Bob Panoff, executive director of Shodor and CSERD: Computational Science Education Reference Desk is passionate about using computational science teaching methods to stimulate student engagement in learning math and science from grades K to gray!
In a recent article for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) entitled “Simulations Deepen Scientific Learning,” he explains the […]

The latest online publication from the Middle School Portal is now available - Forensic Science: Middle School. We’ve searched the web for the best resources associated with this topic but I’m sure we haven’t found all the great ones. We’d like your help - do you know of other resources we should include? If you […]

Science, like other disciplines, has a specialized vocabulary, encompassing both terms that represent scientific concepts and those that describe process skills. Although science education focuses on inquiry and hands-on experiences, current research shows that teachers must also help students develop vocabulary to be successful in both the content and methods of science.
However, this is often […]

This article was written by Stephanie Chasteen and originally published in the May 2009 Integrating Technology column of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for elementary teachers. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License. Stephanie is a science teaching fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She […]

Many people think that germs are what make us sick but scientifically speaking, germs are microbes that can be both harmful or helpful and come in four varieties - bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protozoa. We’ll leave the discussion of fungi and protozoa for another post and focus on bacteria and viruses in this one. Microbeworld […]

Join Jessica Fries-Gaither and Kim Lightle for a free webinar Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 3:30pm EST as we discuss global warming and the polar regions. We’re going to highlight resources from the Middle School Portal 2: Math & Science Pathways project, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears online magazine, and the National Science Digital Library […]

This blog post was written by middle school technology, math, and science teacher Tom Jenkins who is also a Teacher Leader for the Middle School Portal 2: Math & Science Pathways social network.
If you were to have walked into my classroom today, you would have seen preteens creating cartoons or even their own videogames. How […]

This article was written by David Hayward and originally published in the April 2009 Integrating Technology column of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an online magazine for elementary teachers. All versions of this article are licensed under a Creative Commons License.
A social bookmarking web site could change the way you do your job! Bookmarking services […]

We’ve got four free professional development webinars coming up in the month of April. The first two are specifically for middle school math and science teachers. The second two are for elementary teachers but plenty of the content would be appropriate for older students. Librarians and media specialists, science specialists, informal educators, and others will […]

You’ve probably heard that Redoubt, a volcano 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, has been erupting intermittently since March 22. I used to live in Anchorage, so I’ve been keeping up with the volcano’s activity via the Alaska Volcano Observatory web site. I’m thankful that I’m not there to deal with the major hazard – […]