Regardless of what grade level or subject you teach, check out all three K-12 journals. As you skim through titles and descriptions of the articles, you may find ideas for lessons that would be interesting for your students, the inspiration to adapt a lesson to your grade level or subject, or the challenge to create/share your own lessons and ideas.

NSTA members, as always, have access to the articles in all journals! Click on the links to read or add to your library.

Science Scope – Motion and Stability

From the Editor’s Desk: Playing With Forces and Motion –”…because forces and motion are central to our lives, it is easy for students to harbor misconstructions as a result of observations made in daily life. Unfortunately, these misconstructions can lead to inaccurate conclusions that can be difficult to dispel…[students] need to confront their misconceptions through lab experiences that require them to observe, apply, and explain.”

• Articles in this issue that describe lessons (many of which use the 5E model) include a helpful sidebar documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, safety issues, and cost. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS.D
• Enhance your cars-and-ramps investigation with learning stations and a culminating activity designed for Exploring Newton’s Laws of Motion With a Balloon Car
• The authors of Astronomy That Makes Sense note that “our attempts to make astronomy more understandable for visually impaired students also helped our middle school students better understand astronomy concepts.”
• The lesson in Demolishing Traditional Approaches to Science Instruction is an example of “Problem-Based Enhanced Language Learning” (PBELL) in which students work collaboratively on a problem. The authors also describe how to scaffold students’ science content and language.
• Systems and models are the focus of Teacher’s Toolkit: Using a Systems Thinking Approach to Figure Out Why a Ball Drops, Bounces, and Stops. The article includes a graphic listing practices of “systems thinkers.”
• Using simple materials, students explore how the force of friction affects the motion of objects with the activities in Disequilibrium: Newton’s Bottle
• Another investigation using simple materials is described in Bottle Flipping. The article includes examples of questions to investigate.
• Science for All: Using the Textbook Effectively to Encourage Student Growth describes strategies that support students to learn from science texts: think-alouds, guided notes, jigsaw discussions, text data sets, and a carousel activity.
• Citizen Science: Raspberry Shake describes a project in which students monitor the movement of the Earth in their geographic area and view real-time data from around the world.
• Change your word wall from a bulletin board to a student-led, interactive tool for learning. Interdisciplinary Ideas: Strengthening Your Word Wall shows you how, with examples of student input and design.
• Creating a graph is a first step in data analysis. But students may need help with what the graphs mean. Teacher to Teacher: Classroom Strategies for Analyzing and Interpreting Graph Data shows how students can be guided through an analysis. The photos of student work illustrate this.
• Deriving Ohm’s Law Using a Guided-Inquiry Investigation goes beyond students assembling a light bulb circuit to investigating the relationship between voltage and current through a resistor.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Scope on the Skies: Virtual Space Exploration
• Classic Lessons 2.0: Project- and problem-based learning and assessment (Newton’s Laws and roller coasters)

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Cell Structure, Cells, Electric Circuits, Energy Transformations, Friction, Gravity, Law of Conservation of Energy, Metric System, Motion-Speed Relationship, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Newton’s First Law, Newton’s Second Law, Newton’s Third Law, Ohm’s Law, Pendulums, Plate Tectonics, Roller Coaster Physics,

Many authors share resources related to the lessons and strategies in their articles. These resources include rubrics, graphic organizers, handouts, diagrams, lists of resources, and complete lessons. You can access these through the Connections link for Science Scope.

Continue for Science & Children and The Science Teacher

Science & Children – Visual Literacy

Editor’s Note: Learning Through Learning “It’s a visual world out there, so we must make the most of it to provide our students the opportunities to engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate their thinking and learning.”

The lessons described in the articles have a chart showing connections with the NGSS. Many are based on the 5E model and include classroom materials, illustrations of student work, and photographs of students engaged in the activities.

