All The Science Teacher resources

Journal Article

It's Alive: Students observe air-water interface samples rich with organisms

After collaboration with a university researcher, students found that the air-water interface was a thin biofilm on the surface of still water composed of a rich variety of living microorganisms. Samples exposed to day-night intervals and in total da...

Journal Article

Rolling on the River: Professional mentors motivate students to learn environmental science

Students participate in an interdisciplinary project, Research@the.River.com. By collaborating with their professional mentors while working in the field, students learned environmental science curricula through discussion and interaction. Most impor...

Journal Article

Idea Bank: Fruit Fundamentals

The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. This month’s Idea Bank features a unique activity using halved apples, oranges, and onions as the "specimens" that teaches necessary dissection skills to prepa...

Journal Article

Wacky Machines: A unit on simple machines gets a new twist with old junk

The next community yard sale might be a repository of old, quirky items that are just the things to get students thinking about simple machines. By introducing some "wacky machines" at lab stations as mystery objects, teachers can watch students' min...

Journal Article

What Do Amphibians Have to Offer? Students monitor and map amphibians in local pond habitats

Scientists have expressed concern over amphibian decline. In a cooperative project with a university and a local high school, students monitor and map amphibians in local pond habitats and try to distinguish population fluctuations from actual declin...

Journal Article

It's NOT Just a Theory: Why teachers need to address the nature of science and the "hidden" curriculum

As science educators we are faced with some issues associated with our choice of words and their implications for learning outcomes. Because the “hidden” curriculum influences student learning, it is important that terms such as theory and conce...

Journal Article

Summing It Up: Teaching summary writing to enhance science learning

Students can learn to recognize information that is most important to the author of a science article or book by using repeated references and generalization. This strategy—designed for college reading classes but adapted for secondary school scien...

Journal Article

Reconstructing the Geologic Timeline: Adding a constructivist slant to a classic activity

The geologic timeline activity is revisited, adding a constructivist slant. This project provides evidence that time-honored activities still have a place in today's science classes. ...