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…

Teaching Through Trade Books: It's Electric!

Journal Article | February 2013

This column includes activities inspired by children’s literature. In this month’s issue the authors use simple, safe tools to teach about electric circuits.

Favorite Demonstration: Demonstrating a Thermodynamics Fountain

Journal Article | April 2002

Cryogenic materials, mainly liquefied and solidified gases, are probably the most fascinating materials to use for demonstrating chemical reactions to introductory college students. A popular series of articles (…

The Early Years: Bring On Spring—Planting Peas

Journal Article | January 2009

Growing peas helps children who grow food at home make a connection between school and home by sharing their experience, and those who have never seen a field of crops make a connection between soil, weather, and food…

Enhancing Comprehension and Retention of Vocabulary Concepts through Small-group Discussion: Probing for Connections among Key Terms

Journal Article | April 2009

The word sort is just 1 of 30 active-learning and critical-thinking strategies that was implemented into a community college nutrition course over an academic year (two semesters) during a mixed-design research study.…

The Case Study: The Case of the Dividing Cell—Mitosis and Meiosis in the Cellular Court

Journal Article | January 2004

The Honorable Judge Cellular is presiding over the case of the State v. Egg Cell Number 6624223. As the prosecuting attorney calls each witness to the stand and the courtroom drama unfolds, students learn about the…

Idea Bank: The Area of an Irregular Object

Journal Article | April 2004

Science teachers are often looking for ways to integrate more mathematics applications into laboratory situations. Quantifiable data can provide students with a greater understanding of scientific concepts. Direct…