• Most children are fascinated by insects, and any negative attitudes are probably learned. Teaching With Live Insects summarizes a lesson that uses live “nonbiting, nonflying, and docile” insects (descriptions provided) as a basis for studying their structure, habitats, interactions, defenses, and life cycles.
• Offshore Oil Drilling exemplifies how to incorporate visual thinking strategies for students into learning about a current topic and communicating their learning.
• “We live in a world in which we are saturated with visual images and our students need to be able to critically analyze those images through visual literacy investigations, such as the diaper investigation” described Absorbing Visual Literacy. The lesson incorporates a study of absorbency, solutions, and polymers into an authentic experience in product testing.
• The lesson in Notice, Identify, and Interpret incorporates “heart circulation inquiry stations” and models. The article also has a table describing the types of visuals found in science texts and trade books and suggestions for helping students make sense of these visuals.
• People as Particles has ideas for guiding students through the modeling process (including visual modeling and physical movement as modeling). The article includes examples of student work describing the states of matter.
• The Early Years: Analyzing Media Representations of Animals includes a discussion and lesson designed to help young students learn the concepts of scale and proportion, especially with how unfamiliar animals are represented in visuals.
• In addition to recommending books on animal adaptations, Teaching Through Trade Books: From the Tip of a Beak to the End of a Tail has two lessons: What Does That Body Part Help Me Do? (K-2) and Beautiful Bird Beaks (3-5).
• Formative Assessment Probes: Magnets in Water includes a chart on integrating probes with Talk-Listen-Restate scaffolding as a more structured form of student sharing.
• The visual activity in Methods and Strategies: Draw a Scientist can uncover student misconceptions and stereotypes.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Science 101: Is It Really Caused by the Bernoulli Effect?
• Teaching Teachers: Learning Science and Literacy Together
• The Poetry of Science: Visual Poetry
• Engineering Encounters: Bears on a Boat Plus (ideas for English Language Learners)

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Adaptations of Animals, Animals, Bernoulli’s Principle, Birds, Body Systems, Bugs, Circulatory System, Dissolve, Habitats, Heart, Insects, Life Cycles, Magnets, Mixtures, Ocean Drilling, Properties of Matter, Reading and Writing in Science, Senses, Solutions, States of Matter

Two articles from this month’s Science Scope also address visual literacy:

• Change your word wall from a bulletin board to a student-led, interactive tool for learning. Interdisciplinary Ideas: Strengthening Your Word Wall shows you how, with examples of student input and design.
• Creating a graph is a first step in data analysis. But students may need help with what the graphs mean. Teacher to Teacher: Classroom Strategies for Analyzing and Interpreting Graph Data shows how students can be guided through an analysis. The photos of student work illustrate this.

Many authors share resources related to the lessons and strategies in their articles. These resources include rubrics, graphic organizers, handouts, diagrams, lists of resources, and complete lessons. You can access these through the Connections link for Science & Children.

The Science Teacher – Virtual Oceanography, Teaching Rube Goldberg, Solarize Your School

Editor’s Corner: Fire and Rain ” The events of summer 2018 warn us that climate change is not a far-off event. [It] is real, it is caused mainly by human activity, and it is here now. Teachers must stand up for evidence-based climate science. We need to prepare students with the accurate knowledge that can prepare and inspire them to take action on a personal, community, and global level.”    See the NSTA position statement on the Teaching of Climate Change.

The lessons described in the articles include a chart showing connections with the NGSS. The graphics are especially helpful in understanding the activities and in providing ideas for your own investigations.

