JoinAll Professional Learning resources
Blog Post
Journal Article
Building Community With Educators
After a string of successes in our teacher professional development programs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), I recently began to notice a disconcerting trend: Teachers stopped coming. Despite efforts to draw program participant...
By Robert Payo
Blog Post
Journal Article
As a Connected Science Learning reader, you already know that collaboration is what this journal is all about. We strive to publish articles that highlight ways different organizations come together to connect in-school STEM (science, technology, e...
By Beth Murphy
Blog Post
PLNs + High-Quality Units = NGSS Success
In June 2013, Kentucky’s Board of Education officially adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which not only set a new course for science education in Kentucky, but also started me on a new professional journey. As the newly-minted s...
By David Grossman
Blog Post
Improving Elementary Science Programs Through Professional Learning Communities
“I’m not good at science.” It’s a declaration that far too many students have made in classrooms. Their beliefs are often based on lack of exposure to science, not their true potential to do science. So how do we change their minds and get th...
By Edel Maeder
NSTA Press Book
Scientific literacy for all students requires a deep understanding of the three dimensions of science education: disciplinary content, scientific and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts. If you actively engage students in using and apply...
By Page Keeley, Joyce Tugel
NSTA Press Book
Creating Engineering Design Challenges: Success Stories From Teachers
If you’ve ever wished for advice you can trust on how to make science and math more relevant to your middle or high school students, Creating Engineering Design Challenges is the book for you. At its core are 13 units grounded in challenge-based le...
NSTA Press Book
Discovery Engineering in Biology: Case Studies for Grades 6–12
Show your students how amazing it can be to just “see what will happen” when they blend biology, engineering, and serendipity. Focusing on innovations sparked by accidental or unexpected observations, the case studies in this resource are a livel...
By Rebecca Hite, Gina Childers, Megan Ennes, M. Gail Jones
Blog Post
Bring STEM Practices Into the Secondary Classroom
STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics—is discussed in the news, politics, and education journals, yet what does it really mean for classrooms? The Council of State Science Supervisors (CSSS) works to support secondary science in ...
By Juan-Carlos Aguilar, Anne Petersen, Megan Schrauben
Blog Post
Ensuring All Elementary Students Have Access to Science Learning
Ensuring all students have access to science learning is part of the vision in A Framework for K–12 Science Education. Yet in many elementary schools, teachers have little time for science. This is such a disservice, as engaging in the science and ...
By Kathy Renfrew and Amber McCulloch