national center of case study teaching in science

View videos, articles, presentations, research papers, and other resources of interest to STEM Teacher Leaders.  

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

• Case Studies

This website provides access to an award-winning collection of peer-reviewed case studies. The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science also offers a five-day summer workshop and a two-day fall conference to train faculty in the case method of teaching science. In addition, they are actively engaged in educational research to assess the impact of the case method on student learning.

National Center for case study teaching in science

2019 keynote speaker / session presenters, conference leader.

Clyde (Kipp) Herreid

SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and Director, National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY [email protected]

Trained as a biologist and physiological ecologist with post-doctoral experience in marine biology, Clyde (Kipp) Herreid has been using case teaching methods for over 30 years. To date, he has received over $3.4 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Education, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the National Science Foundation to further the development and dissemination of case-based teaching in science in the United States. As Director of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS), he leads a national effort to reform undergraduate science education through the use of active learning strategies, focusing on case-based and problem-based learning. He has conducted numerous workshops on case-based education and is the author of a regularly featured column on case studies in the Journal of College Science Teaching. In addition, he has published three books on the case method, Start with a Story: The Case Study Method of Teaching College Science (NSTA 2006, reprinted by the NCCSTS in 2013), Science Stories: Using Case Studies to Teach Critical Thinking (NSTA Press, 2012), and Science Stories You Can Count On: 51 Case Studies with Quantitative Reasoning in Biology (NSTA Press, 2014).

Kipp received his BA in Zoology from Colorado College, MS in Ecology and Comparative Behavior from Johns Hopkins University, and PhD in Zoology and Entomology from Pennsylvania State University.

Keynote Speaker

Associate Professor in Psychology, Neuroscience and Behavior, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, [email protected], follow him on Twitter @ProfJoeKim

Joe is actively involved in the scholarship of teaching and learning, Joseph (Joe) Kim coordinates the innovative McMaster Introductory Psychology (macintropsych.com) program, which combines traditional lectures with interactive online resources and small group tutorials. The program has been prominently featured in Maclean’s , Globe and Mail , Toronto Star , and numerous education media outlets. In addition, he directs the Education & Cognition Lab, which aims to understand how cognitive principles such as attention, memory, and learning can be applied to develop evidence-based interventions in education and training, and organizes the annual McMaster Symposium on Education & Cognition (edcog.ca), which brings together cognitive scientists, educators, and policy makers to explore how cognitive science can be applied to educational policy and instructional design.

With an active interest in curriculum and education, Joe is regularly invited to deliver keynotes and workshops on blended learning, applied cognition in teaching practice, presentation design, and productivity. He also regularly consults on curriculum development for universities and several policy groups including the Council of Ontario Universities Online Workgroup and the Innovation and Productivity Roundtable for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities.

Recent honors include: D2L Innovation in Teaching and Learning Award, Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (2017), Residence Life Campus Partner of the Year (2012), Innovator of the Year Award (McMaster VPR, 2010), and the President’s Award for Excellence in Course and Resource Design (2010).

Joe earned his BS in Biology and Psychology and his PhD in Experimental Psychology from McMaster University.

Session Presenters

William Cliff

Professor, Department of Biology, Niagara University, Niagara Falls, NY, [email protected]

Bill Cliff is a professor in the Department of Biology at Niagara University and has served as the chairperson of the Committee on College Teaching and Learning and the Taskforce on Active and Integrative Learning. At Niagara University, he teaches courses in human anatomy and physiology, animal physiology, pharmacology, cell biology and natural history. He is also a visiting professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Cliff is a Carnegie Scholar at the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and a member of the Faculty for the 21st Century sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope. He is an investigative member of the Physiology Education Research Consortium. He also serves on the editorial board of Advances in Physiology Education .

Bill received his BS in Biological Sciences and PhD in Biology from Cornell University.

Shuchi Dutta

Scientific Educational Development Lead, RCSB Protein Data Bank / Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Quantitative Biomedicine, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, [email protected]

Shuchismita (Shuchi) Dutta is the Scientific Educational Development Lead at the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB). She is a trained crystallographer and is committed to promoting a molecular view of biology to a broad range of audiences. Shuchi teaches an undergraduate honors seminar at Rutgers University where students learn the molecular structural bases of global health topics. She also teaches molecular visualization in graduate-level courses at Rutgers and Georgetown University. She has collaborated with New Jersey high school educators to develop curricular materials for introducing students to biomolecular structure and functions. These materials are available from RCSB PDB’s educational portal, PDB-101, and accessed by students and educators worldwide. She continues to work on a number of national outreach and educational projects to promote molecular structural literacy, e.g., Protein Modeling at the Science Olympiad, RCSB PDB video challenge, and development of the PDB-101 Global Health pages. Recently, Shuchi has assembled a group of undergraduate educators from around the nation to form Molecular CaseNet for the purposes of collaboratively developing and testing molecular case studies.

