Instructors from K-16 incorporate current events and contemporary media in their courses in a variety of ways and with different educational objectives. Here, I present strategies for selecting and framing current events in high school and undergraduate biology courses and an example assignment, all explicitly tied to science practice skills and…

How do some high schools produce graduates that consistently achieve at high levels? Would you believe there's a set of proven strategies that could help you deliver similar impressive results and better prepare students for the world after high school? High schools in the United States face a startling reality: many graduates are unprepared for…

Effective science instruction involves opportunities for all students to do science, including engaging in the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices through inquiry-based learning. Many students with learning disabilities have the accommodation of shortened or reduced assignments in their Individualized Educational Programs to allow them equal…

To engage all learners, schools must offer career-pathway courses that combine academics and deeper learning. Gene Bottoms, until recently head of the Southern Regional Education Board, describes a transformation he believes must happen in US high schools--adopting curriculums that include intellectual rigor in career and technical education (CTE)…

Teachers are continually in search of tasks that balance the dual priorities of rigorous thinking and fluency development. These often-competing priorities are emphasized by national-level organizations as well as by state-level standards and assessments. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) calls for school mathematics…

How can comedy be used as an effective tool and truly help innovate the learning experience? This paper outlines how aspects of comedy have been creatively integrated into primary and secondary academic curricula such as English Language Arts, social studies, drama, as well as in areas of mental health and wellness. The essay demonstrates, for…

Traditional high school physics instruction often comes across as a mere extension of the mathematics classroom to many of our students. Solving numerical physics problems using structures such as the GUESS method (given, unknown, equation, substitute, solve) doesn't help students with conceptual understanding. With the advent of physics education…

In this article, Kate Collins begins by explaining how she discovered that "Hamilton: An American Musical," a Broadway show that incorporates a mix of musical genres: hip-hop, jazz, classic show tunes, and show-stopper numbers based on the life of Alexander Hamilton, could be brought into her teaching as a rich resource for her high…

Science teachers can always benefit from efficient tools that help students to engage with the subject and understand it better without significantly adding to the teacher's workload nor requiring too much of class time to manage. Reflective writing is such a low-impact, high-return tool. What follows is an introduction to reflective writing, and…

Science is full of amazing facts, but at times it may be difficult to fully appreciate their significance without an understanding of the scientific practices that gave them meaning. The teaching of evolution may be an example of this situation; there are many interesting facts to consider, but it is equally important for students to learn where…

Writing and communication skills are important in all fields of employment. During the course of everyday life, people have to perform tasks they have never done before, or learn a technology they have never used. Most tasks are processes, and it takes some time to learn how they work. Instructions are the most common method of explaining how to…

Instead of having their students' first experience with biology that did not address issues of racism in science, Kelsie Fowler and Saraswati Noel created a unit drew on storytelling and artistic expression which is rare in science education, where these modes helped them center what really mattered to them--their Black students' personal…

High school teachers Gallagher and Kittle describe a 9-week unit on writing a narrative they created (and taught at their respective schools) that gave students many chances to practice different elements of writing a story. Their unit "spiraled" students back to key skills at each step, giving extended writing practice often lacking in…

Revisiting the writing assignments that the author has given to his sophomores and juniors over the past four years, he can identify patterns that have complicated their writing development. This article explores how Aristotle's enthymeme can serve as an effective prewriting tool for literary analysis in the high school classroom. By foregrounding…

In this article, we draw on the work of Michel Foucault to analyze one student's subject development in an expository writing classroom. James, the participant, was embarking on the project of becoming a good student, as he understood it, after struggling and leaving school previously. Drawing on interviews, classroom observations and written…