Teacher's Toolkit: Teaching for transferal

Journal Article | March 2006

An area of cognitive science that may one day help connect neuroscience and education is the concept of transferal. Transferal refers to how the skills and knowledge learned in a classroom can be synthesized and taken…

Safe Science: Circuit Safety

Journal Article | October 2007

The study of electricity in general science or physics is fascinating for students. Unfortunately, a number of electrical dangers exist in the laboratory that are applicable to all types of science including biology,…

Charles W. Eliot’s Legacy to Science Education

Journal Article | December 1999

Had Charles W. Eliot—a young Harvard graduate trained in chemistry—accepted an offer in 1865 to become a superintendent of the Merrimac Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, the history science teaching in American high…

Tried and True: An Eggciting Alternative to a Science Olympiad

Journal Article | November 2008

This is a new twist on a familiar Science Olympiad event. By combining two possible outcomes, it allows students to make choices in an inquiry format. Students must think about materials, Newton’s first and second laws…

Every Drop Counts: Students develop public service announcements on the importance of water conservation

Journal Article | April 2002

Students research local water resource issues and translate this acquired knowledge into public service announcements (PSAs) on the importance of water conservation. This project provides a meaningful context for…

Science Fiction and Science Education

Journal Article | February 2002

Using science fiction films in the classroom can expose students to a wide variety of science topics. The films are particularly good for identifying student misconceptions, many of which are a product of these very…

Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12: Books Published in 2006

Journal Article | February 2007

Apples and oranges… and lychees and loquats—how can one compare? That’s the challenge when a team of NSTA’s best science educators attempt to select the best of each year’s science trade books. It’s been 34 years since…

Libros de Ciencias en Español: A selection of recent science trade books in Spanish (March 2009)

Journal Article | February 2009

Simple, lively, and easy-to-understand science books in Spanish for the very young are the new reality in the publishing world. In contrast to previous years where there has been a wider selection of books for beginning…

Using Mentoring to Foster Professional Development Among Undergraduate Instructional Leaders

Journal Article | August 2012

This study examines the mentoring relationships of student instructors who provide supplemental instruction for undergraduate science courses. Specifically, the authors examined the relationships negotiated between…

Everyday Engineering: Time’s up, turkey—Pop-up thermometers

Journal Article | October 2009

Meat thermometers can be awkward to use in terms of placement and avoidance of bones. Because of these problems, each year 30 million Thanksgiving turkeys have a built-in thermometer that pops up when the turkey is…

Patching the Leaky Pipeline

Journal Article | September 2002

The United States faces the critical task of graduating large numbers of individuals in mathematics, science, technical, and engineering fields. The first-year orientation course described uses female-friendly practices…

Sizing Up Science Competitions: Guidelines for choosing a science contest for students

Journal Article | August 1999

Each fall, teachers receive many packets in the mail announcing exciting science contests for students. Because many of these contests promise prizes, trips, and awards for winning students and their teachers, it is…

Editor's Corner: What Do Your Students Know?

Journal Article | April 2001

The Science Teacher’s editor shares thoughts on the current issue.

Project FLORA: Flora Love Our Revegetation Areas

Journal Article | March 2002

A small school district in southwestern Texas comes together to protect its own backyard. In this project students collected native seed, built a greenhouse to propagate native plants from this seed, learned to identify…

Editor’s Roundtable: International Year of Astronomy

Journal Article | March 2009

2009 has been designated the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) because it marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s telescopic observations of the Moon and other bodies in the solar system, which challenged, and…