Shuchi earned her BS in Human Biology with a specialization in Biophysics and her MS in Biotechnology from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. She completed her PhD in Biophysics at Boston University‘s School of Medicine and did a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.

Phil Gibson

HHMI BioInteractive Ambassador, Professor, Department of Microbiology and Plant Biology Department of Biology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK [email protected]

Phil Gibson is a Professor and Associate Director of Education at the Kessler Atmospheric and Ecological Field Station. He currently teaches large introductory biology courses for life science majors, smaller introductory courses for non-majors, and an upper division course in economic botany and field sampling techniques. He uses case studies extensively in all of these courses. A devoted field botanist from an early age, his botanical research investigates the evolutionary ecology of plant reproductive systems and conservation biology.

Phil’s interest in STEM education reform began with his first faculty position at Agnes Scott College where he was one of the early members of the PKAL F21 group. He later accepted a position at the University of Oklahoma where he used his experience in active, inquiry-driven learning to help transform the introductory biology lecture and lab experience. He has written a number of case studies and developed videos for flipped cases and flipped labs. His pedagogical work has recently focused on development of botanical modules, tree-thinking activities, data literacy activities, and universal design features in lab exercises. He was named a Paul G. Risser Innovative Teaching Fellow and received the Longmire Prize for Teaching from the University of Oklahoma. He has also received the Thomas Henry Huxley Award from the Society for the Study of Evolution, and the Bessey Award and Postlethwait Award from the Botanical Society of America for his work in botany and evolution education.

Phil received his BS in Botany from Oklahoma State University, MS in Botany from the University of Georgia, and his PhD in Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology from the University of Colorado.

Kathy Hoppe

STEM Education Consultant, STEMisED, Alexandria, VA, [email protected]

Kathy Hoppe is currently an Education Consultant at STEMisED and a former Education Associate at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in the Office of Education and Outreach. Kathy has over 30 years of teaching experience and was a STEM/Science Instructional Specialist and Director for the Elementary Science Program at Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES in Spencerport, New York. She also taught AP Biology, Regents Biology and Intermediate Level Science at Kendall Junior Senior High School and served as a Regional Biology Mentor and STANYS Director at Large for Biology and Professional Development. Kathy is a former Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator (2013-15) who was placed at the National Science Foundation in the Directorate of Engineering, Division of Engineering Education and Centers. In addition to practicing case-based learning, Kathy has been trained as a facilitator at the Illinois Math and Science Academy's advanced PBL, Buck Institutes PBL (Level 1, 2, coaching) and has been a National Flipped Learning presenter. Many of the strategies used in the PBL model are adapted and used in cases presented to the students at the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES and through Invention Education with the USPTO.

Kathy received her BS and MS in Biology and Exercise Physiology from Auburn University.

Annie Prud'homme-Genereux

Director, Continuing Studies and Executive Education, Capilano University, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, [email protected]

Annie Prud'homme-Genereux is one of the five founding faculty of Quest University Canada in Squamish, British Columbia. There, she developed dozens of interdisciplinary courses using hands-on learning on the block scheduling plan. Annie has explored problem-based learning, team-based learning, the CREATE method (which makes use of the primary scientific literature rather than textbooks to teach science), and the case study method. Using stories as a scaffold for learning, her preferred classroom approach is the case study discussion method. Annie has written dozens of case studies in the NCCSTS collection, including many co-authored with her undergraduate students. She was awarded the 2012 National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Four Year College and University Teaching Award. She has worked in science communication as Vice President, Science, at TELUS World of Science Edmonton. Currently she is working at the intersection of formal and informal learning as Director of Continuing Studies and Executive Education at Capilano University.

Annie received her BS in Biology (specializing in neurobiology) from McGill University and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of British Columbia. She is currently completing a Master of Science Writing at Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Distance Education at Athabasca University.

