When my district sent teachers to conferences, we were expected to submit a list of sessions we attended. NSTA has a great transcript feature for this documentation, producing a professional-looking document. But I never thought of including the time I spent in the exhibit hall (which you can do with the transcript tool). After walking [...]
Whether attendees use the print catalog or the online scheduler, browsing through the session descriptions at this year’s conference is tantalizing. From large keynote sessions by Bill Nye and Jeff Goldstein to more intimate ones presented by teachers, university professors, or consultants, I wish I could be in two (or more) places at once. The [...]
I am teaching the states of matter to first graders. I was looking for some demonstrations or hands-on activities to help the students understand the concept of a gas, since they can’t really see it. —Megan, Maryland First of all, I’m glad to hear your school has not relegated science to a back burner. It’s [...]
A lot has changed since the first Earth Day, especially in the area of technology and the emphasis on test results. The More High-Tech Our Schools Become, the More They Need Nature sets the stage for the rest of this issue with Richard Low’s call for both formal and informal learning activities for “no child [...]
The teachers on our team all have different homework policies which confuses our students and their parents. Do you have any suggestions to help us become more consistent? –Jacob from Virginia My views on homework evolved throughout my years in the classroom, as I came to understand my students better and improve my instructional strategies. [...]
How does a change in climate affect an environment and the organisms that live in it? This could be an essential question for an ecology or environmental science unit. Students hear a lot about climate change but may not have made the connection between changes in climate and the resulting impact on water quality, landforms, [...]
A teacher at a workshop once told me, “I keep my student so busy, they don’t have time to think.” I hope she was joking, because helping students learn how to engage in critical thinking—problem solving, creating, analyzing—and to develop their own strategies for self-evaluation and learning is one of the most important things we [...]
I’m starting a long-term substitute position teaching high school chemistry until the end of the year. I’ve subbed for this teacher before, so I’m somewhat familiar with the school. But do you have any suggestions for starting in the middle of the year? How can I get to know the students quickly? Should I continue [...]
I’m a new teacher with six classes: four biology and two ecology. The teacher’s manual for my textbooks in these subjects have many interesting lab activities, but I am having difficulty selecting and organizing them. I feel like I live at school! Do you have any suggestions? –Tony from Illinois There’s no way around it—the [...]
February 20, 1962 – Many of our NSTA members and colleagues weren’t even born then! But it was an unforgettable event as my friends and I watched John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. There was no Internet at the time and no live Tweets—just classrooms of students huddled around black and [...]
