example of data fabrication in which two students and their course instructor are so certain that they know how an experiment should turn out that they repeatedly dismiss contradictory data until they finally rep...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: To Reweave a Rainbow—Reflections on the Unity of Knowledge

An opinion piece about the "Unity of Knowledge."...

Journal Article

The Paradigm Changes: But Do Our Students Know That? Tracking the Gradual and Continual Evolution of the Periodic Chart

Although Mendeleeff presented his periodic chart in a paper to the German Chemical Society in 1869, its acceptance was a gradual process. The changes in the chart and its movement to its present position inside the front cover of all texts is a perfe...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: The Effect of Calcium on the Binding of Calmodulin to Calcium/Calmodulin Protein Kinase II: Demonstrating the Calcium-Dependent Binding of Calmodulin to a Target Protein

This exercise visually demonstrates that the binding of calcium to calmodulin changes its conformation to allow binding to a target protein, calcium/calmodulin protein kinase II. It introduces undergraduates to the concept of regulatory pathways cont...

Journal Article

Integrating Introductory Biology and General Chemistry Laboratories: Making the Necessary Connections Between Scientific Disciplines at Boston University

This paper discusses how two different laboratory sections can employ nontraditional investigative laboratory modules that integrate concepts from cell biology, molecular genetics, and chemistry. During each module, students analyze data, draw conclu...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Using Learning-Styles Data to Design a Microbiology Course: Addressing a Spectrum of Learning Styles at the University of Puerto Rico

Studies in learning theory indicate that active learning is more effective than passive learning (Matthews, Cooper, Davidson, and Hawkes 1995; McKeachie 1980). Today’s students must be independent thinkers who can function well as team members. Lis...

Journal Article

http://World Wide Weather: Involving students in GLOBE's real-life scientific research

Students at Norwood School and more than 8,000 other schools on seven continents (including Antarctica) learn how scientific research works by participating in the GLOBE program (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment). Involving...

Journal Article

Using an Environmental Science Course to Promote Scientific Literacy: Expanding Critical-Thinking Skills Beyond the Environmental Sciences

The scientific and technological issues surrounding environmental problems exemplify why teaching scientific literacy is so vital to environmental science courses. In this paper, the authors analyze some of the strategies that instructors of an envir...

Journal Article

Tech Trek: Distant partners

The projects in this article focus on how a team approach can take advantage of the best of the Internet. To spread the word about these projects information is posted on teacher listservs, discussion areas, and Internet clearinghouses for online col...

Journal Article

Enhancing Undergraduate Science Instruction: The G-Step Approach: Capitalizing on the Pedagogical Strengths of Science Educators and the Content Expertise of Science TAs

Only rarely do teaching assistants (TAs) attend professional development workshops designed to acquaint them with pedagogical models. Thus, new instructors typically engage in ineffective instructional methods built on their experiences rather than o...

Journal Article

Library of Conservation: Using children's literature to teach the concept of stewardship integrates science and language arts

As we try to achieve the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) and promote general science literacy for young children, we might begin by discussing conservation or stewardship. Children can readily understand the ide...

Journal Article

Editor's Note: It <b>Is</b> Exciting

Science and Children’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue and introduces NSTA's SciLINKS® connection....

Journal Article

Problem Solver: Teaching Tropisms

Plants are found in most locations in the world and have the remarkable ability to capture and store energy from sunlight. Without the green plant’s ability to carry out the process we call photosynthesis, Earth would be a lifeless, barren planet. ...

Journal Article

Flying through Genetics

When teaching heredity and genetics, a problem-centered, open-ended approach allows students to feel like scientists solving real problems. This investigation of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) gives students independence, responsibility, and o...

Journal Article

What College Science Faculty Can Learn About Change: The K-16 Continuum—Viewing School Teachers as Partners in Change

K–12 teachers, who sometimes know more about teaching and learning than college professors, can be a great source of information about effective teaching strategies. This paper presents a synopsis of typical K–12 experiences that college educator...

Journal Article

SCST: What Happened to Scott? Helping Our Students Through Online Courses and Distance Education

In this column the leadership of the Society for College Science Teachers (SCST) shares its views with JCST readers. In this month’s issue, the president shares thoughts about online courses and distance education....

Journal Article

Conceptual Change in the Classroom

When was the last time you tried a new teaching method? The conceptual change model of learning may be what you need. In this article, three teachers agreed to try the new teaching method and reported that modifying their established routine was easy...

Journal Article

Studying Our Skin: Students learn about skin using the learning-cycle structure

Investigative activities enabling students to explore the many purposes of our skin can create meaningful understanding of its functions. These activities can also help children construct an understanding of the skin as an always present but constant...

Journal Article

Video-Based Labs for Introductory Physics Courses: Analyzing and Graphing Motion on Video

Video-based labs are a powerful tool for improving student understanding of one of the most difficult and important topics in physics: graphs. This article describes common student graphing difficulties, the history of VBL, techniques for improving s...