Matthew Rowe

Professor of Biology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, [email protected]

Matt Rowe’s two main research interests are in behavioral ecology and science pedagogy. His research in behavioral ecology deals primarily with coevolution between predators and prey. In collaboration with his wife, Dr. Ashlee Rowe, he investigates the interactions between grasshopper mice (Onychomys spp.) and their biochemically protected prey, including bark scorpions (Centruroides spp.) and pinacate beetles (Eleodes spp.). Matt’s interest in science pedagogy is driven by H.G. Wells’ warning that “civilization is a race between education and catastrophe.” We now find ourselves in a “post-truth” world of our own making. Reason, logic, and evidentiary thinking (i.e., the underpinnings of science) no longer matter—reality is whatever one believes it to be. Vaccines cause autism, global warming is a hoax, the moon landings were faked. Denialism, unfortunately, seldom solves problems, and tips the scales towards catastrophe. Thus, his passion is effective science instruction for everyone, including students not majoring in the sciences. He is actively involved in efforts to find better approaches for enhancing scientific literacy, for teaching critical thinking, and for empowering students to use logic and evidence when making important decisions in their daily lives.

Matt has a BS in Psychology and both an MS and PhD in Ecology, all from the University of California at Davis.

Michèle Shuster

Associate Professor of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, [email protected]

Michèle Shuster is a faculty member in the Biology Department at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She teaches introductory biology in a TEAL (active learning) classroom, which facilitates the use of (partially) flipped case studies. She also teaches an introductory course in scientific thinking modeled on a CREATE Cornerstone approach (in which students learn to read and think more critically using both popular press and more scientific sources). Her upper division courses include an introduction to cancer course and a medical microbiology course. She uses case- and story-based approaches in all of her classes, as well as in Biology for a Changing World , an introductory textbook for non-science majors that she has written with two colleagues.

Michele received her BSc in Biology from Queen’s University and her PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Studies at Tufts University

Sandra Westmoreland

Associate Professor of Biology at Texas Woman’s University (retired) and Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovations at The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, [email protected]

Sandra Westmoreland has 25 years of experience in teaching science both as an Associate Professor of Biology at Texas Woman’s University and as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation at The University of Texas at Arlington. A major focus of her education research is on the use of active engagement teaching and learning strategies, such as Team-Based Learning and personal answer devices in large enrollment courses to foster student achievement, critical thinking, and retention. She created the Active Engagement Academy at Texas Woman’s University to help other faculty develop high engagement teaching strategies for their own courses. Sandra is a certified Team-Based Learning Trainer and Consultant and has led many workshops at local, state, and national U.S. venues on using high engagement teaching and learning methods, including Team-Based Learning, for university faculty as well as high school and middle school faculty.

Sandra received her BS in Biology from The University of Houston, and her MS in Biology and PhD in Quantitative Biology from The University of Texas at Arlington

Conference Coordinator

Carolyn Wright

Conference Coordinator / Project Director National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY [email protected]

Carolyn Wright coordinates the activities of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, including the Center's annual summer workshop and fall conference. In addition to being the central point of contact for the Center and managing its day-to-day and financial operations, Carolyn also serves as our grants administrator and manages the case study submittal process, working with case authors and other Center staff to track case manuscripts as they move through the stages of review, revision, and publication on our website.

Carolyn received her BS and MBA from the University at Buffalo.

© 1999-2024 National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo. All Rights Reserved.

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS)

The mission of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) at SUNY-Buffalo is to promote the development and dissemination of materials and practices for case teaching in the sciences. 

Click on the links below to learn more about-

• a bibliography of case studies,
• faculty perceptions on the benefit of teaching case studies, and
• research articles

Below is a sample work flow showing how to navigate the NCCSTS case collection. Enjoy!

1. Start at the NCCSTS homepage ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/ ). Then click on Case Collection (red arrow, upper right).

nccsts_front_page.png

2. Clicking on Case Collection takes you to the Keyword Search page. As shown below use the dropdown arrows to narrow your search parameters. As an example I chose Organic Chemistry under Subject Heading.

nccsts_keyword_search.png

3. Below is a partial list (6/25) of case studies categorized under the Subject Heading choice, Organic Chemistry.

nccsts_search_results.png

4. Click on a case study. I chose The Case of the Missing Bees (not shown in the partial list above). Below is a partial screenshot of the case study description. To download the case study click on the DOWNLOAD CASE icon (red arrow, upper right).

