JoinAll Inquiry resources
Journal Article
The Early Years: Taking Math Outside
This column discusses resources and science topics related to students in grades preK to 2. This month’s issue uses children’s interest in collecting outdoor objects to develop their number sense and to build their understanding of math concepts...
Journal Article
This column shares exercises to challenge content knowledge. This month's issue presents a new challenge and answers The Sound of One Hand Clapping challenge from last month....
Journal Article
Methods and Strategies: Ask the Right Question
This column provides ideas and techniques to enhance your science teaching. This month’s issue shows how teachers can use literature and higher-level thinking questions to enhance science instruction....
Journal Article
Disequilibrium: How Heat Affects the Density of Water
This column shows how to use discrepant events to confront misconceptions. This month’s discrepant event illustrates what happens when a container filled with warmer, less dense water is placed on top of a container filled with denser, cooler water...
Blog Post
My ‘Phenomenal’ Journey in Elementary
I am the type of educator who gets very excited about new strategies, new and innovative technology, and new activities for students. However, I was more nervous about than excited about to choosing phenomena for my science units. I felt tremendous p...
By Cindy Workosky
NSTA Press Book
Picture-Perfect STEM Lessons, 3-5: Using Children’s Books to Inspire STEM Learning
"Teachers in our district have been fans of Picture-Perfect Science for years, and it’s made a huge impact on how they fit science into their school day. We are so excited to do more of the same with these Picture-Perfect STEM books!"—Chris Gible...
By Emily Morgan, Karen Ansberry
Blog Post
Using the Crosscutting Concepts to Scaffold Student Thinking
At the recent NSTA National Conference in Los Angeles, three-dimensional learning was, of course, a major topic of discussion. When those discussions focus on classroom instruction, though, the crosscutting concepts are often the forgotten dimension....
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
At the core of a Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) classroom is the sequence of exposing students to an interesting natural phenomenon, having students generate questions about the phenomenon, investigating student questions, then creating a s...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Introducing Crosscutting Concepts in the Elementary Grades
Four years ago, I moved from teaching middle school science to teaching grades 2–5 STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) labs. One of the biggest challenges I faced was limited lab time in our elementary school. Because we ...
By Cindy Workosky
Blog Post
Digging Deeper: Designing Solutions
This month’s Digging Deeper column for the Next Gen Navigator focuses on the practice of constructing explanations and designing solutions, and specifically the design process that addresses the engineering component of the Next Generation Science ...
By Cindy Workosky