One can become a responsive teacher who promotes equity by continuously engaging in the following processes: (1) Attend to students' needs or struggles stemming from both inside and outside the classrooms, in addition to their intellectual contributions as members of a classroom learning community; (2) Interpret classroom situations with a…

This inquiry-based lesson gets students moving to simulate chemical reactions in a way that allows them to visualize, understand, and retain information about chemical reactions in the stratosphere. Students then look at scientific data and conduct research to understand trends in the data and the impact of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These…

This article describes a five-lesson curriculum that introduces students to the primary cause, multiple predicted impacts, and possible solutions to ocean acidification. It builds upon the strengths of over 90 existing teaching resources on the topic while also contributing new ways to teach about the impacts and solutions to this pressing…

For the past 15 years, pine forests across the United States have experienced devastating mountain and southern pine beetle outbreaks (Rosner 2015). These outbreaks are not uncommon but have become increasingly severe. Due to the effects of global warming, pine beetles have been able to survive warmer winters in their native habitats, producing…

Environmental education for all students is becoming more urgent as societies strive to deal with challenges such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. Teachers have an important role to play in defining the environmental knowledge, beliefs, and actions of the next generation. Understanding the anthropogenic inputs responsible for alteration…

"Catalase," an enzyme found in both plant and animal cells, prevents the accumulation of toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide (H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2]) by catalyzing its decomposition to water and oxygen gas. Because this enzyme is ubiquitous, it is frequently used in high school biology laboratories to explore enzyme reactions. This…

Groundwater contamination is a serious environmental problem, given that all living things depend on this essential resource. Groundwater represents less than 1% of all water found on Earth, but nearly 90% of the freshwater used comes from groundwater (USGS 2016). The problem-based activity described in this article actively engages students in…

Carbon is at the heart of many of today's environmental challenges. It is the central element responsible for the structure and function of living systems--taken up by plants through photosynthesis and moving from plants to other organisms, soil, and the ocean and into the atmosphere. The imbalance of these connected biogeochemical…

In 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its fifth report, attributing 95% of "all" climate warming--from the 1950s through today--to humans. Not only did the report--like previous IPCC reports dating back to 1990--accredit global warming to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions, but over time the vast…

Species richness, migration, habitats, ecological niches, adaptations: Concepts such as these come alive when students explore and analyze landscapes, environmental characteristics, and related biological features represented on digital maps. Most students are familiar with navigation tools integrated into smartphone apps but may be surprised to…

Adaptation, interactions between species and their environments, and change over time are fundamental principles in biology. They represent aspects of two of the big ideas in science: evolution and natural selection. To help students understand these ideas, the authors developed the "Guppy Game." In this article, they describe the game and how…

The internet abounds with free science education applications. But, on their own, these applications have limited capacity to teach students curricular concepts or skills. The author integrated several free web-based applications into a broader pedagogical approach called T-GEM, in which the teacher guides student investigations. In this article,…

Recently, senior-level physics students joined thousands of scientists from over 60 nations to examine a wide range of physical, biological, and social research topics as part of the International Polar Year (IPY). Through a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded research project, these students applied physics concepts to the study of Arctic…

Reviews some research on, and provides a mathematical model for, the decline in bacterial populations in a closed system as a consequence of accumulating toxins and decreasing food. (AL)

The relationship between science information and social forces can be exemplified in the classroom by considering the consequences of the completion and operation of the project. (DF)