Featured This Month

• Readings in Science Methods, K—8

  
  If you’re teaching an introductory science education course in a college or university, Readings in Science Methods, K–8, with its blend of theory, research, and examples of best practices, can serve as your only text, your primary text, or a...  [view full summary]
  If you’re teaching an introductory science education course in a college or university, Readings in Science Methods, K–8, with its blend of theory, research, and examples of best practices, can serve as your only text, your primary text, or a supplemental text. If you’re a preservice teacher, you’ll want a copy for its insights into how you can effectively teach science. If you’re a practicing teacher, this book will refresh what you already know—and could lead you into new and fruitful approaches. And if you’re an administrator, this is the perfect professional development tool as a reference for your staff.
  
  The book is a generously sized compendium of articles drawn from NSTA’s middle and elementary level journals, Science Scope and Science and Children. Editor Eric Brunsell teaches his methods courses using only the articles—the “voice of the classroom teacher,” he says. Brunsell has chosen the best journal articles, tested each in the classroom, and organized them into seven sections—each supplemented with its own insightful introduction and “action steps.”
  
  • The Nature of Science and Science Inquiry
  
  • Teaching Science
  
  • Science for All
  
  • Science-Teaching Toolbox
  
  • Teaching Life and Environmental Science
  
  • Teaching Physical Science
  
  • Teaching Earth and Space Science [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $22.02
  • Nonmember Price: $22.02

Teaching TechniquesView more in this category

• Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms

  
  Elementary teachers know that learning science involves both the process of thinking and the ability to communicate those thoughts. One of the most effective ways of demonstrating this is through the use of student science notebooks. The earlier students...  [view full summary]
  Elementary teachers know that learning science involves both the process of thinking and the ability to communicate those thoughts. One of the most effective ways of demonstrating this is through the use of student science notebooks. The earlier students learn to keep records, the better they will be prepared to make this a natural part of their science activities.
  
  Classroom teachers who want to begin using or who are currently including science notebooks as part of their instruction will find that Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms is a “must-have” resource for the development of scientific inquiry, literacy, and reasoning skills. This book makes the case for using science notebooks strategically—promoting hands-on observing, recording, and reflecting—and demonstrates how best to do so.
  
  Connecting language arts to science through expository writing, the book presents proven techniques such as scaffolds, sentence starters, discussion starters, and other writing prompts to encourage students to build on current knowledge. Every step of the process is examined: introducing notebook writing to the class, creating questions to explore, making predictions, recording observations, making and defending claims, and using the notebooks to provide targeted student feedback. Also included are chapters on the specialized needs of English language learners, offering specific strategies to increase proficiency and fluency in both science and language.
  
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  • Member Price: $19.96
  • Nonmember Price: $24.95

Activities and Field TripsView more in this category

• More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, K-4

  
  Teachers raved when NSTA Press published Picture-Perfect Science Lessons in 2005.* They loved its lively mix of kid-magnet books, Standards-based science content and ready-to-teach lessons. So what could be more perfect? More Picture-Perfect...  [view full summary]
  Teachers raved when NSTA Press published Picture-Perfect Science Lessons in 2005.* They loved its lively mix of kid-magnet books, Standards-based science content and ready-to-teach lessons. So what could be more perfect? More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons! This volume offers 15 new lessons that combine picture books and inquiry to develop students’ interest in science and reading.
  
  The sequel follows the winning formula that made the first book an NSTA best seller. The lessons, following the 5E instructional model developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) cover a variety of science content—physical science, life science, and Earth and Space Science. They include reproducible student pages and assessments. They feature embedded reading-comprehension strategies. And they make students yearn to learn from such engaging fiction and nonfiction books as Diary of a Worm, Sunshine On My Shoulders, How Big is a Foot? and Leo Cockroach, Toy Tester.
  
  The authors know how important it is for time-starved teachers to integrate science and reading in a natural way and how students with reading troubles can use an extra nudge to get engaged in science texts. More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons is the perfect supplement to your science program—and the perfect way to help students develop a love of reading and learning about science.
  
  *Teachers weren’t the only ones raving! Picture-Perfect won the 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Teacher Resource Books from the Association of Educational Publishers. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $23.96
  • Nonmember Price: $29.95

InterdisciplinaryView more in this category

• A Head Start on Science: Encouraging a Sense of Wonder

  
  For the littlest scientists, the whole wide world can be a laboratory for learning. Nurture their natural curiosity with A Head Start on Science, a treasury of 89 hands-on science activities specifically for children ages 3 to 6.
  
  ...  [view full summary]
  For the littlest scientists, the whole wide world can be a laboratory for learning. Nurture their natural curiosity with A Head Start on Science, a treasury of 89 hands-on science activities specifically for children ages 3 to 6.
  
  The activities are grouped into seven stimulating topic areas: the five senses, weather, physical science, critters, water and water mixture, seeds, and nature walks.
  