• With the ideas in Virtual Oceanography, students plan a virtual scientific cruise, using satellite imagery and models. The lesson uses the Gulf of Mexico as a study site, but any body of water could be the focus.
• Approaches to Teaching Rube Goldberg has problem-solving ideas for incorporating the design, constructing, and testing of this type of apparatus in physics lessons on energy transfers, machines, and Newton’s Laws. The activities described use simple materials.
• Challenge students to study and design ways to Solarize Your School. The article includes a timeline to guide students with the problems and possible solutions.
• Although The Teal Spruce is not an actual species of conifer, the fictional species serves as a context for game-like model of why populations of living things live where they do and the effects of climate change on these populations.
• Many lessons focus on the Earth’s surface. What’s Hidden Beneath? takes on the question “What does the Earth’s subsurface look like?” with an emphasis on spatial skills, visualization, and 2D and 3D representations, using the Grand Canyon as an example.
• The authors of Idea Bank: Evolutionary Medicine in the Classroom suggest using the “interaction of evolution and human health as an organizing thread within biology, health, and physioanatomy” and provide resources for doing so.
• Focus on Physics: The Color Black discusses how the results of combining pigments and mixing lights are different.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Career of the Month: Mechanical Engineer
• Right to the Source: Using 5E to Explore an Epitome of the Universe

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Climate Change, Collisions, Color, Estuaries, Evolutionary Biology, Glaciers, Grand Canyon, Newton’s Laws of Motion, Plankton, Simple Machines, Solar Energy, Solar Heated Homes, Salinity, Stratigraphy, Transfer of Energy, Visible Light, Vision,

Many authors share resources related to the lessons and strategies in their articles. These resources include rubrics, graphic organizers, handouts, diagrams, lists of resources, and complete lessons. You can access these through the Connections link for The Science Teacher.

As widely reported, the Democrats won the majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives which means some key changes ahead.

Education: House committee leadership positions will switch over at the start of the 116^th Congress on January 3. It is widely expected that Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), a 13-term congressman and the ranking member on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, will take over as chair. Scott was one of the main architects of the Every Student Succeeds Act (which comes up for reauthorization in 2019).

It is also expected that this committee will be renamed the “Committee on Education and Labor.”

Rep. Scott told POLITICO last week he is hopeful that Congress can pass a bipartisan bill to update the Higher Education Act.  All eyes are also on the Democrats legislative agenda, particularly Rep. Scott’s infrastructure bill, the Rebuild America’s Schools Act, H.R. 2475 (115) which would create a $70 billion grant program and $30 billion tax credit bond program to improve school buildings in high-poverty schools and create a national database on the condition of public school facilities.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is expected to take charge of the House Appropriations Committee for Labor/HHS and Education. Challenges next year will include the threat of sequestration and significantly lowered spending caps, and a 5% across-the-board cut proposed by the Administration.

With the Democrats in charge, watch for new oversight power they will use to scrutinize the Department of Education, especially around ESSA and civil rights issues.  But will it be Secretary DeVos testifying before the Congressional oversight committees? It is rumored that she is likely to be one of the cabinet secretaries expected to leave at the end of the year.

In the Senate: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) remains chair of the Senate HELP Committee and many anticipate the Senator will push to reauthorize the Higher Education Act (HEA) before his term is up in 2020.

Two election results of particular interest to the education community: Wisconsin Governor-elect Tony Evers (D) the Wisconsin state superintendent, defeated incumbent Governor Scott Walker and U.S. Representative-elect Jahana Hayes (D-CT) Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, will be the first African-American woman to represent Connecticut in Congress.

For a deeper dive into election results check out the Education Commission of the States post-election resources include results every state across the country in their infographic, education leadership changes and key takeaways from state ballot issues.

Science: Several new scientists will join the 116th session of Congress. Reports the Washington Post, “The newcomers, mostly Democrats, include Chrissy Houlahan, who has a degree in industrial engineering and won in Pennsylvania. Sean Casten, who has worked as a biochemist, flipped a longtime Republican district in Chicago. Ocean engineer Joe Cunningham, who came out strongly against offshore drilling, won in South Carolina. Lauren Underwood, a registered nurse, won Illinois’s 14th District. In Virginia, Elaine Luria, who has a nuclear engineering background, defeated the Republican incumbent, Scott Taylor. Jeff Van Drew, who won a seat representing the 2nd Congressional District in New Jersey, is a dentist.” In addition, Pediatrician Kim Schrier won the race in Washington’s 8th District and Rep Kevin Hern, a Republican from Oklahoma, holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Two incumbents–Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a former high-energy physicist at Fermilab, and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), who worked as an engineer and has a PhD in mathematics—kept their seats in Congress.

