Modeling Geyser Eruptions in the Classroom

Journal Article | March 2005

Watching Old Faithful transform from a smoldering mound to an explosive 50-meter high geyser is enough to generate awe in any observer. Geysers provide an excellent opportunity to explore th Earth system as described by…

Point of View: Death by PowerPoint?

Journal Article | April 2008

Presentation software is here to stay and, rather than avoid it, the authors recommend its judicious use, particularly for what it does best—provide a simple platform for projecting a rich assortment of images. Although…

Research and Teaching: Does the Color-Coding of Examination Versions Affect College Science Students’ Test Performance? Countering Claims of Bias

Journal Article | August 2007

To circumvent the problem of academic dishonesty through the mass administration of multiple-choice exams in college classrooms, a study was conducted from 2003 to 2005, in which multiple versions of the same…

Scope on the Skies: End of the line for a star like ours

Journal Article | January 2010

Stars of different masses have varying life spans, with the more massive stars “burning out” more quickly than stars of lower masses. How or what they do when they burn out also varies, depending on the mass of the star…

Research and Teaching: Attendance and Performance

Journal Article | February 2003

Class attendance by most students in nonmajors science classes is influenced by whether they receive points for attending class. If students do not get points for attending class, there is a strong positive correlation…

Science 2.0: Invitation to Inquiry

Journal Article | November 2010

Too often, students are not engaged in authentic questioning. Dan Meyer, a math educator, explains, “Our curricula are full of pseudoproblems wrapped in pseudocontext. We ask students to grapple with problems that only…

Building a Better Biology Lab? Testing Tablet PC Technology in a Core Laboratory Course

Journal Article | November 2008

Tablet PC technology can enliven the classroom environment because it is dynamic, interactive, and “organic,” relative to the rigidity of chalkboards, whiteboards, overhead projectors, and PowerPoint presentations.…

Savvy Consumers Through Science

Journal Article | February 2005

Is Bounty the "quicker picker upper?" Are expensive shampoos better? Are all antacids the same? Fourth grade students posed and answered these questions during a "Consumer Product Testing" unit in which they designed…

Student Teaching Tools: Key factors to remember in the classroom

Journal Article | September 2002

Upon starting the actual process of teaching you can never be completely prepared for the experience. This author identifies four key factors that will help you through student teaching: organization, confidence,…

Cell Structure Study: Students use microscopes and digital images to examine <i>Elodea</i>

Journal Article | September 2000

A common lab exercise in biology involves an examination of the fresh water plant Elodea. This article presents a modification to the traditional exercise using microscopes and digital images. This is particularly good…

A Workshop on UNIX, Workstations, and Internet Connections: Demontrating to Nonusers the Vast Potential of Today's Computers

Journal Article | August 1997

More and more of today's computer users need to keep pace with improved technology by enhancing their proficiency beyond word processing or spreadsheet applications to employ more sophisticated operating systems. The…

Assessing Students’ Ideas About Plants

Journal Article | August 2002

This article contains an interview protocol that will help you gather information about your elementary students’ ideas related to plants. By implementing the protocol, you will be able to discover what kinds of…

Tech Trek: Flash forward to problem-based science

Journal Article | October 2001

Read about The Reconstructors, a website designed to combine aspects of problem-based learning and science standards and deliver them over the Web via interesting multimedia.

Teaching With Crystal Structures

Journal Article | August 2009

Classifying a particle requires an understanding of the type of bonding that exists within and among the particles, which requires an understanding of atomic structure and electron configurations, which requires an…

Whiteboarding Your Way to Great Student Discussions

Journal Article | March 2006

Dry erase boards, sometimes called whiteboards, are a powerful tool for facilitating discussion within groups of students. When each group receives a large whiteboard and specific instructions about how to use the board…