JoinAll Blog Posts
Blog Post
NSTA Emeritus Executive Director Gerry Wheeler shared his thoughts on the challenges facing science education in the coming decade in the Robert H. Karplus Lecture. He noted that although students’ lives outside the classroom are changing drama...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
Featured speaker Larry Lowery’s lively presentation at the San Francisco NSTA conference highlighted research findings about how children learn to inspire teachers to incorporate new practices in their classrooms....
By Claire Reinburg
Blog Post
Scorpions, free materials, and more
One thing about attending a NSTA conference, you get to try local cuisine, as well as an occasional unusual treat. I just spoke to this teacher from Pittsburgh who told me he sampled a scorpion in the exhibit hall. The chef didn’t recommend any...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
It's not just teachers…part 2
In addition to science educators, you also run into some interesting characters… Some attendees have more than two legs...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
NSTA—it's not just teachers!
The name may be National Science Teachers Association, but our members—and conference presenters—are involved at all levels of education. Improving STEM Teaching and Education: A Superintendent’s Symposium featured four Bay-area sup...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
A sloth is just one of the unexpected sights in the NSTA exhibit hall!...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
I had an email from a former colleague who said that the conference must be a science teacher’s paradise. She’s right. Where else can you...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
More of what attendees are saying
I have talked to conference attendees and presenters who have come to San Francisco from all over the country. California, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and everywhere in between. Some are here for their first conference, others are attending ...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
It’s not quite 7 a.m. here in San Francisco, but it looks like a number of people are getting an early start. When I arrived at the conference center a few minutes ago, I saw several people headed in, apparently on their way to some early sessi...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
I went to a session this morning for conference first-timers, as a veteran conference-attender. NSTA staff and office holders welcomed the “newbies” and guided them through a discussion of the many options for sessions and events. Each ...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
A panel discussion on the Next Generation of Science Education Standards with NSTA executive director Francis Eberle; Helen Quinn, chair of the board on Science Education, The National Academies in Menlo Park, California; and Stephen Pruitt, vice pre...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
Talking about science education
It’s been a busy morning at the national conference. Although the exhibit hall didn’t open until 10 a.m., many sessions started much earlier. I had to chance to talk to some attendees between sessions and it sounds like everyone is looking fo...
By Lynn Petrinjak
Blog Post
I just had the honor of being a guest at the NSELA breakfast—a star-studded event if I ever saw one in the science education community!...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
I’m finding it hard to believe that it was 25 years ago that I attended my first NSTA conference—here in San Francisco. I remember going home with lots of new ideas to improve my teaching, a ton of materials (no charge for checked bags th...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Should science be taught in a Spanish immersion class?
You never know who you might meet in the airport. Another NSTA staffer and I were waiting for our flight at Dulles and discussing our plans to put our soon-to-be kindergartners in a Spanish immersion program. A woman in a nearby seat piped up that sh...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director