Using Cooperative Learning to Introduce Undergraduates to Professional Literature: Assembling the "Jigsaw" Pieces in the Field of Environmental Communication

Journal Article | January 1999

The field of environmental communication focuses on how multidisciplinary science, natural resource management, and environmental policy are communicated to different audiences. This activity uses the "jigsaw" approach…

Reading Your Way to Scientific Literacy

Journal Article | September 2001

Having students read and analyze scientific articles gives them an understanding of scientific information as presented in the literature. After studying classic and recent research articles, students answer homework…

Point of View: Seen Any Red Pandas Lately?

Journal Article | February 2007

We humans are pattern finders and explanation seekers. Fortunately, many of our seemingly reasonable patterns and explanations have not withstood the test of time. For example, we no longer believe that volcanic…

Formative Assessment: Redirecting the Plan

Journal Article | August 2007

The science teachers at New Hampshire’s Concord High School are no longer satisfied with what Wiggins and McTighe call the “teach, test, and hope for the best” learning cycle (2005). These teachers have been stepping up…

Science and Social Studies in a Nutshell

Journal Article | February 2005

This articles discusses three practicum students and how they took students' interests in peanuts and expanded it into a full unit concerning nuts and the history behind them. In addition to observing, classifying, and…

Our Zoo to You

Journal Article | August 2003

An innovative zoo outreach program, Our Zoo to You, places zoo animals in local classrooms for extended observation periods. With guidance and support from zoo staff, students are able to safely experience a variety of…

Idea Bank

Journal Article | November 2000

The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. In this month’s Idea Bank find out about filling a void with music—physics mood music—and find out the answer to this question, "Do…

Rock Cycle Roulette: Using dice and probabilities, students interactively learn about the rock cycle

Journal Article | October 2000

Teachers of environmental science, Earth systems, geology electives, or traditional Earth science courses must teach the rock cycle at some point in the curriculum. This activity moves students through the rock cycle…

Minimizing Misconceptions: Tools for identifying patterns of reasoning

Journal Article | October 2002

By distinguishing clear patterns of reasoning, teachers can face the long list of student misconceptions without feeling overwhelmed. This article offers chemistry teachers a useful tool that describes eight thinking…

Switching Students on to Science

Journal Article | October 2001

The Extended Physics courses at Rutgers University provide a successful alternative to the traditional introductory physics classes for students at risk of failure. The authors discuss methods for addressing at-risk…

Making Your Science Program Work

Journal Article | February 2000

Although improvisation is a skill that can be mastered, it does require a bit of patience and persistence, especially when you’re just starting out. The following article is designed to help new teachers make a smooth…

Methods and Strategies: Enhancing Science for ELLs

Journal Article | December 2008

The elementary classroom is changing, and English Language Learners (ELLs) are frequently a part of the mainstream classroom, learning alongside of native English speaking children, even when the ELLs’ language has not…

LabWrite: Transforming Lab Reports from Busy Work to Meaningful Learning Opportunities

Journal Article | October 2005

Lab reports are the dreaded assignments of the laboratory course. Students dislike them, because they can be tedious and time-consuming. Instructors dislike them, because they significantly increase the grading load.…

Editor's Corner: Community Collaboration

Journal Article | March 2006

Science activities that take students outside the school walls can combine the best aspects of service to the community, problem-based learning, and lessons in good citizenship. Over the past half-decade, The Science…

Unit Pages: Differentiation for 200 Students

Journal Article | January 2010

Based upon the models of differentiated instruction (Tomlinson and Edison 2003) and Layered Curriculum (Nunley 2004), the author the Unit Pages strategy. Just like Layered Curriculum, the pages can be handed directly to…