K-12 Teaching Resources

STEM Road Map: A Framework for Integrated STEM Education is the first resource to offer an integrated STEM curricula encompassing the entire K-12 spectrum, with complete grade-level learning based on a spiraled approach to building conceptual understanding. A team of over thirty STEM education professionals from across the U.S. collaborated on the important work of mapping out the Common Core standards in mathematics and English/language arts, the Next Generation Science Standards performance expectations, and the Framework for 21st Century Learning into a coordinated, integrated, STEM education curriculum map. The book is structured in three main parts--Conceptualizing STEM, STEM Curriculum Maps, and Building Capacity for STEM--designed to build common understandings of integrated STEM, provide rich curriculum maps for implementing integrated STEM at the classroom level, and supports to enable systemic transformation to an integrated STEM approach. The STEM Road Map places the power into educators' hands to implement integrated STEM learning within their classrooms without the need for extensive resources, making it a reality for all students.

This practical book will help readers understand what STEAM is, how it differs from STEM, and how it can be used to engage students in K-8 classrooms. The authors present a conceptual model with recommendations and classroom examples illustrating various key aspects of STEAM teaching in action, including creating the correct teaching environment, integrating STEAM content, and supporting students as they develop STEAM-related skills. The model includes specific strategies such as problem-based learning, student choice, technology integration, and teacher facilitation. Each chapter incorporates elements of connected learning--a type of learning that draws on students' interests that teachers can capitalize on when using STEAM to address real-world problems.Readers will find easy-to-understand examples of what STEAM education looks like in a variety of classrooms, and will hear from teachers, instructional coaches, principals, and administrators about what it takes to ensure that STEAM is a schoolwide success. Book Features: Straightforward guidance for creating STEAM instructional units for the K-8 classroom. A concise instructional model that addresses misconceptions about STEAM education. Extended vignettes demonstrating teaching practices, student learning, and school-community partnerships. Classroom examples of STEAM learning that rural, urban, traditional, and innovative schools can relate to and build on. Based on the authors' work with over 150 teachers and analysis of teachers' reflective journal entries, STEAM unit plans, classroom instruction, and more.

Bolstered by new standards and new initiatives to promote STEM education, engineering is making its way into the school curriculum. This comprehensive introduction will help elementary educators integrate engineering into their classroom, school, or district in age-appropriate, inclusive, and engaging ways. Building on the work of a Museum of Science team that has spent 15 years developing elementary engineering curricula, this book outlines how engineering can be integrated into a broader STEM curriculum, details its pedagogical benefits to students, and includes classroom examples to help educators tailor instruction to engage diverse students. Featuring vignettes, case studies, videos, research results, and assessments, this resource will help readers visualize high-quality elementary engineering and understand the theoretical principles in context. Book Features: Frameworks to help teachers create curricula and structure activities. A focus on engaging the diversity of learners in today's classrooms. Experiences from the nation's leading elementary education curriculum that has reached 13.3 million children and 165,000 educators.

Responding to recent reform efforts, such as the Next Generation Science Standards, which call for students to learn science practices, this book proposes a conceptual reframing of the roles of teachers and students in formal and informal science learning settings. Inviting the field to examine the state of "science practice," it provides concrete examples of how students, supported by the actions of educators, take on new roles, shifting from passive recipients of information to active participants in conceptual, social, epistemic, and material features of science work. Each chapter provides an examination of how and why science practice evolves in learning communities in which students and teachers negotiate disciplinary work; an analysis of how specific pedagogical and social actions taken by someone with authority (a teacher or other educator) provides opportunities for students to shape science practices; a set of concrete recommendations for working with young students in formal and informal learning settings; and a set of suggestions and questions to catalyze future research about and the evolving relationships between educators, students, and science practices in the field of science education. Showing how and why the conceptual ideas presented are important, and providing specific, actionable suggestions for teachers and other educators for their daily work, this book includes both elementary and secondary learning sites.

