All Science Scope resources

Journal Article

In eighth-grade Earth science at Louisville Middle School in Louisville, Colorado, students learn how large-scale weather patterns such as the jet stream and weather fronts interact to generate local weather conditions. The authors have developed a m...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Fun with a flume—Ideas for inquiry

A flume is a channel that is constructed to divert a flow of water for a specific purpose. Many students recognize the term flume from experience with an amusement park ride called the “log flume.” For the inquiry-based activities described here,...

Journal Article

An Earth-system Approach to Understanding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, 2010, and the subsequent release of oil into the Gulf of Mexico created an ecological disaster of immense proportions. The estimates of the amounts of oil, whether for the amount released per day or the to...

Journal Article

Guest Editorial: When teachers become scientists

Ask yourself this question: Have you ever worked on a real scientific experiment? Your thoughts may jump to the lab components of your undergraduate science courses and the research papers/assignments you completed in college, but should such structu...

Journal Article

Ocean Acidification: Hands-On Experiments to Explore the Causes and Consequences

Ocean acidification is one of the most serious environmental issues facing the planet (e.g., Doney 2006; Guinotte and Fabry 2009). It is caused by excess carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels put CO2 an...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Fossil patterns in time

This lesson works well as an introduction to Earth history, when students are asked to consider time periods of millions and billions of years. It would be a most helpful experience when introducing fossils, as part of an overview of the diversity of...

Journal Article

Scope on Safety: Animals in the classroom

Use of animals in middle school science classrooms is a curriculum component worthy of consideration, providing proper investigation and planning are addressed. A responsible approach to this action, including safety, must be adopted for success. In ...

Journal Article

Green Science: In the hot seat—Analyzing your heating options

When winter rolls around, keeping yourself and your home warm is of the utmost importance. Heating your home seems like a simple subject to tackle, but there are many heating systems available, requiring different fuels, installations, and costs. The...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Getting a crew into orbit

Despite the temporary setback in our country’s crewed space exploration program, there will continue to be missions requiring crews to orbit Earth and beyond. Under the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, NASA should have its own heavy launch rocket an...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Not this teacher’s recommendation!

The unfortunate result of state and district curriculum recommendations is that, currently, most students get the bulk of their Earth science education in grades 6–8, where it is usually integrated into general science classes (Underwood 2008) and ...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Solar explorations

Even though there is no change of season during January, we have just passed the December solstice, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and we are 147,100,000 km (91,403,702 mi.) from the Sun. This is in contrast to when Earth reaches aphelion d...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Teacher read-alouds make science come alive

Demonstrations, hands-on activities, and videos are common ways an industrious science teacher will provide inquiry-based instruction, offering engaging access to the middle school science curriculum. In this article, the authors present short teache...

Journal Article

Using Formative and Alternative Assessments to Support Instruction and Measure Student Learning

Using formative assessment involves gathering data from students on their progress and comprehension so that instruction can be adjusted to meet their learning needs (Popham 2001; Greenstein 2010). This article describes how the author uses homework,...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Using video games as an alternative science assessment for students with disabilities and at-risk learners

This article describes how middle school teachers can improve students’ science performance using video games that incorporate principles of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. Research indicates that video games can enhance the educ...