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Wyoming Junior High seventh-graders recently worked in groups and presented plans for living off the grid. With a limited budget and resources, they devised windmills, water wheels and generators – methods to keep the lights on without hooking up to an external energy source. Included in their presentations about the devices and how they work… Read more »

California has selected nearly 30 textbooks purportedly aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards, a move that will likely affect the science curriculum marketplace, but leaves lingering questions about alignment and quality in a time when educators are struggling to put the complicated standards into action. Nearly all of the major publishers put forth a series… Read more »

The field of earth science, or geoscience, is expanding, but there aren’t enough people qualified for careers in the field. A main reason cited for the lack of qualified professionals is due to common perception that earth science classes taught at a high school level are remedial.   Some are hoping that the Next Generation… Read more »

Advocates of a set of science standards for public schools cheered when the New Mexico Public Education Department agreed after some contention and debate to initiate those recommendations starting this year. But the harsh reality of adopting the standards seemed to set in this week when the Legislative Education Study Committee heard from a trio… Read more »

When we think back to our time in school, the teachers who stick out are the ones who actively engaged us in our learning. New research suggests that those teachers are the minority, but they don’t have to be. Active learning. Also called hands-on, problem-based, experiential, or student-driven learning—this method is helping students strengthen their… Read more »

On October 22, the Arizona State Board of Education approved revised science standards, shrugging off outgoing State Superintendent Diane Douglas’ suggestion to replace all the standards with a set from a conservative college in Michigan. The science standards include edits recommended by the Arizona Science Teachers Association after an outcry over how the draft standards… Read more »

  In a Commentary  featured on the Herald.net, Barbara Hulit, senior vice president at Fortive Corp., and Gary Cohn, superintendent of Everett , Wash, Public Schools note the expected job growth in STEM-related fields and the importance of a strong science education to prepare students for the future workforce. “… all students should have access to… Read more »

Around the turn of the 20th century, U.S. educators widely considered certain populations less educated, less healthy and unprepared to be true American citizens. If asked, most might argue those practices have disappeared as social norms have changed—particularly given that many reforms today focus on equity and diversity. A University of Kansas researcher has published… Read more »

Parents and teachers on Monday rallied outside an Arizona Board of Education meeting, and then took turns during the meeting blasting a proposal to remove references to evolution and climate change from state science standards. A separate proposal from Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas to replace all the education standards for K-12 district and charter schools with a… Read more »

The West Virginia Department of Education hasn’t yet had an external, independent study done of whether the SAT test’s “Analysis in Science” section actually measures what Mountain State students are learning in their science classrooms. The department, nevertheless, plans to report SAT science scores to the federal government, at least for last school year. ACT… Read more »