Increasingly, science teachers are seeking phenomena that will allow them to explore both scientific content and socially relevant issues. The authors describe a series of lessons that (1) model the exoneration of wrongly convicted individuals using the science of DNA analysis and (2) contextualize individual cases within a larger system where…

Effective science instruction requires knowledge of subject matter and scientific practices (Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), 2013), as well as the context within which learning occurs (Anthony, Hunter and Hunter 2014). For science teachers, there is often a tension between the efficiency of lecture and student engagement that comes with…

In the 1990s, classes throughout the United States began participating in Classroom FeederWatch, sending data on birds they had seen at feeders in their schoolyards to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The launch of eBird in 2002 opened up new possibilities for submitting data on all types of bird species, allowing users to record and upload…

Inquiry-based teaching aims to increase student engagement through the development of the hands-on, minds-on skills, such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, needed for the 21st century (The Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2015). This approach respects the complexities of the learning process, values the knowledge and…

The "Framework" (NRC 2012) and "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS Lead States 2013) require science teachers to think differently. Specifically, NGSS's performance expectations now require that three domains (disciplinary core ideas (DCI), crosscutting concepts (CCC), and scientific and engineering practices (SEP)) be…

The vision of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) "requires a dramatic departure from approaches to teaching and learning science occurring today in most science classrooms K-12" (Reiser 2013, p. 2). In this article the authors emphasize the importance of examining student misconceptions and correcting them with sense-making…

Science teachers and mentors continue to be challenged to meet the high expectations of "A Framework for K-12 Science Education" and the "Next Generation Science Standards." Indeed the Framework urges teachers to help learners "[build] progressively more sophisticated explanations of natural phenomena..." while the…

American classrooms are increasingly heterogeneous linguistically. If all students are to engage in three-dimensional learning, how are educators making classroom assessments accessible and meaningful for emergent bilingual learners? There are few classroom assessment exemplars that embody the NGSS three-dimensional vision of the…

To promote teaching science through inquiry, the author wanted to use his experience in the Galápagos to design a lesson that allows students to immerse themselves in the essential science and engineering practices identified in the "Next Generation Science Standards," as they ask questions; analyze and interpret data; engage in argument…