"What if…?" is a four-day summative assessment for a unit on biodiversity and evolution within a general biology course for ninth and tenth graders. Students gather evidence through multiple investigations to answer the questions: (1) "How has life changed on the planet? (2) What has caused those changes? and (3) What is happening…

There was a time when science was viewed as inherently objective, without bias. We now know that isn't true--scientists bring their life experiences and beliefs with them to work. The designing, funding, and reporting of research are all framed by societal influences and implemented by those who have been privileged to serve in these roles.…

COVID-19 is the first global pandemic in the age of the internet and the world has collectively documented the virus's spread, offering a unique opportunity to study both the virus and the streams related to COVID-19, on topics from testing access to income to race. They develop their own research question to investigate the relationship between…

Instead of having their students' first experience with biology that did not address issues of racism in science, Kelsie Fowler and Saraswati Noel created a unit drew on storytelling and artistic expression which is rare in science education, where these modes helped them center what really mattered to them--their Black students' personal…

This paper highlights learning supports associated with genetics lessons that were implemented in a urban high school biology classroom. The supports provided access to science content for ELLs [English language learners], students with IEPs [individualized education programs], and struggling readers during an introductory unit on genetics. Due to…

Helping students understand that the scientific community's claims change through time, sometimes radically, allows them to develop a well-grounded sense of the "nature of science." Learning to reason about how scientific claims come to be accepted, and later refuted, is important for understanding the tentative nature of scientific…

When Dan Damelin was a high school chemistry teacher, he always asked for the lower-level science classes with a high portion of students on individualized education plans (IEPs). He felt these students could do as well as everyone else with the right approach and technological supports, and wanted to explore how an inquiry approach using…

One way to probe students' misconceptions about science during instruction is by using formative assessments. Described as assessments "for" learning rather than assessments "of" learning (Black and Wiliam 1998), they provide teachers with information about student understanding during instruction. Examples of formative…

Alternative farming techniques are often more efficient and conserve resources more effectively than conventional farming, which can harm the environment with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers (Pimental 2005). To learn the theory, application, and related science concepts of sustainable farming techniques, students can collaborate to create an…

The periodic table does more than provide information about the elements. The periodic table also helps us make predictions about how the elements behave. Understanding the atomic structure of matter and periodic properties of the elements, as shown in the periodic table, is fundamental to many scientific disciplines. Unfortunately, high school…

The goal of the Family Science Night (FSN) described in this article was to involve culturally and linguistically diverse families in school life so that students would be more vocal, successful, and interactive in science class. The project would also demonstrate to the students that their teacher valued their input in the classroom. The setting…

Teachers typically teach subjects separately, but integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) curriculums that focus on real-world practices are gaining momentum (NAE and NRC 2009). Before release of the "Next Generation of Science Standards" ("NGSS") (NGSS Lead States 2013), 36 states already had a…

Too often, students enter our classrooms with insufficient knowledge of physical science. As a result, they have a difficult time understanding content in texts, lectures, and laboratory activities. This lack of background knowledge can have an impact on their ability to ask questions and wonder--both key components of inquiry. In this article,…

Recently, a high school Science Club generated a large number of questions involving temperature. Therefore, they decided to construct a thermal gradient apparatus in order to conduct a wide range of experiments beyond the standard "cookbook" labs. They felt that this apparatus could be especially useful in future ninth-grade biology classes, in…

The algebraic concepts and major ideas that govern Newton's laws of motion can often be a challenge for the majority of ninth-grade students. Therefore, to make learning these concepts less task-oriented and more enjoyable, the author developed lessons that allow students to construct and express their understanding of these ideas through…