JoinThe Science Teacher—Fall 2023
Fall 2023
Special Double Issue—Eclipses Across America
Journal Article
Preparing for the Great American Eclipse of 2024
The Great American Eclipse of 2017 path of totality passed across the United States on Monday August 21, 2017, from Madras, Oregon to Columbia, South ...
By Kurtz Miller
Journal Article
Scientific Literacy: Lives could depend on it!
Carl Sagan famously said “We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science ...
By Charlotte Moser
Journal Article
Science concepts connect us to the wonders of the natural universe. Why is the sky blue? [Air molecules behave much like tiny little tuning forks.] Is...
By John Suchocki
Journal Article
Teaching Students to Read Equations
The laws of nature are expressed in equation form in all physics courses. How these laws are taught can vary widely. In this article, I expand on prev...
By Paul G. Hewitt
Journal Article
Promoting Learning for All Through Explore-Before-Explain
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) highlight the importance of creating more equitable learning environments and engaging all students in sc...
By Patrick Brown, Jay McTighe, and Rodger Bybee
Journal Article
Translanguaging as an Essential Practice in Socially Just Science Classrooms
In this interaction, Manuel and Rico (all names are pseudonyms) expertly mix Spanish and English to communicate as they collect data in a ninth grade ...
By Sarah Braden and Taylor Dexter
Journal Article
The 2023 and 2024 Solar Eclipse Double-Header
North America will experience a solar eclipse “double-header” this fall. While 500 million people will see two partial eclipses (when the Moon cov...
By Dennis Schatz and Andrew Fraknoi
Journal Article
Making the Most of the Upcoming Solar Eclipse Double-Header
Eclipses of the Sun, where the Moon gets in front of the Sun and blocks its light, are among the most spectacular of natural events. The total eclipse...
By Andrew Fraknoi and Dennis Schatz
Journal Article
Solar eclipses are excellent platforms for engaging students with astronomy and for teaching concepts like the Sun-Earth-Moon relationship through rar...
By Sóley Hyman, Wilson González-Espada, Allyson Bieryla, and Wanda Díaz-Merced
Journal Article
On Teaching Electricity Through History
Electricity is a fascinating phenomenon and one of the most important driving forces in the natural world, and our understanding of it all began with ...
By Christine Guy Schnittka
Journal Article
The Use of Storytelling to Model NGSS Science and Engineering Practices
An important strand of three-dimensional learning in the Next Generation Science Standards is science and engineering practices (SEPs; NGSS Lead State...
By Adrienne Larocque and Anna Babarinde
Journal Article
Performance Assessment as Part of Efficient, Effective, and Equitable Instructional Practice
Since the release of the NGSS, science classrooms across the United States have shifted science learning away from a focus on decontextualized facts a...
By Lauren Stoll and Jill Wertheim
Journal Article
Classroom communities are more than just teachers and students. Administrators, other teachers and students, teacher aides, all school staff, families...
By Jonathan McCausland and Kathryn M. Bateman
Journal Article
For as long as people have had stories to tell, folklore and tall tales have been a part of social gatherings. Storytelling helps us convey our histor...
By Kimberly Ideus and Miles Engell
Journal Article
As long as there have been roofs overhead, there have been gardens above them. Since the Ziggurats and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, man has cultiva...
By Andrew Jones, Joel Hockin,and Max Longhurst
Journal Article
Making Sense of the Deepwater Oil Spill Disaster
Authenticity in learning is becoming increasingly important as today’s students are not “buying into” school just because it’s there! Today’...
By Joy Barnes-Johnson and Mridula Bajaj
Journal Article
Science Journaling with Technology
Students in today’s classrooms spend a lot of time using technology by listening to music, texting, watching videos, and using social media applicat...
By Brigitte Whaley and Ashley Campbell
Journal Article
Career of the Month: Acoustician
Acoustics involves all aspects of sound, noise, vibration, and perception. It’s a large field that encompasses specialties such as architecture, und...
By Luba Vangelova
Journal Article
Does Drinking Milk Cause Strong Bones?
In 1935, individuals living in the United States began to encounter eye-catching posters communicating a variety of public program messages from the W...
By Jacqueline Katz