Wikis have been called ”the quintessential collaborative tool.” In this article from the February 2010 issue of NSTA Reports, you’ll find out how teachers around the country are using wikis to collaborate with colleagues around the world, as well as to communicate with students and parents. Do you have a wiki? Tell us about yours, and how [...]
Making the connections between science, reading, writing, and media literacy has been a professional interest of mine for many years. So I get really excited when The Science Teacher has literacy as a theme. In addition to these articles, SciLinks has additional resources under the topic Reading and Writing in Science with ideas to help [...]
Happy pi day (3.14)! I’m clearing out my mailbox and “to do” lists before heading to the NSTA Conference in New Orleans. Here are some items of interest: Teachers’ Domain announces a new new Adolescent Literacy Special Collection: Inspiring Middle School Literacy: Reading and Writing in Science and History. According to the information sent by [...]
Reading this issue’s articles on English Language Learners (ELLs) — Challenges and Solutions for ELLs and Making the Connection — brought back memories of many students in my classes, but especially of Philippe, who moved to my town from Haiti. Philippe spoke a little English, but no one in our school spoke French or Haitian [...]
With the emphasis on literacy since the onset of No Child Left Behind, there seems to be two schools of thought. One emphasizes instruction in reading and math to the point that instruction in science, social studies, and the arts, especially in the primary grades, is greatly reduced. The other looks at ways to integrate [...]
A few years ago, one of the speakers at our school’s career day was a graduate who was an environmental scientist. A student asked her what she did all day. The audience expected her to say things such as I do chemical tests. I spend all day on the river. I look at things through [...]
As I was reading my February issues of the NSTA publications, it occurred to me how there is a common thread among them. The lead article in The Science Teacher is “Back to the Future?” which looks at nature-study as an approach to teaching. The whole issue of Science Scope is devoted to environmental studies, [...]
As part of a project I am working on, I was visiting the science classes of teachers who participated in a summer professional education project. One of the elementary teachers indicated that I should wait until April to visit hers. She said that in her school, they didn’t teach science until after the state reading [...]
