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Science Education Resources


Organizations

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
"NSTA...is the largest organization in the world committed to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all."

Science Teachers Association of Texas
NSTA chapter for the state of Texas

Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science
"The Regional Collaboratives are committed to providing Texas science teachers with ongoing support systems of sustained and high intensity professional development to assist them in implementing the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills(TEKS), through upgrading their knowledge of content and pedagogy to engage ALL students with interesting, relevant, experiential, and meaningful science learning experiences."

Texas Council of Elementary Science
TCES promotes the improvement of elementary science programs, assists teachers in exchanging ideas and gaining motivation, and facilitates communication among elementary science teachers.

Texas Education Agency
Resources include: 'Texas Education Today' Newsletter and information about curriculum and assessment, educational programs, etc.

Texas Science Center
The Texas Science Center is funded and directed by the Texas Education Agency to assist districts in their efforts to align the key elements of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to enhance student achievement as measured by classroom, district, and statewide assessments.

Institute for School-University Partnerships
The Texas A&M University System's Institute for School-University Partnerships is dedicated to recruiting, preparing and retaining outstanding teachers for Texas public schools through the implementation of the Regents' Initiative for Excellence in Education.

Texas Teach
The Texas A&M University System's Teacher Recruitment and Retention Network.

National Education Association
Mission statement: "To fulfill the promise of a democratic society, the National Education Association shall promote the cause of quality public education and advance the profession of education; expand the rights and further the interest of educational employees; and advocate human, civil, and economic rights for all."

Books/Journals for Science Teachers

Tips for the Science Teacher: Research-Based Strategies to Help Students Learn
"An authoritative, research-based, thoroughly up-to-date and readable review of the best available techniques for science instruction."

The New Science Teacher: Cultivating Good Practice
"Tracking six prospective biology teachers from their university training through their first years in the classroom, the author uses her own observations as well as interviews and direct quotes from the teachers to record not only their growth, but to reflect on her own development as well."

Transforming Middle School Science Education
"In this penetrating volume, Paul DeHart Hurd combines more than half a century of experience and current scholarship with his vision for improving the middle school science curriculum."

Designing Project-Based Science: Connecting Learners Through Guided Inquiry
"This interpretive case study of an exceptional teacher provides a fascinating account of the difficulties and rewards of putting innovative teaching into practice."

Developing Inquiry-Based Science Materials: A Guide for Educators
"A unique and powerfully practical book. It combines instructional materials development and the curriculum in a way that makes the curriculum come alive for teachers of sciencea must for every teacher who has ever struggled with how to select quality instructional materials for his or her students." Shelley A. Lee, National Science Teachers Association President, 1995-96

To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher
"To Teach is the story of one teachers odyssey into the ethical and intellectual heart of teaching, and at the same time an invitation to teachers to more thoughtfully and carefully map their own pathways. This second edition offers new resources and addresses the small schools movement, as well as new challenges facing teachers. In conceptual and practical ways, To Teach narrates an essential journey all teachers must take if, at the end of their own Yellow Brick Roads, they are to achieve the basics: a heart, a brain, the nerve, and a home."

The Scientist
"The Scientist is an international news magazine published in print and on the Web. It reports on and analyzes the issues and events that impact the world of life scientists." The website and journal is a great resource for staying current on the exciting events in life science research.

Teachers College Press
"For nearly a century, Teachers College Press has been committed to addressing the ideas that matter most to educators."

Pitfalls and potholes: a checklist for avoiding common mistakes of beginning teachers
"This handy guide will help you avoid many of the mistakes new teachers say they wish someone had told them about in college."

Bright Ideas: A Pocket Mentor for Beginning Teachers
Provides beginning teachers with tips for preparing, personally and professionally, for their fist job.

General Resources

TEA Teachers Toolbag
Developed for teachers by teachers. As educators ourselves, we have chosen these sites, lessons, and resources from the World Wide Web, and put them together into one site to save teachers from the hassle of searching and surfing the net.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills identify what Texas students should know and be able to do at every grade and in every course in the foundation and enrichment areas as they move successfully through our public schools.

Science TEKS Toolkit
"We provide resources for implementing the science Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and for strengthening science education in Texas."

National Science Education Standards
The nation's first comprehensive standards to improve science education in grades K-12, written by a national committee of school teachers, university and college faculty, scientists, and state and local school administrators.

Project 2061
"Project 2061 is the long-term initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science working to reform K-12 science, mathematics, and technology education nationwide."

Science for All Americans
"Essential reading for the making of a scientifically literate America, exploring what constitutes scientific literacy in a modern society: the knowledge, skills and attitudes all students should acquire in scientific study, and what steps this country must take in reforming its system of education in science, mathematics, and technology."

National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse
The National Teacher Recruitment Clearinghouse, hosted by Recruiting New Teachers, Inc. (RNT), is a resource for prospective teachers seeking jobs -- and for school districts and states seeking qualified teachers.

A New Teacher's Survival Guide
A resource for beginning teachers covering organization, the first day, classroom management, discipline, grading.

Time on Task
Strategies for increasing time on task and motivating students to learn. Ten tips for keeping students' attention on their work.

Content-Specific Resources

Principles of Plant Biology: Concepts for Science Education
"The American Society of Plant Biologists has developed the following Principles of Plant Biology to provide basic plant biology concepts for science education at the K-12 levels and to help students gain a better understanding of plant biology."

Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Evolution/Creation Controversy
Defending Evolution is a novel handbook that explains why so many secondary and college students reject evolution and are antagonistic toward its teaching. Defending Evolution helps science instructors better understand their students' Creationist beliefs (including those of intelligent design advocates) and the bearing those beliefs have on learning evolution. The book provides instructors with a variety of concise, pragmatic suggestions to help lessen students' anxieties about evolution and to facilitate teaching.

Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science
"Today many school students are shielded from one of the most important concepts in modern science: evolution. In engaging and conversational style, Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science provides a well-structured framework for understanding and teaching evolution."

NSTA position statement on the teaching of evolution
The National Science Teachers Association supports the position that evolution is a major unifying concept of science and should be included as part of K-College science frameworks and curricula.