Shortly after the election Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), issued a statement indicating she will seek to be chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in January. Johnson is currently ranking member of the committee. She vows to pursue an agenda that will:

• “Ensure that the United States remains the global leader in innovation, which will require attention to a wide range of activities: promoting effective STEM education solutions, engaging the underrepresented minorities and blue collar workers in the STEM fields, supporting a robust federally funded R&D enterprise and emerging areas of science and technology, defending the scientific enterprise from political and ideological attacks, and challenging misguided or harmful Administration actions;
• Address the challenge of climate change, starting with acknowledging it is real, seeking to understand what climate science is telling us, and working to understand the ways we can mitigate it; and finally,
• Restore the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected and recognized as a crucial input to good policymaking.”

For more on the new science face of Congress, read Business Insider’s article, Eight New Scientists Elected to the House and Senate and the Washington Post article, How Science Fared in the Midterm Election.

U.S. Department of Education Declares National STEM Day

The U.S. Department of Education declared November 8 to be National STEM Day. On that day they announced that it had surpassed President Trump’s directive to invest $200 million in high-quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.  In total, the agency obligated $279 million in STEM discretionary funds in Fiscal Year 2018.

The Department also released the first ever data story on STEM, which explores both access to and enrollment in Algebra I in K-12 public schools using the 2015–16 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC).

The study shows that “80% of all eighth-grade students attend a school that offers Algebra I, but only 24% of these students are actually enrolled in the course.  This “leak” in the STEM pipeline can have long-term effects on students’ education, since Algebra I is considered the gatekeeper course to advanced math and science coursework.”

Understanding ESSA Report Cards

And finally, last week Secretary DeVos released a guide to help parents understand the report cards that states and school districts are required to publish under the Every Student Succeeds Act, detailing school performance.

Stay tuned, and watch for more updates in future issues of NSTA Express.

Jodi Peterson is the Assistant Executive Director of Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

This week in education news, Amazon announces new Amazon Future Engineer initiative; research project at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is exploring the use of flipped teaching in STEM courses; NASBE implores states to focus on the lowest-performing students in ESSA plans; music matters to STEM students; 2016 National Teacher of the Year elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; environmentalists are hoping that Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson will bring science back to the House science committee when she takes over as chair in the next Congress; the U.S. Department of Education will continue to focus on plugging “leaks” in the STEM education pipeline; research finds small benefits to small classes; and personalized learning has a big problem.

Amazon Future Engineer Program Expands STEM Access to Low-Income Student

As computer science jobs continue opening with too few college graduates possessing the necessary skills, Amazon announced Thursday its Amazon Future Engineer initiative, which will help “inspire, educate and train children and young adults from underserved and low-income communities to pursue careers in computer science,” according to a news release. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

STEM: What’s Holding Females Back?

While the 20th century saw women stride ahead in their participation in education and the workforce, there are still gender differences apparent in some areas of education. In particular, females do not enroll in higher mathematics, science, or ICT, or move into STEM-based careers to the same extent as males. Read the article featured in Teacher Magazine.

Researchers to Explore Flipped Teaching in STEM Courses

A research project at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is exploring the use of flipped teaching in STEM courses. Supported by a $598,402 grant from the National Science Foundation, the three-year project will help STEM faculty at SIUE and St. Louis Community College implement flipped teaching in their courses and examine both faculty and student experiences with the method. Read the article featured in Campus Technology.

NASBE Urges States to Focus on Lowest-Performing Students in ESSA Plans

While most states are taking advantage of the Every Student Succeeds Act’s (ESSA) flexibility to use academic growth measures as part of their accountability systems, only nine states are applying a separate growth measure to the lowest-performing groups of students, according to a new policy brief from the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

Why Music Matters to STEM Students. Yes, STEM.

