The science and engineering practices in the "Next Generation Science Standards" seek to engage students in complex tasks including planning and carrying out investigations or engaging in argument from evidence. However, such tasks often require students to effectively collaborate. While our students get better at working together in an…

Teaching the tools and concepts associated with modern physics can often be a daunting and difficult task for secondary science teachers. Classical physics is often perceived as intimidating and complex in its own right. Modern physics addressing quantum phenomena where Newtonian laws break down is even more abstract for learners. However,…

Interactive science simulations (sims) have become popular tools for science educators, and research confirms that sims can improve student learning (Rutten, van Joolingen, and van der Veen 2012). Over the past 15 years, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder has created a collection of 150 open (free)…

To enhance teaching and learning about Earth's climate and global climate change (GCC) in secondary science classrooms, the authors are engaged in a four-year, National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop, implement, and evaluate a new four-week curriculum module grounded in the use of a data-driven, computer-based climate modeling…

Spices, of course, do not make a meal, but they make a meal more enjoyable and memorable. Games do the same, allowing teachers to interact with their students in a different way than they normally do. They also have the potential to challenge and assess students' understanding of content. Games allow teachers to "play" with their…

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…

Teaching about wave structure and function is a critical element of any physical science curriculum and supported by "Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)" PS4: Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer. To support students' learning of these ideas, teachers often rely on developing graphic models of a…

This article presents a unit of study in which students examine skeletons and draw conclusions from the evidence they find in a simulated mass grave. The activity involves the foundation of forensic anthropology--interpreting the structure of skeletal remains to determine sex, age, height, and possible cause of death. Working through a series of…

This summer, on August 21, 500 million people across North America will experience one of the most beautiful astronomical phenomena: an eclipse of the Sun. It will be a "must teach" moment, when all students will want to know the "what, when, and why" of the event. In addition, many high school science teachers are likely to be…

Molecular storytelling combines three-dimensional (3-D) structure visualization, chemical and biological knowledge, and multidisciplinary functional information from various bioinformatics data resources to generate new knowledge. It prepares students for independent and interdisciplinary learning, facile navigation of public databases to gather…

Science becomes engaging when students know that what they learn in the classroom relates to their own lives and communities. This article describes a project in which students use field exploration and online software to design virtual solutions to improve the hydrology of their school yard. The project is called Teaching Environmental…

To help teachers engage students in discussions about sustainability, the authors designed Fields of Fuel, a multiplayer, web-based simulation game that allows players to explore the environmental and economic trade-offs of a realistic sustainable system. Computer-based simulations of real-world phenomena engage students and have been shown to…

This article describes a lesson on the greenhouse effect in which students explore blackbody radiation and Wien's law. The lesson, which has been tested in a variety of high school physics classrooms, uses probeware and online simulations and combines two well-established instructional strategies: the 5E Learning Cycle (Bybee et al. 2006) and the…

This article describes the High-Adventure Science curriculum unit "Is There Life in Space?" This free online investigation, developed by The Concord Consortium, helps students see how scientists use modern tools to locate planets around distant stars and explore the probability of finding extraterrestrial life. This innovative curriculum…

Systems thinking suggests that one can best understand a complex system by studying the interrelationships of its component parts rather than looking at the individual parts in isolation. With ongoing concern about the effects of climate change, using innovative materials to help students understand how Earth's systems connect with each other is…