nccsts_download_case.png

5. Below is the the top of the first page of the case study, The Case of the Missing Bees .

nccsts_case_front_page.png

6. And of course make sure to review and adhere to the Permitted and Standard Uses and Permissions ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/uses/ ).

nccsts_uses.png

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

Case study title: The Case of the Missing Bees: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Colony Collapse Disorder

Case study authors: Jeffri C. Bohlscheid and Frank J. Dinan

Clyde Herreid, Nancy Schiller, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo

When last checked this resource was offline Our automated link checker has alerted the folks responsible for the part of our site where this problematic link is referenced. If you have further information about the link (e.g. a new location where the information can be found) please let us know. You may be able to find previous versions at the Internet Archive.

This description of a site outside SERC has not been vetted by SERC staff and may be incomplete or incorrect. If you have information we can use to flesh out or correct this record let us know .

• Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Cooperative Learning:Examples: Problem-Based Learning: UV Menace
• Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Investigative Case Based Learning: Resources for Investigative Cases
• Cutting Edge:Enhance Your Teaching:Web-Based Resources:Workshop 03: Example Web Sites

• About this Site
• Accessibility

Citing and Terms of Use

Material on this page is offered under a Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted below.

Show terms of use for text on this page »

Show terms of use for media on this page »

• Short URL: http://serc.carleton.edu/resources/23505.html What's This?

• Material Detail: The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Collection

Material Detail

The national center for case study teaching in science case collection.

• Science and Technology  / Geoscience

• Peer Review
• User Rating
• Comments   (2) Comments
• Learning Exercises
• Bookmark Collections   (15) Bookmark Collections
• Course ePortfolios
• Accessibility Info
• Report Broken Link
• Report as Inappropriate

More about this material

Disciplines with similar materials as the national center for case study teaching in science case collection, people who viewed this also viewed.

Other materials like The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Collection

Ronald Mayne (Faculty)

Great source for case studies.  The only problem I have with this site is having to wade through all of the cases to find one relevent to my course.

Topher Gee (Faculty)

Technical Remarks:

Edit Comment

Edit comment for material The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science Case Collection

Delete Comment

This will delete the comment from the database. This operation is not reversible. Are you sure you want to do it?

Report a Broken Link

Thank you for reporting a broken "Go to Material" link in MERLOT to help us maintain a collection of valuable learning materials.

Would you like to be notified when it's fixed?

Do you know the correct URL for the link?

Link Reported as Broken

Link report failed, report an inappropriate material.

If you feel this material is inappropriate for the MERLOT Collection, please click SEND REPORT, and the MERLOT Team will investigate. Thank you!

Material Reported as Inappropriate

Material report failed, comment reported as inappropriate, leaving merlot.

You are being taken to the material on another site. This will open a new window.

Do not show me this again

Rate this Material

Search by ISBN?

It looks like you have entered an ISBN number. Would you like to search using what you have entered as an ISBN number?

Searching for Members?

You entered an email address. Would you like to search for members? Click Yes to continue. If no, materials will be displayed first. You can refine your search with the options on the left of the results page.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Thanks!

• Ernest Courant Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering
• Developing the Next Generation of Particle Accelerator Talent
• High Power RF – Working at the Extremes
• Low Temperatures in High Demand
• Why Particle Accelerators?
• Studies in Accelerator Science and Engineering
• Careers in Accelerator Science and Engineering
• Student Testimonials
• Faculty and Staff
• Extended CASE
• CASE/C-AD seminars for graduate students and postdocs
• EIC CEC portal

At Brookhaven National Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), physicists from around the world study what the universe may have looked like moments after its creation, from the smallest subatomic particles to the largest stars.

Stony Brook University, in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Cornell University and FERMI National Accelerator Laboratory, has established the Ernest Courant Traineeship in Accelerator Science & Engineering. The program is supported by a $2.9 million, five-year grant from the High Energy Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The new program is named after renowned accelerator physicist Ernest Courant who, as a long-time physicist at BNL, laid the foundation of modern accelerator science. Courant also taught for 20 years as an adjunct professor at Stony Brook. The traineeship is offered through the Center for Accelerator Physics and Education (CASE).

CASE is a joint center between BNL and Stony Brook, with three main goals of training scientists and engineers with the aim of advancing the field of accelerator science, developing a unique educational program that will provide broad access to research accelerators, and expanding interdisciplinary research and education programs utilizing accelerators.