Full self-disclosure — I’m a “bandie!” In junior high school, band provided me with a safe haven during the challenging years of adolescence. Band was essential to my emerging identity and to building my self-confidence. But wait, didn’t I become a physics teacher, and then a teacher educator in a teaching program focused on STEM? Double yes. Read the article featured in Study International News.

In Historic Win, Nationally Recognized Teacher Jahana Hayes Elected to U.S. House

Jahana Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, has won her race for a U.S. House seat, representing Connecticut’s 5th district. A former high school history teacher and current district administrator, Hayes, a Democrat, will be the first black woman from the state to serve in Congress. Read the article featured in Education Week.

All Eyes on Top Democrat to Bring Science Back to Science Committee

Environmentalists are hoping that Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) will bring science back to the House science committee when she takes over as chair in the next Congress. Johnson, if elected chair, will be the first woman with a degree in a STEM field to hold the position since 1990. Read the article featured in The Hill.

U.S. Department of Education Fulfills Administration Promise to Invest $200 Million in STEM Education

The U.S. Department of Education announced that it has not only fulfilled but surpassed President Trump’s directive to invest $200 million in high-quality STEM, including computer science, education. In total, the Department obligated $279 million in STEM discretionary grant funds in Fiscal Year 2018. Read the press release.

Despite Popularity with Parents and Teachers, Review of Research Finds Small Benefits to Small Classes

Small classes are very popular with parents. Fewer kids in a room can mean more personal attention for their little ones. Teachers like them too. Fewer kids mean fewer tests to mark and fewer disruptions. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

What Does Personalized Learning Mean? Whatever People Want It To

Personalized learning has a big problem. Inside America’s schools, the term is used to mean just about anything. Algorithm-driven playlists? Grouping students based on digital data? Letting teens design projects based on their personal interests? Adaptive software that adjusts to each student’s skill level? Customized activities to help kids develop a growth mindset? Read the article featured in Education Week.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

I am hoping to have “word walls” in my classroom for subject areas. What would be some beneficial words no matter the age level for the science classroom?  — H., Iowa

Great idea! I have always maintained that teaching science is also like teaching a new language to students. Working on vocabulary to use when communicating scientifically is important and should start at an early age.

In conjunction with words highlighting cross-cutting concepts, I believe that it would be ideal to have actions, skills, processes, and terms that span across all topics and disciplines of science on your word wall. Check your curriculum documents and you’ll find many such words.

Rather than have a list of words on the wall for students to memorize, developing your wall should also be an excellent learning activity for your class. Have them brainstorm the words they believe should be on the wall after some readings or activities on the nature of science. Depending on the grade level, you could have groups present or make a case to include each word. The wall does not have to be static. Add to it as the year passes. To bolster terminology specific to some topics, you could create a temporary word wall alongside your cross-cutting words.

Words I believe cut across all disciplines and could be used and taught at almost any age (in no particular order and by no means exhaustive):

Hope this helps!  

Photo credit:  Science Scope

This month’s blogs feature questions sent to me by students of Michael D. Bechtel, EdD, assistant professor of science education, Biology Department of Wartburg College, Iowa. As part of their coursework they were asked to connect to professional learning communities and many of them found resources on the NSTA website – including this blog. Many thanks to Dr. Bechtel and the up-and-coming teachers of Wartburg College for their insightful questions!

Graphic credit: Wartburg College [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Happening right outside the nation’s capital, NSTA’s 2018 National Harbor conference on science education will take place November 15–17.

If you’ve ever attended, you know that the best thing about the conference is that there is so much to choose from—and you also know that’s the most challenging thing about attending an NSTA conference—so what do you do? One way to make the best use of your time is to consider sessions devoted to your content area. The place to begin is with a keyword search of the session browser for National Harbor. Browse below to find ideas for your content area, and see all conference details here.

Biology

Into biology? Put the keynote speaker on your schedule right away!

