All Science Scope resources

Journal Article

That Is Not Where That Element Goes … Ah, the Nature of Science

Learning how the periodic table has developed over time can provide an important foundation for students’ future science learning, as they begin to explore the explanatory power of other models in science. In this activity, students are given the o...

Journal Article

Everyday Engineering: What makes a squirt gun squirt?

You may not think of engineering and squirt guns in the same sentence. However, like many examples of engineering design, the squirt gun pump mechanism is uncomplicated, yet elegant, and very inexpensive to manufacture. The design is widely used beca...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Chemistry in action—Triple delight

Melt away the winter blues with this series of chemistry investigations. Here the author describes how she capitalizes on students’ love for snow days, bubble gum, and ice cream to reinforce what they have learned about percentage concentration of ...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: October Skies (2009)

Our Sun is an incredible fusion machine that has been churning out energy for approximately five billion years. In another five billion years, when the internal temperature of the star begins to change, the balance between the thermal pressure pushin...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Enhancing student understanding of physical and chemical changes

Students within the Findlay, Ohio, City School District, as well as students across the country, struggle with understanding physical and chemical changes. Therefore, in this article, the authors suggest some standards-based activities to clarify mis...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Chemistry beyond the chemicals

Middle level teachers need to show students that chemistry is not just about blowing things up or memorizing the periodic table of elements. We should help them see that chemistry involves living organisms as well as nonliving objects and is much mor...

Journal Article

Korean Kimchi Chemistry

Connecting science with different cultures is one way to interest students in science, to relate science to their lives, and at the same time to broaden their horizons in a variety of ways. In the lesson described here, students make kimchi, a delici...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Helping students write scientific explanations

Constructing explanations is an important scientific practice that brings meaning to all that scientists do. But just because it’s important to scientists doesn’t mean it’s going to be important to students. However, getting students to engage ...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Getting into the habit of persistence

Habits of mind are the behaviors commonly exhibited by successful people when the solution to a problem is not immediately evident (Costa and Kallick 1992). In a science classroom, persistent students stop and think about a problem they encounter bef...