CASE focuses on four specific areas identified by the DOE as “mission critical workforce needs in accelerator science and engineering”: physics of large accelerators and systems engineering; superconducting radiofrequency accelerator physics and engineering; radiofrequency power system engineering; and cryogenic systems engineering, especially liquid helium systems.

Vladimir Litvinenko, professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and senior scientist at BNL, said the DOE is specifically looking to groom the next generation of scientists in those areas because “that’s where they have a shortage of skilled labor, and they really want us to help address that.”

Research to understand and manipulate matter and energy using accelerators has led to the creation and commercial production of modern electronics and has had numerous applications in areas like radiation treatments for cancer, food safety, oil discovery, and searching for weapons of mass destruction. The understanding that accelerator science and technology has provided of matter and energy is also critical in space exploration and exploitation in terms of creating instrumentation, understanding space radiation, and creating new propulsion systems.

The graduate-level curriculum consists of courses and practical training at accelerator facilities of the collaborating institutions, and thesis requirements. Each participant has a supervisor guide their training.

Students in the traineeship program who complete four courses of the core program — 12 or more credits in accelerator science and engineering — and earn a B+ or higher in each course will be issued a certificate in Accelerator Science and Engineering with specializations including the four areas listed above.

The traineeship is available to all students. Participants who are U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents are eligible for funding provided by the DOE grant. The expectation is that the traineeship can be completed in two years and students can pursue their research interest beyond the program.

Litvinenko said the program will help students get a job involving accelerators, and appeals to a wide range of students from across the sciences.

“One of my students who was interested in accelerators just really loved mechanical things,” said Litvinenko. “She was working in a garage before she came here. Other students might be interested in a more experimental hands-on experience, and others might be attracted to the diversity of the field, because accelerator science involve a broad range of sciences. It incorporates electrodynamics and mechanics, but there’s also quantum materials as well as complex systems like cryogenics.”

“Participating in the CASE Accelerator School has been a great experience,” said Pietro Iapozzuto, a physics researcher at Stony Brook whose career dream has been to work in particle physics. “The classes teach you practical skills that will be needed to work in top government research facilities. The program has given me the opportunity to learn theoretical, computational, and experimental skills in order to become a proficient accelerator physicist. It also prepared me to participate in internship opportunities at the CERN laboratory and Brookhaven.”

“I’m an electrical engineer but I have had the pleasure of working with physicists in recent years,” said Thomas Robertazzi, professor and IEEE Fellow, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “What I have come to realize is if our society is ever to have the type of the appealing technologies we see in shows like Star Trek, it will take physicists like the ones in the traineeship program to discover and invent them.”

Litvinenko said the current talent shortage is attributed to the attraction of engineers to the booming mobile device field.

“So many engineers today are working on iPhones and other mobile devices,” he said. “But in accelerators we use really high-power systems, which is a very different scale and design. It’s older technology that’s no longer taught in regular universities, but still it’s extremely important. This is one of the things which we hope to offer next year to students.”

Irina Petrushina ‘19, a research assistant professor who co-teaches a course on RF superconductivity for accelerators within the traineeship program, said the traineeship offers students a unique opportunity to explore the world of accelerator physics and engineering.

“One can get a taste of accelerator physics and learn the basic concepts of accelerator operation in Fundamentals of Accelerator Physics, and more experienced students can learn about specific topics of interest such as cryogenic systems or computational aspects,” she said. “In addition to the direct interaction with the world-renowned experts, the students get to perform some hands-on experiments using one of the accelerators at BNL. The proximity and close collaboration between Stony Brook and BNL present an amazing opportunity to immerse yourself in the day-to-day life of an accelerator scientist.”

Litvinenko said there is also a very practical aspect to the program: “Many of our students are landing jobs before graduation. I think this is not always true about academia and graduates and this may be reason why this certificate and the very real possibility of finding a good job is an additional attraction. In the end, students want to have a successful career.”