Mireya Mayor
Primatologist and National Geographic Explorer
WILD ABOUT SCIENCE: My Journey from NFL Cheerleader to National Geographic Explorer
Thursday, November 15, 2018
9:15–10:30 AM
Maryland A-D, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

Join Mireya Mayor for a morning of adventure, as this one-time Miami Dolphins cheerleader shares how she went on to earn a Fulbright Scholarship, discovered a previously unknown species of mouse lemur, and earned her PhD, proving there is more than one path to success. As an advocate for science and education, her passion is both inspiring and contagious.

Here are a few more sessions you may want to target:

• Facilitating Student-Created Field Studies in Your Local Environment
• 3-D Natural Selection
• NSTA Press Session: Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics: Lab Investigations for Grades 9–12
• Exploring Life Sciences and Climate Change in Antarctica to Develop Scientifically Literate Global Citizens
• Easy Modeling Techniques for a Life Science Classroom

Chemistry

Looking to bond with other chemistry teachers? Join us for Chemistry Day on Friday, November 16, sponsored by the American Chemical Society. Look for their name on presentations.

Want more? Search the session browser using the keyword “chemistry,” and find the events that are right for you. Here are a few you may like:

• NGSS for Struggling Learners in Chemistry
• Chemical Evolution of Earth for High School Chemistry and Earth Science Classes
• Solids: The Neglected “State” of Chemistry
• Kinesthetic Chemistry: Get Your Students Up and Moving
• NSTA Press Session: Argument-Driven Inquiry in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics: Lab Investigations for Grades 9–12

Next Generation Science Standards

Whether your state has adopted the Next  Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or you’re personally committed to 3D teaching and learning, you’ll find a lot at National Harbor when you browse the scheduler. Here are some you may want to attend:

• More Than a Lesson—What an NGSS Unit Looks Like
• Blended Learning in the Elementary Science Classroom: Transitioning to the NGSS Using Individualized Learning
• NSTA Press Session: Instructional Sequence Matters—Structuring Lessons with the NGSS in Mind
• Grounding STEM Education Programs in NGSS Practices
• Advancing Scientific Literacy with Lesson Plans that Meet the CCSS and NGSS

Physics

Physics teachers: Join us for Physics Day on Friday, November 16. And throughout the entire conference find events that are right for you. Here are a few you may like:

• Cars: Science Lessons That DRIVE Science Concepts
• ASEE Session: Make and Code…Together
• Exploring the Science and Engineering Practices
• Energy Explorations at the Primary Level
• Local Ice Rinks Are a STEM Wonderland and Feature Newton’s Laws at Play—Year Round!

STEM

STEM stars will want to put this featured speaker on their schedules:

Heidi Schweingruber
Director, Board on Education, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 
Becoming Scientifically Literate: Insights from Research on Learning and Teaching
Thursday, November 15, 2018
2:00–3:00 PM
Maryland C, Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

Join Heidi Schweingruber for great insights. Science is a way of knowing about our world. In a society where science and technology now touch nearly every part of our lives, it is critical to understand the processes and practices of science and to become critical consumers of scientific research. Drawing on studies from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Heidi’s talk focuses on exploring what scientific literacy is and the kinds of learning experiences students need to become more scientifically literate.

STEM, STEAM, Maker Spaces—they’re everyone, and National Harbor will be no exception. Browse the sessions to find your favorites. Here are a few samples:

• How to Implement STEM and NGSS into Your Classroom Through the Use of NSTA Competitions
• STEM on a Budget: Leveraging University and Community Partnerships
• Find the Fund$ for STEM: Grant Writing 101
• STEM Design Challenges in a Diverse Inclusion Classroom
• Taking STEM Outside
• NSTA Press Session: Engage Your Students: Designing Meaningful STEM Lessons

Pro Tips

Check out more sessions and other events with the National Harbor Session Browser/Personal Scheduler. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA18, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it!

