Middle School Resources

Grades 6-8, is a time of tremendous physical, emotional, and cognitive changes for students. It is also a pivotal time for understanding and gaining enthusiasm for science.

Featured Resources

Social-Emotional Learning in the Science Classroom

From the Editor's Desk...

Journal Article

Fieldwork Fridays: Connecting Scientific Learning to Nature

Building routines around place-based learning allows students to apply their scientific learning to nature and form a connection with their local environment and the species in it over the course of a school year. Each Friday, in what are referred to...

Journal Article

Unlocking the Power of Emotional Connections: Strategies for Teaching Climate Change in Middle School

In the face of the escalating climate crisis, effective climate education is imperative, not only for imparting knowledge, but also for inspiring action. This paper explores innovative strategies for teaching climate change in middle school, recogniz...

Journal Article

Dyeing to Last: Using Natural Dyes to Create an Ideal Fabric

In this project-based lesson, students explore how chemistry concepts relate to creative expression by investigating a variety of dyeing conditions. Through sequenced discussions and investigations, students arrive at a dyed cotton product that optim...

Journal Article

Journal and Lesson Plans

Middle School Journal

Lesson Plans

NSTA Competitions

Shell Science Lab Challenge

For teachers

eCYBERMISSION

For teachers and students, grades 6-9

Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision

For students, grades K-12

Bestselling Middle School Books

NSTA Press Book

The NSTA Atlas of the Three Dimensions

New in 2020! Download and read a sample chapter from this book to learn more.A key aspect of learning in K–12 education is the idea that what students know and are able to do grows and evolves over time. Simple ideas learned in the early elementary...

NSTA Press Book

Big Data, Small Devices: Investigating the Natural World Using Real-Time Data

Now your students can transform their mobile phones and tablets into tools for learning about everything from weather to water quality. Big Data, Small Devices shows you how. This book is designed for Earth and environmental science teachers who want...

NSTA Press Book

Disciplinary Core Ideas: Reshaping Teaching and Learning

Like all enthusiastic teachers, you want your students to see the connections between important science concepts so they can grasp how the world works now—and maybe even make it work better in the future. But how exactly do you help them learn and ...

NSTA Press Book

Problem-Based Learning in the Life Science Classroom, K–12

Problem-Based Learning in the Life Science Classroom, K–12 offers a great new way to ignite your creativity. Authors Tom McConnell, Joyce Parker, and Janet Eberhardt show you how to engage students with scenarios that represent real-world science ...

Latest Resources

Member Web Seminar

OpenSciEd Teacher Training: Best Practices for Success: Making Participation Inclusive During Discussions, February 26, 2026

Class discussions are at the heart of OpenSciEd’s instructional model, but ensuring that all students feel empowered to participate can be a challenge....

Member Web Seminar

OpenSciEd Teacher Training: Best Practices for Success: The Putting the Pieces Together Routine, January 28, 2026

Join us on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET, to strengthen your use of this powerful routine—and support your students in putting the pieces together to build lasting understanding....

Member Web Seminar

OpenSciEd Teacher Training: Best Practices for Success: Student Notebooks and Progress Trackers, November 19, 2025

Are your students making their thinking visible? OpenSciEd’s student notebooks and progress trackers are essential tools for supporting sensemaking, self-assessment, and learning over time—but only if they are used intentionally....

Member Web Seminar

OpenSciEd Teacher Training: Best Practices for Success: Scientists Circle, September 25, 2025

Looking to deepen student engagement and discourse in your OpenSciEd classroom? Join us on Thursday, September 25, 2025, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET, for a focused, practical webinar on implementing the Scientists Circle, one of OpenSciEd’s key ...

Member Web Seminar

Instructional Routines to Support Sensemaking, March 11, 2026

Helping students make sense of complex scientific ideas requires more than just content delivery—it requires purposeful, consistent opportunities for thinking, talking, and connecting ideas. Instructional routines are structured, repeatable str...

Web Seminar

Learn and Lead: How to Support Teachers Making the Shift to 3D Teaching and Learning, January 21, 2026

As science education evolves, the shift toward three-dimensional (3D) teaching and learning—integrating disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and science and engineering practices—represents a transformative opportunity for educ...

Web Seminar

Learn and Lead: What is 3D Learning? Practical Guidance for Leaders, October 29, 2025

Three-dimensional (3D) learning is at the heart of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and today’s science education reform—but what does it really look like in classrooms, and how can leaders support its implementation system wi...

Member Web Seminar

Building a Culture of Sensemaking: Creating Classrooms Where Student Thinking Drives Learning, August 27, 2025

What does it take to create a science classroom where students feel empowered to share their ideas, ask questions, and figure things out together?...

Member Web Seminar

What Are High-Quality Instructional Materials? Understanding the Essentials for Effective Science Teaching, August 12, 2025

What makes instructional materials high quality—and how can you tell the difference between a resource that simply covers content and one that truly supports deep, three-dimensional learning?...

Member Web Seminar

Why High-Quality Instructional Materials Are Not Enough: The Case for Curriculum-Based Professional Learning, November 20, 2025

Join us on Thursday, November 20, 2025, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET, to learn how aligning professional learning with instructional materials creates the conditions for lasting instructional change—leading to more coherent, and engaging science ...

Member Web Seminar

Sensemaking in the Science Classroom: Building the Foundations for Deeper Learning, November 4, 2025

What does it really mean for students to make sense of science?...

Member Web Seminar

Secondary Classrooms: Demystifying the Practice of Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking, February 12, 2026

Join us on Thursday, February 12, 2026, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM ET, to immerse yourself in classroom-ready lessons that spark authentic engagement in Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking—a powerful but often unfamiliar science and engin...

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