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Evolving 'Controversy' in School
I was considering sending a general email to our staff after learning a few teachers are telling students that evolution is wrong. At the very least I would like for my colleagues to be benign and not detrimental. What are your thoughts? – G., Ohi...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Choosing Instructional Materials: Lessons Learned
Throughout my career as an educator, I’ve had many opportunities to select instructional materials. One experience is particularly memorable because I learned then that how you select instructional materials can be as important as what materials ar...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading Program Helps Students Develop Explanations
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) encourage three-dimensional thinking in students. 3-D thinking, and the process of developing scientific explanations, are curiosity-driven: They involve wondering, posing questions, and making observation...
By Jim McDonald
Blog Post
As a former elementary science specialist, I am familiar with the elementary teacher’s skill set. They excel at managing a classroom, are very organized, and love a great mentor text—a text that is an example of good writing. However, many don’...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Why Don’t Antibiotics Work Like They Used To?
Why don’t antibiotics work like they used to? is an NGSS-aligned storyline developed by the Next Generation Science Storylines Project that focuses on natural selection and other mechanisms of evolution. Wayne Wright and I (Holly Hereau) teac...
By Holly Hereau and Wayne Wright
Blog Post
My middle school would like to host a science night for the district. Do you have any ideas? —S., Illinois...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
President Releases FY2019 Budget
President Trump released his budget for FY2019 programs on Monday, February 12, and, as expected, has requested significant cuts to key grant programs in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Administration is requesting $63.2 billion in disc...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s February 2018 K-12 journals
Regardless of what grade level or subject are you teach, as you skim through the article titles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting your students or the inspiration to adapt/create your own....
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
What do you typically do after administering a test or a midterm to help students make necessary corrections and, thereby, reinforce the concepts that were not understood? – J., New York ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Farm: animals & a beginning understanding of hereditary
Figure 1 — Pie chart showing estimated proportions of different groups of organisms on Earth today, by numbers of species....
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Congress Agrees to Two-Year Budget Deal that Will Increase Ed Funding
Congress Reaches Agreement on FY2018 Budget After a short (five hour plus) government shutdown, and last minute debate (and drama) in both the Senate and House over spending, immigration, and more Congress agreed to a two year spending d...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
My school requires science fairs for all ninth graders. How do you encourage students to ask questions that don’t just come from books or websites? – L., Massachusetts ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Unlocking Science in Breakout Games
Dean Goodwin, upper-school science teacher at The Tatnall School in Wilmington, Delaware, uses breakout box games that allow his students to...
By Debra Shapiro
Blog Post
How can I help my students get the most out of their lab experiences? —J., Tennessee A lab that follows a step-by-step “recipe” does not challenge students to think much. Allowing them to design their own experimental procedures and identify v...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Science Is Taking over Atlanta This March! Top 10 Reasons Why Educators Need to Be There
Come to Atlanta this March and immerse yourself in everything science. The NSTA National Conference on Science Education has something for every science teacher. Four days packed with useful information and resources that teachers can use in the clas...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
How Teachers Are Retooling Lessons Using the EQuIP Rubric
Sometimes finding the right book or article can be the key to opening our minds to new ideas. A few years back, NSTA published a special journal series on the NGSS, and I recently re-read a few of them. Three in particular highlighted teachers’ exp...
By
Blog Post
Counting birds and winter jackets
The next Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is February 16-19, 2018!...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Q and A With Jim Short on Instructional Materials
Why do instructional materials for science need to change?...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
What is Engineering's Place in STEM Certification? ASEE Responds
Engineering historically has had a very limited presence in K-12 education outside of specialized schools and a few out-of-school activities. That changed dramatically with the release of the Next Generation Science Standards which explicitly inclu...
By Korei Martin
Blog Post
Collaborating on a Vision for NGSS Instructional Materials
Recently, state science teachers associations in four states that had adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)—California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington—worked together to address the critical role that review and selection of high-q...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Amid controversy and conversations around immigration, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, budget caps, children’s health insurance, and more, federal lawmakers could not come to an agreement on final spending for FY 2018 federal pr...
By Jodi Peterson
Blog Post
Sharing Enthusiasm to Increase STEM Interest
Ricky Arnold. Photo credit: NASA By Ricky Arnold An unexpected thunderstorm during my ninth-grade Earth science class led me to an equally unexpected career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and then to NASA....
By Guest Blogger
Blog Post
I’ve been considering adding some live animals to my classroom for my students to study. What should I consider before taking the leap? —K., Washington ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
The Carson MicroMini 20x Pocket Microscope: An ounce of magnification is worth a pound of words.
There are a surprising number of so-called “Pocket Microscopes” available today. I even remember pocket microscopes advertised in the pages of comic books back when I was a kid. And at that time, comic books were not targeting adult readers. Ther...
By Martin Horejsi
Blog Post
The science teacher must be prepared to clean up minor spills that may occur in the lab and know how to proceed in the event of a major spill. A proper response could prevent major disruptions to science laboratory operations, damage to laboratory eq...
By Kenneth Roy
Blog Post
Here's Why Elementary Science Teachers Will Love #NSTA18 Atlanta
NSTA is headed to Atlanta for our 2018 National Conference on Science Education, March 15-18, and we have incredible things in store for elementary teachers! The first thing you’ll want to put on your schedule is the Elementary Extravaganza on ...
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Blog Post
I have a few students who test me, as well as my mentor teacher, in most directions and instructions that we give and will abuse the science materials. Any suggestions on how to address this behavior? – D., Maryland ...
By Gabe Kraljevic
Blog Post
Choosing resources for early childhood science learning
Choosing resources for early childhood science learning that are scientifically accurate, developmentally appropriate, and reference research about learning, requires educators to have time to review resources ourselves, or access to reviews by exper...
By Peggy Ashbrook
Blog Post
Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s January 2018 K-12 journals
Installing Glass Walls and Doors in the Science Classroom, a commentary in Science Scope, describes what collaborative teacher teams “look like” in science and is appropriate for teachers at all grade levels to begin or fine-tune the proc...
By Mary Bigelow
Blog Post
Eureka! Grade 3-5 Science Activities and Stories
Elementary teachers have to balance the challenges of literacy instruction with high stakes testing and content area instruction. What teachers need to achieve this delicate balance is a text that can be both an instructional tool and a step-by-ste...
By Carole Hayward
Blog Post
Growing a Turnip and Growing Professionally: Resources at every step of the way
Resources that support early childhood science learning may be ideas or lesson plans for specific investigations by children, or be information for educators about children’s learning progressions, research into how children learn, science content ...
By Peggy Ashbrook