Many resources help you encourage young children to learn about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). But only this book of quality STEM experiences was curated by the veteran educator who edits Science and Children, NSTA's award-winning journal for elementary teachers. Sensitive to the needs of both preK-5 students and busy teachers, editor Linda Froschauer developed Bringing STEM to the Elementary Classroom as a comprehensive source of classroom-tested STEM investigations. The 36 lessons are: conveniently organized into grade-level bands grounded in science education research designed to encourage learning across disciplines, promote real-world problem-solving skills, introduce children to STEM careers, and serve all students equally well; and connected to all elements of the Next Generation Science Standards. Whether you're just beginning to delve into STEM experiences or eager for fresh ideas, Bringing STEM to the Elementary Classroom provides you with new, interesting, and productive strategies.

Great news for multitasking middle school teachers: Science educators Terry Shiverdecker and Jessica Fries-Gaither can help you blend inquiry-based science and literacy instruction to support student learning and maximize your time. Several unique features make Inquiring Scientists, Inquiring Readers in Middle School a valuable resource: Lessons integrate all aspects of literacy--reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. The texts are relevant nonfiction, including trade books, newspaper and magazine articles, online material, infographics, and even videos. A learning-cycle framework helps students deepen their understanding with data collection and analysis before reading about a concept. Ten investigations support current standards and encompass life, physical, and Earth and space sciences. Units range from "Chemistry, Toys, and Accidental Inventions" to "Thermal Energy: An Ice Cube's Kryptonite!" The authors have made sure the book is teacher-friendly. Each unit comes with scientific background, a list of common misconceptions, an annotated text list, safety considerations, differentiation strategies, reproducible student pages, and assessments. This middle school resource is a follow-up to the authors' award-winning Inquiring Scientists, Inquiring Readers for grades 3-5, which one reviewer called "very thorough, and any science teacher's dream to read." The book will change the way you think about engaging your students in science and literacy.

CO-PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF TEACHERS OF ENGLISH Teaching Climate Change to Adolescents is THE essential resource for middle and high school English language arts teachers to help their students understand and address the urgent issues and challenges facing life on Earth today. Classroom activities written and used by teachers show students posing questions, engaging in argumentative reading and writing and critical analysis, interpreting portrayals of climate change in literature and media, and adopting advocacy stances to promote change. The book illustrates climate change fitting into existing courses using already available materials and gives teachers tools and teaching ideas to support building this into their own classrooms. A variety of teacher and student voices makes for an appealing, fast-paced, and inspiring read. Visit the website for this book for additional information and links. All royalties from the sale of this book are donated to Alliance for Climate Education.

How do you create effective STEM classrooms that energize students, help them grow into creative thinkers and collaborators, and prepare them for their futures? This practical book from expert Anne Jolly has all the answers and tools you need to get started or enhance your current program. Based on the author's popular MiddleWeb blog of the same name, STEM by Design reveals the secrets to successful lessons in which students use science, math, and technology to solve real-world engineering design problems. You'll learn how to: Select and adapt quality existing STEM lessons that present authentic problems, allow for creative approaches, and engage students in meaningful teamwork; Create your own student-centered STEM lessons based on the Engineering Design Process; Assess students' understanding of basic STEM concepts, their problem-solving abilities, and their level of engagement with the material; Teach STEM in after-school programs to further build on concepts covered in class; Empower girls to aspire to careers in STEM and break down the barriers of gender bias; Tap into STEM's project-based learning style to attract and engage all students. Throughout this user-friendly book, you'll find design tools such as checklists, activities, and assessments to aid you in developing or adapting STEM lessons. These tools, as well as additional teacher resources, are also available as free downloads from the book's website, http://www.stem-by-design.com.