  Because the activities have been field-tested by more than a thousand Head Start teachers over 10 years, you’ll find this collection unusually easy to use in a variety of settings, including elementary schools, pre-K programs, and day care. In addition to clear background and a helpful materials list, you get step-by-step procedures and help preparing for comments and questions children may pose. Each activity ends with a reproducible Family Science Connection—in both English and Spanish—to send home so the whole family can share a learning experience that’s both simple and pleasant.
  
  Thanks to a focus on the fun of exploration and discovery, children probably won’t be the only ones who find these activities irresistible. As Editor Bill Ritz writes in the Introduction, “We hope your own sense of wonder will be heightened as you observe children and as their curiosity leads them to answer their own questions about everything they see, hear, smell, and touch.”
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  • Member Price: $22.36
  • Nonmember Price: $27.95

BiologyView more in this category

• Climate Change From Pole to Pole: Biology Investigations

  
  Climate Change From Pole to Pole: Biology Investigations offers timely, relevant, biology-based case studies and background information on how to teach the science of climate change. The six painstakingly researched and field-tested activities,...  [view full summary]
  Climate Change From Pole to Pole: Biology Investigations offers timely, relevant, biology-based case studies and background information on how to teach the science of climate change. The six painstakingly researched and field-tested activities, which build on four content chapters, give students the opportunity to solve real-life scientific problems using guiding questions, graphs and data tables, short reading assignments, and independent research.
  
  This volume provides an authentic and rigorous way to engage students in science and environmental issues—scientific methods, evidence, climate, and biological effects of climate change—and is a unique and essential resource for your high school or college-level classroom.[hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $23.96
  • Nonmember Price: $29.95

ChemistryView more in this category

• Chemistry Basics: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach it

  
  Do the words “periodic table” send chills down your spine? Are you anxious about atomic structure? Confounded by chemical equations? Relax! The cure for chemistry confusion is within reach, courtesy of this newly available book in the Stop Faking It!...  [view full summary]
  Do the words “periodic table” send chills down your spine? Are you anxious about atomic structure? Confounded by chemical equations? Relax! The cure for chemistry confusion is within reach, courtesy of this newly available book in the Stop Faking It! series.
  
  Best-selling author Bill Robertson takes a fresh approach to chemistry fundamentals by helping you understand them from the ground up. Instead of hounding you to memorize the characteristics of atoms and the periodic table, Chemistry Basics will help you see those characteristics as a natural consequence of our understanding of atomic structure.
  
  You will learn not just that atoms behave in certain ways, but why they behave in that way. You will learn not just how to balance chemical equations, but why in the world you would want to! You will also learn not just that carbon is a building block of thousands of organic compounds, but why carbon is suited for this purpose.[hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $19.16
  • Nonmember Price: $23.95

Earth & Space ScienceView more in this category

• Earth Science Success: 50 Lesson Plans for Grades 6–9

  
  Designed as a ready-to-use survival guide for middle school Earth science teachers, this title is an invaluable resource that provides an entire year’s worth of inquiry-based and discovery-oriented Earth science lessons, including 33 investigations or...  [view full summary]
  Designed as a ready-to-use survival guide for middle school Earth science teachers, this title is an invaluable resource that provides an entire year’s worth of inquiry-based and discovery-oriented Earth science lessons, including 33 investigations or labs, and 17 detailed projects.
  
  This unique collection of astronomy, geology, meteorology, and physical oceanography lessons promotes deeper understanding of science concepts through a hands-on approach that identifies and dispels student misconceptions and expands student understanding and knowledge.
  
  In addition, this field-tested and standards-based volume is ideal for university-level methodology courses in science education. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $22.36
  • Nonmember Price: $27.95

Physical ScienceView more in this category

• Electricity and Magnetism: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It

  
  Shocked by static? Mixed up about magnets? Curious about currents? This book will help you get beyond memorizing electricity-related formulas, rules, and procedures so you can understand the topic at a deep level—deep enough to teach it with confidence...  [view full summary]
  Shocked by static? Mixed up about magnets? Curious about currents? This book will help you get beyond memorizing electricity-related formulas, rules, and procedures so you can understand the topic at a deep level—deep enough to teach it with confidence and comfort. By covering the basics of static electricity, current electricity, and magnetism, the book develops a scientific model showing that electricity and magnetism are really the same phenomenon in different forms. A bonus feature: access to interactive software that you can download from the NSTA Web site. The software will help you investigate electrical circuits—from simple to complex—without having to buy a lot of expensive materials (or risking electrocution!). Electricity and Magnetism is the fifth title in the award-winning NSTA Press Stop Faking It! Series. As author Bill Robertson writes, “The book you have in your hands is not a textbook. It is, however, designed to help you ‘get’ science at a level you never thought possible, and also to bring you to the point where tackling more traditional science resources won’t be a terrifying, lump-in-your-throat, I-don’t-think-I’ll-survive experience.” Robertson serves as your friendly guide, one with a comforting knack for anticipating fears, meeting information needs, and entertaining as he edifies. [hide full summary]
  • Member Price: $19.16
  • Nonmember Price: $23.95