All Pedagogy resources

NSTA Press Book

The Explore-Before-Explain Guidebook for Science Education: Creating High Quality Lessons for the Classroom and Professional Learning

PREORDER NOW! TO SHIP 7/1/2025 This guidebook uses an Explore-before-Explain instructional sequence to help you facilitate the design of active meaning-making lessons in science....

By Patrick Brown

Elementary High School Middle School Preschool Curriculum Pedagogy Phenomena Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning New Science Teachers Preservice Science Education Professional Learning old Teacher Preparation Sensemaking

NSTA Kids

Wild Wonderings: Scientists and Their Questions

Click here to view video of Wild Wonderings Let your curiosity run wild! This lively book will inspire you to ask questions like scientists do. Why? Because questions can lead you to amazing discoveries. Like what? Like when theoretical physicist ...

Postsecondary Early Childhood Elementary Informal Education Pre-service Teachers Preschool Technical and Vocational Education General Science STEM 5E Crosscutting Concepts Multilingual Learners Instructional Materials Inquiry NGSS Pedagogy Phenomena Science and Engineering Practices Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning Equity Inclusion Interdisciplinary Literacy Multicultural New Science Teachers Preservice Science Education Professional Learning old Teacher Preparation Sensemaking

NSTA Press Book

Wild Wonderings: Scientists and Their Questions

Click here to view video of Wild Wonderings Let your curiosity run wild! This lively book will inspire you to ask questions like scientists do. Why? Because questions can lead you to amazing discoveries. Like what? Like when theoretical physicist ...

By Jessica Fries-Gaither

Postsecondary Early Childhood Elementary High School Informal Education Middle School Pre-service Teachers Preschool Technical and Vocational Education General Science STEM 5E Multilingual Learners Instructional Materials Inquiry NGSS Pedagogy Phenomena Science and Engineering Practices Teaching Strategies Three-Dimensional Learning Equity Inclusion Interdisciplinary Literacy Multicultural New Science Teachers Preservice Science Education Professional Learning old Teacher Preparation Sensemaking

Journal Article

Using Group Roles to Promote Collaboration

Collaborating effectively in small groups is an important skill for students, especially in classrooms adopting science education reforms like the NGSS, but it is also an extremely challenging skill. In this article, I share how I use group roles as ...

By Marta Stoeckel

High School Equity Inclusion Pedagogy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Adapting a Field Research Course to High School Biology: Twenty Years of Leading Teenagers to do Science in the Woods

Direct experiences in the living world are a major ally in helping students understand biology and the practice of science, and in fostering a lifelong love for nature. The positive impact of field study on students’ experiences and outcomes, and t...

By Barry McPhail

Biology Environmental Science Inquiry Interdisciplinary Pedagogy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Powerful Practices for the Differentiated Science Classroom

At its core, differentiation stems from the recognition that individual learners arrive in classrooms, each day, with a wide range of knowledge, lived experiences, abilities, ways of thinking, curiosities, and dispositions. Differentiation challenges...

By Brooke Whitworth, Amy Snead

High School Curriculum Equity Inclusion Multicultural Pedagogy

Journal Article

Increased Pre-Lecture Reading and Greater Attendance at a Community College Gateway Science Course

Gateway science courses are an ongoing obstacle to recruitment into STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Students come to these courses with a high cognitive load, making success in the course challenging. Instructional de...

By Daniel Gertner, Allie Brashears, Na Xu, Holly Porter-Morgan

Postsecondary Pedagogy STEM Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

‘Strategic and Steady Can Win the Race’: Incremental exposure to novel pedagogies can help change STEM faculty ‘teaching and learning’ attitudes and practices

Evidence-based pedagogies to improve STEM student success are now recognized, but their successful incorporation can be hampered by STEM faculty wariness of novel pedagogical research. To support these pedagogies’ effective implementation, a resear...

By Nisaa Kirtman, Cary Smith, Teresa Demeritte, Debra Divinity, Vida Amouzandeh, Jo Anne Fordham, Mehri Fadavi

Pedagogy STEM Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

It’s personal and pedagogical: Peer Learning Assistants use multiple strategies to support student learning in college biology courses

As introductory college science courses transition from large, passive lectures to more student-centered active learning environments, additional instructional support may be needed. Peer Learning Assistants (PLAs) can aid course transformations by h...

By Brittney Ferrari, Peyton LaBonte, Julie Kittleson

Biology Pedagogy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Teaching Physics as the Awesome Rules of Nature

Focus on Physics...

By Paul G. Hewitt

High School Pedagogy Physical Science Physics Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Cultivating Teachers’ Indigenous Knowledge through Explorations of Milkweed and Phenology

Providing more equitable pedagogies to all students, including those who are traditionally underrepresented, is a high priority of science education. In this paper, we outline how we coupled Indigenous Ways of Knowing with investigations about plant ...

By Hillary Barron, Emily Mohl, Michele Koomen

High School Biology Inquiry Multicultural Pedagogy

Journal Article

Advocating for Science from Within the Classroom

By Jessica Fries-Gaither

Kindergarten Elementary Advocacy Leadership Pedagogy Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

Phenomenon Walks

For preservice K–5 teachers, understanding how to implement phenomenon-based learning in an elementary classroom is an important skill, particularly as it relates to integrating the Next Generation Science Standards. This article presents one way t...

By Steph Dean

Pedagogy Phenomena Preservice Science Education

Journal Article

“Flipping” a course: is it worth it? A multiyear analysis of interactive and student-centered pedagogy in an introductory physical geology course

This study summarizes the comparison of interactive lecturing and technology-supported student-centered pedagogy across six semesters of an introductory physical geology course. A multiple linear regression analysis of 967 student scores shows that a...

By Theresa Halligan, Cinzia Cervato, Ulrike Genschel

Earth & Space Science Pedagogy STEM Teaching Strategies

Journal Article

“Enhancing” exam wrappers with research into learning is associated with a shift in study strategies in a first semester biology course.

Students’ academic performance improves when they use active study methods and discussion of study strategy efficacy can impact students’ choice. Faculty often employ mid-semester wrappers to encourage student reflection on their study habits, so...

By Maya Sobel, Linden Higgins

Learning Progression Pedagogy Teacher Preparation Teaching Strategies