To supplement the summer reading of National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) members, the NSTA Committee on Research in Science Education suggested a list of science education research articles that were published in the journals of NSTA's affiliates in 2012. These articles covered a variety of topics that include learning about…

Green design, green construction and green operations for new buildings are rapidly becoming the norm for school districts throughout the country. Today, increased availability of green products and technology coupled with cost savings that are realized through an integrated design process mean that schools like Arabia Mountain High School can be…

The growing awareness of serious difficulties in the learning of energy issues has produced a great deal of research, most of which is focused on specific conceptual aspects. In our opinion, the difficulties pointed out in the literature are interrelated and connected to other aspects (conceptual "as well as" procedural and axiological), which are…

This paper serves to review previously reported studies on students' misunderstandings about the energy conservation principle (the first law of thermodynamics). Generally, studies in literature highlighted students' misunderstandings about the energy conservation principle stem from preliminaries about energy concept in daily life. Since prior…

The NCSSSMST (National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology) and Keystone Science School co-sponsored two Youth Policy Summits during the summer of 2007. Forty students represented 10 high schools from across the country at each Summit, meeting for a week in June and August at Keystone Science School…

This article examines an amusing application of the concept of kinetic energy. Using some rudimentary physical notions, we have analysed the energetics of the motion of Santa Claus. The results, which are quite surprising, can be of interest to high school and early college physics educators when they teach kinetic energy, and energy conservation…

Having students design and construct solar cookers is a great way to teach them about designing to meet human needs and about many basic global issues related to health and the environment. Because the activity includes solid content from the fields of math, science and technology, it is an excellent vehicle for technology educators who want to…

Each month, "American School & University" provides a mix of thought-provoking features, how-to-articles, industry reports, exclusive surveys, new sections, insightful columns, new product introductions and case histories to assist education officials in better performing their jobs. This July 2005 issue includes the following: "Sweat Shop"…