JoinAll Middle School resources
NSTA Press Book
Yet More Everyday Science Mysteries: Stories for Inquiry-Based Science Teaching
In the fourth book of this award-winning series, author Richard Konicek-Moran explores 15 new mysteries children and adults encounter in their daily lives. Relating the mysteries to experiences familiar to elementary and middle school students—Part...
By Richard Konicek-Moran
NSTA Press Book
More Brain-Powered Science: Teaching and Learning With Discrepant Events
• What can a chocolate chip cookie tell us about the Earth’s resources and the importance of environmental conservation? • How can a clear, colorless spray solution unveil a hidden message on a blank sign? ...
By Thomas O'Brien
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about living things. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that seeds are living when they are in a dormant state. ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the flow of energy in a trophic relationship that children are most familiar with—food chains. The probe is designed to find out if students recognize that most of the energ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about life cycles. The probe is designed to see if students recognize that the pupal stage of a life cycle is a living organism. ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about structures they encounter when they learn about heredity. The probe is designed to reveal students’ ideas about the “parts and wholes” relationship between DNA, genes, an...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit ideas about genetic traits. The probe is designed to see if students recognize that some traits, such as eye color, are complex and cannot be predicted solely by the result of one gene. ...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about the cellular makeup of the human body. The probe is designed to see if students recognize that the body is an organized collection of cells and not a structure or “outline...
Book Chapter
The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about a scientific word they frequently encounter in middle and high school science, chlorophyll. The probe is designed to reveal whether students know that chlorophyll is more th...
Journal Article
Science 101: What causes surface tension?
This column focuses on background science information for elementary teachers. In this month’s column, learn about surface tension....
NSTA Press Book
Tried and True: Time-Tested Activities for Middle School
A compilation of popular “Tried and True” columns originally published in the award-winning journal Science Scope, this new book is filled with teachers’ best classroom activities—time-tested, tweaked, and engaging. These favorites are organi...