JoinNSTA’s K-College Science Education Journals: April/May 2014 Issues Online
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Posted on 2014-05-05
Science for All is the theme of our high school journal this month, but all four of NSTA’s grade-level journals are full of the types of ideas and lessons that promote a quality science education for all. This month’s K–College journals from the National Science Teachers Association have a wealth of articles on how to make the most of the great ideas and possibilities that your peers are sharing.
Science and Children
This issue of Science and Children is all about encouraging language development in science. Read on for ideas, strategies, and tips on how you can support literacy skills in your science lessons.
Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers with out a fee):
- A Healthful Balance
- Assessments in the Arguments
- Free – Editor’s Note: Building Language for Science Literacy
- Friction in Different Languages
- Free – Guest Editorial: The BSCS 5E Instructional Model: Personal Reflections and Contemporary Implications
- Free – Observe, Explain, Connect
- Putting the “Her” in Science Hero
- Full Table of Contents
Science Scope
The Next Generation Science Standards focus on four core ideas in the physical sciences—Matter and Its Interactions; Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions; Energy; and Waves and Their Application in Technologies for Information Transfer. Use the activities in this issue to help you integrate these physical science concepts into your middle school science curriculum.
Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):
- Free – Editor’s Roundtable: The NGSS Call to Reengineer Your Curriculum
- Polymer Family Night: The Science Behind the Fun
- Ring the Bell: An Asynchronous Learning Experience
- Free – Straws and Air Pressure: Using An Everyday Object to Explain Air Pressure
- The Great Iced-Tea Debate
- The Great Viscosity Race: Using the 5E Model to Make Connections Between Properties of Matter and Viscosity
- Full Table of Contents
T
he Science Teacher
This edition marks our 19th consecutive spring issue devoted to “Science for All.” This annual theme is an umbrella for ideas and strategies to narrow the academic achievement gaps associated with ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, physical disabilities, limited English-language proficiency, and learning differences. This goes right to the core of NSTA’s mission, “to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.” Over the years,The Science Teacher (TST) has published well over 100 articles on the “Science for All” theme. Whether your interest is in diversity education, multicultural awareness, equity issues, teaching ELLs, or simply finding engaging teaching methods for all students, browse the TST online archive for a trove of related articles.
- A Brick and Mortar Approach
- Free – Beyond “Hitting the Books”
- Free – Editor’s Corner: Science for All
- Leveling Up
- Upstream, Downstream
- Vocabulary, Concept, Evidence, and Examples
- Full Table of Contents
Journal of College Science Teaching
In the Two-Year Community column read about a study that evaluates the effectiveness of human anatomy imaging software in both face-to-face and online anatomy and physiology laboratory classes attended by community college students. Also, see the Case Study that is loosely based on the 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders and is designed to help students understand the difficult concept of cellular respiration. And don’t miss the Research and Teaching article that explores the use of Photovoice, an approach that incorporates the power of imagery and narrative to convey the perspectives of participants, as a student-centered learning activity in an introductory chemistry course.
Featured articles (please note, only those marked “free” are available to nonmembers without a fee):
- Development of an Instrument to Assess Student Knowledge Necessary to Critically Evaluate Scientific Claims in the Popular Media
- Examples From the Trenches: Improving Student Learning in the Sciences Using Team-Based Learning
- Free – Getting More Scientists to Revamp Teaching
- Integrating Vision and Change Into a Biology Curriculum at a Small Comprehensive College
- Pitching Environmental Science to Business Majors: Engaging Students in Renewable Energy Choices
- Research and Teaching: Analyzing Upper Level Undergraduate Knowledge of Evolutionary Processes: Can Class Discussions Help?
- Research and Teaching: Photovoice as a Pedagogical Tool: Student Engagement in Undergraduate Introductory Chemistry for Nonscience Majors
- Research and Teaching: Use of Toulmin’s Argumentation Scheme for Student Discourse to Gain Insight About Guided Inquiry Activities in College Chemistry
- Undergraduate Research and a Liberal Arts Education: Similar Goals, Similar Solutions
- Full Table of Contents