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We have a new principal. She doesn’t seem to understand what it’s like to be a science teacher. For example, she wants to schedule non-science...
By MsMentorAdmin
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It used to be that a unit on the polar regions focused on historical explorations or cute stories about polar bears and penguins. But with the Intern...
By Mary Bigelow
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Does it seem to you that the pigeons and seagulls that roost and circle the grocery parking lot are more active in winter? I wonder if they are really...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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My school wants to encourage more parental involvement. Any suggestions? —Madeleine, Lafayette, Louisiana ...
By MsMentorAdmin
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Hello out there! Ann Cutler begins blogging for JCST
Most of the time, the inside of my head feels twenty five years old. In the same way that human height seems to reach an apex at about that time, I be...
By AnnC
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I was in an elementary school where scientists from a nearby university visited the schools periodically to work with the students on a variety of act...
By Mary Bigelow
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Request for resources for guiding teachers to become more inquiry based in their teaching
The NSTA Elementary Science List had an interesting query last week: Steve Geresy asked if anyone has any great books on Early Learning Inquiry that h...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Next year there will be an opening in the middle school science department. Although I love teaching high school chemistry (my current assignment), I&...
By MsMentorAdmin
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I was facilitating a workshop once, and I overhead these statements from two science teachers: My students are so busy, they don’t have time to ...
By Mary Bigelow
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Give children tools for exploring a concept and they almost always show me a new way to teach it. In a session of flashlight and mirror exploration, W...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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Overcoming socioeconomic hurdles
Do you have any advice for working with students in a low-income school? This is my first year in this school, teaching 9th grade environmental scienc...
By MsMentorAdmin
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I was in a school once where the teachers did a “winter” unit on penguins with activities that included trade books, puzzles, writing acti...
By Mary Bigelow
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I would like to curl up in a cave until this sore throat and runny nose goes away. And I would like to know exactly how to prevent the spread of cold ...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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A classic activity to show that air is matter and takes up space is to tuck a piece of tissue into a small clear jar, up end the jar and lower it into...
By Peggy Ashbrook
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I’m mentoring a new science teacher. I’ve never done this before, so I’m asking teachers, “What’s the best advice your m...
By MsMentorAdmin