Cold Scat Creamery: Using Ice-Cream-Parlor Tricks to Create Fake Scat

Journal Article | March 2013

Create fake scat that reflects animal diets and have students learn about local wildlife, animal sign identification, and a variety of animal diet classifications.

Turf Protecting Toxins

Journal Article | September 2002

Allelopathy is a naturally occurring process by which chemicals produced by a plant have a detrimental effect on competing plants. This activity explores how trees protect their limited resource through chemical warfare.

Science Sampler: The science of Murphy's Laws

Journal Article | October 2003

Murphy's Laws are a collection of statements that basically reinforce the notion that if something can go wrong, it will. They provide an innovative, entertaining vehicle for introducing students to doing science.

Making Connections with Digital Data: Digital camera technology helps students draw connections between their hypotheses, data, and inferences

Journal Article | December 2003

Digital cameras can provide added value to classroom data collection allowing the students to make visual connections between their hypotheses, data, and inferences. Digital data appears more concrete and "real" to…

Ask the Experts—October 2007

Journal Article | September 2007

In this month’s column, the experts address the following question: When you lose 10 pounds, where does it go?

The Prairie Science Class

Journal Article | March 2005

Students from a rural middle school in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, joined with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore a native tallgrass prairie. The students, known as the Prairie Science Class, discovered that…

Tech Trek: Probing for Answers

Journal Article | December 2003

Recent advances in data-collection technologies have given students access to the same types of probes used by scientists in research labs. Probes allow students to collect data on variables such as pH, acceleration,…

Science Sampler: Bushwhacking for Bones

Journal Article | January 2004

An Earthwatch Institute Moose and Wolves Expedition to Isle Royale in Lake Superior was an excellent professional development opportunity in which the author built camaraderie with fellow teachers and created a predator…

Society for College Science Teachers: What They Don't Know

Journal Article | June 2006

When you read the title, your first thought it was probably about the undergraduates you are teaching and perhaps some "common scientific knowledge" that they should have acquired in high school. Perhaps you started…

Editor's Corner: Experiencing Emotional Science . . .

Journal Article | November 2000

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

Early Years: Teaching Young Scientists About Their Bodies

Journal Article | August 2012

Children create models to develop understanding of how bones function to support vertebrate animal bodies.

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…