All Journal of College Science Teaching resources

Journal Article

Developing a “Gateway” Course to Prepare Nontraditional Students for Success in Upper-Division Science Courses

In times of economic downturn, college enrollments often increase. Entering students may come from diverse educational backgrounds and bring variable skill sets. In this article, the authors describe a skills-focused course developed to ensure that t...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Using a Student-Manipulated Model to Enhance Student Learning in a Large Lecture Class

Despite years of formal education, approximately one-third of all undergraduate students still cannot explain the causes of the seasons. Student manipulation of a handheld model is one approach to teaching this concept; however, the large number of s...

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: More to the Color of Roses Than Meets the Eyes

The introduction of chemical concepts through concrete examples and interest-arousing demonstrations and activities is well accepted as an engaging and effective pedagogical method (Ealy and Ealy 1995; Gilbert et al. 1994; Katz 1991; Shakhashiri 1983...

Journal Article

Thinking Outside the Kit: Building Preservice Science Teachers’ Inquiry Skills With an Experiment That Doesn’t Go as Planned

Preservice preparation courses for elementary teachers of science can provide opportunities to build pedagogical content knowledge. One common concern of preservice teachers is how to cope with a preplanned lesson that does not proceed as planned. Pr...

Journal Article

Use of Thermochrons in the Classroom

Preservice elementary education students often do not have a good feel for the process of science. Many may be acquainted with the steps of the scientific method but have never been through the scientific process. An exercise was designed using tempe...

Journal Article

Integrating Biology, Chemistry, and Mathematics to Evaluate Global Water Problems

An interdisciplinary and context-driven course focused on global water issues was developed and taught at the college level. Students designed a semester-long research project, collected and analyzed data, and ultimately presented their results and c...

Journal Article

Creative Exercises in General Chemistry: A Student-Centered Assessment

Creative exercises (CEs) are a form of assessment in which students are given a prompt and asked to write down as many distinct, correct, and relevant facts about the prompt as they can. Students receive credit for each fact that they include that is...