All Science Scope resources

Journal Article

A few new wrinkles have been added to the popular activity of building a scale model of the solar system. Students can learn about maps and scaling using easily accessible online resources that include satellite images. This is accomplished by taking...

Journal Article

Teaching for Conceptual Change in Space Science

Nearly 20 years after the release of The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ video, A Private Universe, much research has been done in relation to students’ understanding of space-science concepts and how to effectively change these id...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: What to do about Pluto?

Perhaps Pluto is no longer a planet, but does that mean we should remove it from our solar system models? Is it time to order new textbooks, buy new posters, and invent new mnemonic devices? Slow down, no need to panic! Pluto hasn’t gone anywhere o...

Journal Article

Time on Your Hands: Modeling Time

Building physical models relative to a concept can be an important activity to help students develop and manipulate abstract ideas and mental models that often prove difficult to grasp. One such concept is time. A method for helping students unders...

Journal Article

Teacher’s Toolkit: It’s a big, busy solar system

Anyone who teaches about the solar system can’t help but be impressed by the vast array of solar system objects, all of the robotic explorers, and the rapidly evolving view of each object and the systems they inhabit. Far from being a disconcerting...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: The Science Belief Quiz

The Science Belief Quiz is an online instrument that was developed to assess and increase student understanding of science concepts and to combat misconceptions. The following are four items from the quiz related to astronomy. A follow-up teacher dem...

Journal Article

Science Sampler: How long is your day?

The tilt of the Earth on its axis and the manner in which sunlight strikes the Earth remains one of the most misunderstood concepts taught in an introductory astronomy course. The misconceptions that surround the reasons for the seasonal variations w...

Journal Article

From A Bird’s Eye View: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Migration

Inspiring students to learn about birds can be a daunting task—students see birds just about every day and often don’t think twice about them. The activity described here is designed to excite students to “become” birds. Students are asked to...

Journal Article

After the Bell: It’s all in the pattern—Recognizing symmetry in architecture

As teachers, we try to make subjects applicable to students’ lives. A topic that extends well beyond the classroom and any single discipline is the physical properties of symmetry found in architecture. Few curriculum programs, however, have implem...

Journal Article

Directed Student Inquiry: Modeling in Roborovsky Hamsters

In this inquiry-based activity, Roborovsky hamsters are used to provide students with an opportunity to develop their skills of analysis, inquiry, and design. These hamsters are easy to maintain, yet offer students a means to use conventional techniq...

Journal Article

Editor’s Roundtable: Life in balance

The connection between the functions and processes of an organism’s body system and its survival is a fundamental concept that all students need to understand. This issue of Science Scope presents a collection of activities that can help you teac...

Journal Article

Are There Really Treefrogs Living in the Schoolyard?

Every schoolyard presents a wealth of opportunities for science exploration. To capitalize on this resource, the authors developed an activity in which students assessed whether their schoolyard could provide a viable habitat for treefrogs. This inqu...