• Ernest Courant Traineeship
• High Power RF – Working at the Extremes
• Discrimination
• Sexual Misconduct
• Accessibility Barrier

• Publications
• Conferences & Events
• Professional Learning
• Science Standards
• Awards & Competitions
• Instructional Materials
• Free Resources
• For Preservice Teachers
• NCCSTS Case Collection
• Science and STEM Education Jobs
• Interactive eBooks+
• Digital Catalog
• Regional Product Representatives
• e-Newsletters
• Browse All Titles
• Bestselling Books
• Latest Books
• Popular Book Series
• Submit Book Proposal
• Web Seminars
• National Conference • New Orleans 24
• Leaders Institute • New Orleans 24
• National Conference • Philadelphia 25
• Exhibits & Sponsorship
• Submit a Proposal
• Conference Reviewers
• Past Conferences
• Latest Resources
• Professional Learning Units & Courses
• For Districts
• Online Course Providers
• Schools & Districts
• College Professors & Students
• The Standards
• Teachers and Admin
• eCYBERMISSION
• Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision
• Junior Science & Humanities Symposium
• Teaching Awards
• Climate Change
• Earth & Space Science
• New Science Teachers
• Early Childhood
• Middle School
• High School
• Postsecondary
• Informal Education
• Journal Articles
• Lesson Plans
• e-newsletters
• Science & Children
• Science Scope
• The Science Teacher
• Journal of College Sci. Teaching
• Connected Science Learning
• NSTA Reports
• Next-Gen Navigator
• Science Update
• Teacher Tip Tuesday
• Trans. Sci. Learning

MyNSTA Community

• My Collections

Pioneering Innovations: NSTA’s Role in Advancing Science Education

By Christine Anne Royce, Ed.D.

Posted on 2024-08-27

Share Start a Discussion

To teach is to touch the future. —a sentiment paraphrasing the words of Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher astronaut  

Looking toward the future and improving science education has always been one of NSTA’s touchstones. When marking any anniversary, it is customary to reflect on where we were, where we are now, and where we might be going.  

The Beginning of the Future

The 1944 version of the NSTA Constitution stated that the “general purpose of the National Science Teachers Association shall be to stimulate, improve, and coordinate science teaching at elementary, secondary, and collegiate levels of instruction.” ( The NSTA Story 1976, p. 61) Today, we embrace the vision that “Science literacy and education are recognized as vital to the future of our society, enabling us to make informed decisions about the collective challenges we face.” Our core vision has been clear from the start.  

Curriculum in the Classroom: Looking Back as We Educate Forward    The challenge to teachers and curriculum makers is to exert this influence toward better-defined goals and purposes.  

This statement was written by NSTA’s first Executive Secretary, Robert H. Carleton, and is the challenge he expressed at the association’s 25th anniversary. The curriculum or what has been taught in the classroom is one of the key areas in which NSTA has been a leader throughout its history. In the post-Sputnik period, NSTA supported the National Defense Act and emerging curricular programs. In the late 1970s and early 80s, the association espoused the Science, Technology, and Society push. NSTA even launched its first Search for Excellence in Science Education to identify positive aspects of current science teaching.  

With the release of A Nation at Risk in 1983, the standards era began, and NSTA was actively involved in individual initiatives and collaborative efforts to help restructure the way science is taught.  As an association, NSTA developed the Scope, Sequence, and Coordination program, which was supported and funded by the National Science Foundation in 1994, but ended three years later. Opportunities and challenges such as these informed NSTA leadership.

NSTA was also active and integral during the same time frame in developing the National Science Education Standards (NSES), released in 1996. NSTA served on the Advisory Committee and developed supporting materials such as the NSTA Pathways to the Science Standards to help implement the NSES. NSTA continues to spearhead programs to support the Next Generation Science Standards , released in 2012. Teachers of any era exert an extraordinary influence, and by supporting teachers with standards-aligned and forward-focused science content, NSTA enables the positive influence of today’s teachers to reach students in the future.

Teaching the Teachers Through Professional Learning  

“By giving teachers the tools they need to challenge themselves and to continue growing professionally, you are helping to make our nation’s future even brighter.”   —letter from President Bill Clinton to NSTA President JoAnne Vasquez, December 27, 1996

NSTA both heard the need for and realized the benefit of connecting teachers to support one another. Through programs such as Building a Presence for Science, which this quote refers to, NSTA developed a national network for disseminating science education information. This program served as an information stream for more than two decades. Building a Presence is just one of many long-term initiatives that has enhanced teachers’ professional development.  

As early as 1970, NSTA acknowledged the importance of professional learning and development and was aware that professional learning needed to be tailored for individual teachers’ needs. Today, NSTA has the Professional Development Indexer, which helps you recognize your needs and identify key learning resources.  