Need help requesting funding or time off from your principal or supervisor? Download a letter of support and bring it with you! National Harbor support letter

And don’t forget, NSTA members save up to $95 off the price of registration. Not a member? Join here.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Future NSTA Conferences

2018 Area Conferences

• National Harbor (MD), November 15–17
• Charlotte, Nov. 29–Dec. 1

“Dive into Three-Dimensional Instruction” Workshop
National Harbor, November 16–17, 2018

2019 National Conference
St. Louis, April 11–14

Follow NSTA

Beginner, as well as veteran, middle school science educators will find what they need to reimagine the teaching of physical science in Patrick Brown’s new NSTA Press book Instructional Sequence Matters, Grades 6-8: Structuring Lessons With the NGSS in Mind. The book guides its readers on how to make simple shifts in the way they arrange and combine activities to help their students construct knowledge using POE (Predict, Observe, and Explain) and 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), two popular approaches to structuring lessons.

Science educators who are new to the profession can use the model lessons so that they have research-based strategies to improve student learning during their first years of teaching. Experienced teachers who find their lessons not influencing students as much as they intended can benefit from some simple reorganizing techniques that Brown lays out.

“Regardless of the level of experience, from novice to expert teacher, educators can read, implement, and dissect each model lesson to help reflect on how the sequence of science instruction promotes long-lasting understanding,” he says.

Brown, the executive director of STEM and career education for the Fort Zumwalt School District in St. Charles, Missouri, is known for his scholarship on instructional sequences to teach science. He describes his book as his “journey to translating the NGSS into practice,” one of the first challenges that most science educators face when implementing the new standards.

Drawing heavily on research about effective professional development that “highlights the important role of active learning in context and explicit reflection on practice,” Brown wrote this book to help educators understand why the order in which they structure their lessons is so critical; what planning considerations are needed to become an “explore-before-explain” teacher; and how to do three-dimensional learning and translate the NGSS into practice.

The book’s content stretches across 10 chapters and is linked to research experiences, including working with students, teacher preparation, and professional development. Each chapter builds on the one that precedes it.

Research shapes the content in Chapter 1, which takes readers through some emerging ideas about the intellectual abilities of students and the implications for instructional sequence.

If teachers want to produce more powerful learning experiences for their students, then practice must be grounded in current research on teaching and learning, Brown says. “What we know about students’ intellectual abilities and knowledge development is much different from what it was 20 or 30 years ago.”

The key components of the POE and 5E instructional models are discussed in Chapter 2. Brown includes activity boxes to help teachers reflect on their current hands-on practices and how they might be sequenced to support even higher levels of learning.

Chapter 3 describes three-dimensional learning, the integration of science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core content—all of which are critical to promoting science literacy. Brown takes readers through each of the dimensions and includes activities to help teachers reflect on the lessons they are teaching and their connections to the NGSS.

Not sure where to start? In Chapter 4, Brown acknowledges that tackling your first 5E lesson “may seem daunting.” He offers guidance on how educators can create their own lessons that translate the NGSS, and he also presents activities that he’s used in his own practice as well as with preservice teachers and current teachers to design effective 5E units.

Model lessons for putting the explore-before-explain mindset into action—that use either the POE or the 5E instructional model—are included in Chapters 5-9 with illustrations that explain how both models easily support the NGSS. Science educators can teach lessons about heat and temperature using an investigative demonstration, investigate change using the invisible test tube demonstration, address students’ misconceptions of circuits, and more.

Brown begins the final chapter of his book by explaining that effective explore-before-explain teachers must integrate what they know about instructional activities, content, and learners “in a very intricate and organized matter.” He guides educators who are ready to take on this mission through five necessary steps. He also outlines what educators can do to support their colleagues and develop collaborative teams that are interested in developing POEs and 5Es into practice.

Effective teaching, Brown reminds readers, is about working smarter not harder. “Reflecting on and experiencing exploration before explanation instructional sequences opens up opportunities to construct a theoretical model for classroom lesson design so that all students gain higher levels of science literacy.”

Check out a sample chapter, “Teaching About Heat and Temperature Using an Investigative Demonstration.” This book is also available as an ebook.

Follow NSTA