All Science Scope resources

Journal Article

Science Sampler: The science of skin color

For many teachers of life science, one of the favorite parts of the curriculum is the unit on heredity. Students love to discover how and from whom they’ve inherited certain traits such as tongue rolling, earlobe shape, and dimples. In this fun and...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: Modeling the effects of drugs on the brain

The following activity teaches students about the neurobiological consequences of drug use on their brains and behavior. Students make clay models that allow them to visualize how drugs affect neural communication. If you’re concerned that this act...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Health Literacy

In his 2003 testimony, the Surgeon General called for combating the obesity epidemic in America by increasing health literacy among our citizens, and especially among the nation’s children. Schools must teach students to lead healthy lifestyles and...

Journal Article

Tried and True: Making the connection—Addressing students’ misconceptions of circuits

Electricity is an abstract phenomenon that students interact with every day. Interestingly enough, many eighth-grade students do not fully understand the requirements for a complete circuit. In an effort to "short-circuit" misunderstandings, the circ...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: You can learn a lot from your dog

Recently, dogs have been the focus of a great deal of scientific research. In fact, dogs were the inspiration for Professor Bruce Blumberg’s class, The Cognitive Dog: Savant or Slacker, at Harvard University. This course serves as the impetus for...

Journal Article

Scope on the Skies: Neptune—The planet exterior to Uranus

This month, the three most outer planets—Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune—and one of the larger dwarf planets, Pluto, will be in the evening skies after sunset. While only Jupiter and Uranus will be visible through small telescopes or binoculars, thi...

Journal Article

Extra! Extra! Learn All about It

Communication and reporting of findings to peers are important to middle school students. One way to capitalize on students’ interests and incorporate the nature of science into the science curriculum is to have students create a science-based news...

Journal Article

Issues In-Depth: The pet food recall puzzle—Who, what, why, and how much?

Last spring, North America was gripped in the largest pet food recall in history. News outlets reported tens of thousands of dogs and cats becoming ill, and many dying, as a result of ingesting contaminated pet food. Several pet owners have filed law...