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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 »

Here is a bit of instruction from a guy Superintendent Diane Douglas tapped to help review Arizona’s standards on how to teach evolution in science class: The earth is just 6,000 years old and dinosaurs were present on Noah’s Ark. But only the young ones. The adult ones were too big to fit, don’t you know…. Read more »

In the Rogers and Hammerstein musical, “Oklahoma”, the returning cowboy sang, “Everything’s up to date in Kansas City”. Similarly, the Los Alamos High School (LAHS) Science Department wanted to keep up to date with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), so Department Chair Liz Bowden turned to the Los Alamos Public Schools (LAPS) Foundation for… Read more »

The San Francisco Unified School District began rolling out the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in secondary schools in 2017. This year, they are rolling out new science standards — and the lessons that helps students learn those standards — across all of our elementary schools.  According to the Vincent Matthews, “in today’s world of… Read more »

LANSING — State education officials plan to withhold the public release of science scores from the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress for two years because they say the exam is a sample test that does not yet measure student proficiency. The Michigan Department of Education says it plans next Wednesday to release scores in… Read more »

For the first time in 12 years, the state of California is reviewing its K–8 science course materials for adoption of new resources in time for the spring 2019 semester. Many include a digital component, and not every publisher is going to make the cut. The state’s Department of Education adopted the Next Generation Science Standards for grades K–12… Read more »

Groups had approximately 15 minutes to conduct the experiment: read the lesson plan, drop the Life Savers candy into a cup of water to determine how long it would dissolve, and then take a minute to provide an analysis. Some crushed the Life Savers to factor in size, some used hot water – some cold… Read more »

Science could be considered the perfect elementary school subject. It provides real life applications for reading and math and develops critical thinking skills that help students solve problems in other subjects. Plus, it’s interesting. It helps answer all those “why” questions — Why is the sun hot? Why do fish swim? Why are some people… Read more »

Rebecca Ellis, a staff writer for STEM Education Works, explores how the workforce of tomorrow requires a strong STEM foundation today. She showcases the work in the automotive industry stating, “robots have become common, performing risky or repetitive tasks and improving the production line. By 2019, there will be approximately 2.6 million industrial robots in… Read more »

New science standards adopted by a divided Colorado State Board of Education call on students to learn by puzzling through problems in the natural world rather than by listening to facts from a teacher. The Next Generation Science Standards, already in use in 38 states, represent the most significant change to what Colorado students will… Read more »