Teaching Science in Elementary and Middle School integrates principles of learning and motivation with practical teaching ideas for implementing them. Paralleling what scientists do, project-based learning (PBL) represents the essence of inquiry and the nature of science, and engages children and teachers in investigating meaningful, real-world questions about the world around them. This text provides concrete strategies on teaching using a project-based approach and on meeting the principles in A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Features include strategies for planning long-term, interdisciplinary, student-centered units; scenarios to help readers situate new experiences; and a wealth of supplementary material on the Companion Website. Features in the Fifth Edition: Integrates research-based findings from the National Research Council's Taking Science to School, A Framework for K-12 Science Education, and NGSS to engage learners and help them make sense of phenomena in using disciplinary core ideas, science and engineering practices, and crosscutting concepts Gives attention to cultural diversity throughout the chapters, with an added focus on working with English Language Learners Describes how to develop and use assessments that require students to make use of their knowledge to solve problems or explain phenomena Illustrates how to use PBL to make connections to Common Core Standards for Mathematics and English Language Arts Provides examples of project-based lessons and projects to illustrate how teachers can support children in engaging in scientific and engineering practices, such as asking questions, designing investigations, constructing models and developing evidence-based explanation

Secondary Science Teaching for English Learners: Developing Supportive and Responsive Learning Context for Sense-making and Language Development provides a resource for multiple audiences, including pre- and in-service secondary science teachers, science teacher educators, instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and administrators, to learn about a research-based approach to teaching science that responds to the growing population of English learners in the United States. The book offers clear definitions of pedagogical practices supported by classroom examples and a cohesive framework for teaching science in linguistically diverse classrooms. The Secondary Science Teaching with English Language and Literacy Acquisition (or SSTELLA) Framework addresses how learning science is enhanced through meaningful and relevant learning experiences that integrate discipline-specific literacy. In particular, four core science teaching practices are described: (1) contextualized science activity, (2) scientific sense-making through scientific and engineering practices, (3) scientific discourse, and (4) English language and disciplinary literacy development. These four core practices are supported by sound theory and research based on unscripted guidelines and flexible modifications of science lessons. Moreover, the four interrelated practices promote students' use of core science ideas while reading, writing, talking, and doing science, thus reflecting principles from Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, and English language proficiency standards. Secondary Science Teaching provides readers with a historical and theoretical basis for integrating language, literacy, and science in multilingual science classrooms, and well as explicit models and guided support teachers in enacting effective teaching practices in the classroom, including comparative vignettes to distinguish between different types of classroom practice.

An indispensable tool for biology teacher educators, researchers, graduate students, and practising teachers, this book presents up-to-date research, addresses common misconceptions, and discusses the pedagogical content knowledge necessary for effective teaching of key topics in biology. Chapters cover core subjects such as molecular biology, genetics, ecology, and biotechnology, and tackle broader issues that cut across topics, such as learning environments, worldviews, and the nature of scientific inquiry and explanation. Written by leading experts on their respective topics from a range of countries across the world, this international book transcends national curricula and highlights global issues, problems, and trends in biology literacy.

Integrate chemistry and art with hands-on activities and fascinating demonstrations that enable students to see and understand how the science of chemistry is involved in the creation of art. Investigate such topics as color integrated with electromagnetic radiation, atoms, and ions; paints integrated with classes of matter, specifically solutions; three-dimensional works of art integrated with organic chemistry; photography integrated with chemical equilibrium; art forgeries integrated with qualitative analysis; and more. This is a complete and sequential introduction to General Chemistry and Introductory Art topics. In this newly revised edition, the author, a retired Chemistry teacher, gives extensive and in-depth new explanations for the experiments and demonstrations, as well as expanded safety instructions to insure student safety. Grades 7-12.

Analogies are often used in science to engage student interest and explain difficult and abstract ideas. While some analogies effectively clarify difficult concepts, many are inadequte or can cause further confusion. Drawing from an extensive research base on the use of analogies in the classroom, Allan Harrison and Richard Coll have compiled more than 40 interesting and effective science analogies that are teacher-friendly and ready for implementation. Using the FAR approach (Focus, Action, and Reflection), the authors show teachers how and when to select analogies for use in instruction, where certain analogies work and where they break down, and how to gauge the effectiveness of certain strategies in the classroom. Using this guidebook, teachers will be able to recognize conceptual problems within many commonly used analogies and learn how to improve them.