Category Archives: SciLinks

The official blog site of SciLinks—putting the best teacher-vetted web resources at your fingertips. Click on a headline to read the entire post.

The future is here

By Mary Bigelow | Published: May 23, 2013

In addition to NSTA publications, I read many others related to science and education, both in print and online. I usually scan the pages and images, focusing on articles of interest. However, the May 2013 issue of Smithsonian was so compelling, I had to read it cover to cover! The theme was “The Future Is [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Biodiversity

By Mary Bigelow | Published: April 26, 2013

Toward the end of the school year, you might be looking for a culminating activity in which students can apply what they’ve learned during the year to new situations or problems. This issue has ideas that help students investigate the big idea of the interrelationships between biodiversity and human activity–how each affects the other. Exploring [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The history of our planet

By Mary Bigelow | Published: April 18, 2013

One of the themes in several articles and blogs I’ve read makes the case that the study of earth science should not stop at the end of middle school! Illustrating this, the final version of the Next Generation Science Standards were released last week, and the NSTA journals continue a discussion with The NGSS and [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment
folder icon  Also posted in Conferences

Conference begins

By Mary Bigelow | Published: April 12, 2013

Someone today asked me if I was enjoying the NSTA annual conference. What’s not to enjoy–a beautiful location (San Antonio), great weather (even though we’re inside most of the day), interesting sessions, and the company of 10,000+ colleagues! It’s an exciting professional development opportunity with sessions on content, teaching strategies, information on a variety of [...]

Also posted in Conferences | Tagged , | 2 Responses

Science for all

By Mary Bigelow | Published: April 7, 2013

Sometimes it seems that some students are excluded from an expectation of success in the sciences – those with cognitive or physical disabilities, those who do not speak English, or those who do not appear to have the intellectual or reading levels that were thought to be important. I often wonder at the thinking and [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It’s a puzzlement

By Mary Bigelow | Published: April 2, 2013

How many of us in the K-12 science environment use word puzzles to help students review concepts and learn vocabulary? I haven’t been convinced of the value of find-a-words or jumble puzzles are effective learning tools, but crossword puzzles and others that ask students to think of words to fit the clues could be useful. [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Electric!

By Mary Bigelow | Published: March 24, 2013

When I was little, I had an “electric” map of the U.S. There were two wired probes, and the object of the game was to use them to connect the name of the state capital from a list in the margin with a state on the map. (This was long before computer games!) If the [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , , | 1 Response

Science and students’ interests

By Mary Bigelow | Published: March 16, 2013

Middle school students typically have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. Channeling these into learning opportunities is the challenge for teachers. The Editor’s Roundtable lists key points in designing student-centered, interest-based instruction: get to know your students, use authentic tasks to build conceptual bridges between school and everyday life, design tasks at the right level, [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Addressing the NGSS

By Mary Bigelow | Published: March 8, 2013

The Next Generation Science Standards are scheduled to be released this spring (after several drafts and comment periods). The NSTA journals continue a discussion with NGSS–A Focus on Physical Science (a similar article in the February issue dealt with life science). A Look at the NGSS has a one-page “Inside the NGSS Box” visual that [...]

Posted in SciLinks | 1 Response

NSTA journal features

By Mary Bigelow | Published: February 26, 2013

As an NSTA member, you subscribe to one or more journals in print/digital format. But you also have access to articles in the other journals. In the monthly SciLinks blog for each issue (and on the NSTA home page), there are links to browse the table of contents of the three K–12 journals (Science & [...]

Posted in SciLinks | Tagged , | 1 Response