Science Sampler: Eratosthenes visits middle school—Assessing the ability of students to work with models of the Earth

Journal Article | March 2009

In the exciting, “out of this world” activity described here, students measure the Earth using meter sticks while measuring their shadows in two distant locations. To obtain the size of the Earth, students discover the…

Teacher’s Toolkit: Promoting and supporting scientific argumentation in the classroom—The evaluate-alternatives instructional model

Journal Article | August 2009

This article describes an instructional model that science teachers can use to promote and support student engagement in scientific argumentation. This model is called the evaluate-alternatives instructional model and…

Science Sampler: Deal me in—Using playing cards to model the periodic table of elements

Journal Article | November 2010

Unfortunately, the terms “resource deprived” and “science teacher” are too often paired. Gaining access to inexpensive materials to teach with serves both teachers and students well, and simple materials do not…

Favorite Demonstration: The Brine Shrimp as a Model Organism for Biology—Arthropods Useful in Demonstrating Properties of Organisms

Journal Article | February 1997

Biology lectures expounding the properties of organisms can easily be enhanced with a living demonstration model organism—the large brine shrimp is one that students find interesting. This article features…

Combustion and Energy Transfer Experiments: A Laboratory Model for Linking Core Concepts Across the Science Curriculum

Journal Article | December 2006

Core concepts can be integrated throughout lower-division science and engineering courses by using a series of related, cross-referenced laboratory experiments. Starting with butane combustion in chemistry, we expanded…

Computational Thinking and Modeling

Playlist | July 2021

Engaging Students in Scientific Practices: What Does Constructing and Revising Models Look Like in the Science Classroom?

Journal Article | February 2012

In this article the authors look in-depth at scientific practice number 2—developing, evaluating, and revising scientific models to explain and predict phenomena—and what it means for classroom teaching.