Studying Science Teaching and Learning Through Drawings I came across this fascinating study via a tweet the other day. I read many traditional research studies (both quantitative and qualitative) but this one caught my attention because it used drawings as a way of communicating and data collecting. According to the authors (a team form the [...]
One of my favorite benefits of being an NSTA member is being able to view all of the journals electronically, although I’m somewhat of a dinosaur in that I still like the feel of holding an actual book or magazine. On the NSTA home page, use the links in the “Choose Your Classroom” list to [...]
Every month, our colleague Ken Roy shares important information about safety in the science classrooms and laboratories. His columns appear in Science Scope and The Science Teacher. These are “must-reads” for science teachers, and NSTA members can access articles in both of these online, regardless of which journal you receive in print. The information can [...]
Although it’s snowing on this April day in the Northeast, I suspect that many students (and teachers) are thinking of the summer break. But as the theme of this issue suggests, students will keep on learning. How can we as teachers build on their experiences when they return from a break? How can we encourage [...]
Although schools may have mission statements and other documents about providing opportunities for all students, the real work occurs in the classrooms—and this issue has many suggestions for doing so. For example, Accommodating Differences describes strategies to involve all students in class activities, noting that “All classes, even homogeneous ones, show varying levels of ability [...]
Do you need an interesting way to start a faculty meeting? Try the assessment crossword in this month’s Editor’s Roundtable. Even if you give your colleagues a word bank for their responses, the puzzle can be a discussion-starter. I occasionally gave this type of quiz to my students. They seemed somewhat surprised at this change [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