Bringing science educators together for learning and professional development has been a key part of the association’s national and area conferences since the first one was held in Pittsburgh in 1953. Year after year, the conferences have fostered the networking and sharing of ideas—including during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2021, when we “went virtual” with NSTA Engage. Today, teachers can take advantage of Professional Learning Institutes offered as a pre-conference experience or focus on selected pathways during a conference for in-depth learning.

Professional Impact Through Partnerships and Print

“The challenge to NSTA and to the profession is to tie science education together with the lives of people and the problems of society in a truly functional manner. ” (Carleton 1968, p. 30)

NSTA met this challenge by publishing materials in-house and making them available to its members. Most recently, NSTA has focused on producing quality materials that align with and support A Framework for Science Education K–12 and the Next Generation Science Standards . NSTA has been a leader in developing groundbreaking curricular and supporting programs. Often, these initiatives and products have been created in collaboration with other groups, programs, and associations. For example, NSTA’s first written statement related to influencing and impacting the curriculum, The Place of Science in the Education of the Consumer , was published in 1945, just a year after NSTA was founded.  Since 1973, NSTA has partnered with the Children’s Book Council to produce the Outstanding Science Trade Books List for teachers and librarians alike. Over the years, NSTA has also collaborated with external groups, such as with Abbott Laboratories when they co-produced The Science of HIV (1997), which helped educators teach about HIV and AIDS in the science classroom. In 1995, DuPont and NSTA developed eight books in the Understanding Our Environment series. These are just a few examples of NSTA’s partnerships.

NSTA initiatives didn’t focus solely on producing materials for teachers.  They also created materials for students that could be used in class or individually. One such program was the Vistas of Science book series. This series, which featured 13 separate titles published between 1961 and 1967, was a joint project of NSTA and NASA and published through a relationship with Scholastic Inc. NSTA has long experienced the benefit of leveraging relationships that help improve science, science education, science teaching, and science materials.  

From the members who write for the journals to the authors who submit their book manuscripts, NSTA— and later, NSTA Press—has published materials to support the teaching and learning of science.  

Pushing Boundaries and Leveraging Technology

“Science educators will take a great step forward when they learn to distinguish between science and technology, yet are able to use technology to teach science.” (NSTA 50th Anniversary Scrapbook 1994, p. 20)

When that statement was written, the internet existed, but not for the mass population; personal computers could be purchased, and technology was starting to seep into the classroom. NSTA capitalized on this new horizon and began to develop strategies and methods by which technology could be used to support science teaching and learning. In July 2000, the first NSTA WebWatcher Summer Institute occurred in Arlington, Virginia.  Ultimately, these institutes and workshops helped develop Web Guides that would allow teachers to maximize technology through the identification of sites.  In 2003, the NSTA website promoted these WebWatchers Science Guides by encouraging teachers to “leverage the internet as a powerful interactive tool to enhance student learning.” (NSTA website, 2003)

NSTA also took advantage of this “new” interactive tool—the internet—to enhance student learning and teacher professional development. The association launched the NSTA Science Modules in 2003, an early entry into online professional development for science teachers.   NSTA continued to be forward-thinking and a leader in offering online opportunities for teachers. This allowed the association to reach classrooms throughout the country, meet the needs of more science teachers, and deliver cutting-edge instruction using online platforms. Through its NSTA Learning Center, NSTA provided the platform for educators to create their personal My Library to curate resources and track their own professional development. It also supported new teachers through the NSTA New Teacher Academy, an e-mentoring program that reached teachers across the country electronically. Now more than two decades later, NSTA has continued to develop and offer quality online programs.  

“ As we look to the past with an eye on the future, it is clear that the science taught and need for science educators who create a love of learning and interest in students is as necessary today as it was in 1944.”  (The Science Teacher, January 2019, p. 5)

It is somewhat nostalgic, somewhat historical, and informative. Merging an understanding of the past with a vision for the future is exactly what NSTA has focused on for 80 years. 

Just a few years ago, NSTA produced the video Reach for the Stars , which examines the impact of science and science education. Then, now, and in the future, know that NSTA has and will continue to support you and your endeavors.  References   Carleton, R.H. 1976. The NSTA story: 1944–1974. Washington, DC: NSTA. Carleton, R.H. 1968. The NSTA silver year review. Science and Children 6 (1): 23–30.  

NSTA’s 75th: A beginning, present, and future connected by the need for science education. The Science Teacher 86(5): 5. NSTA 50th Anniversary Scrapbook. 1994.  

Christine Anne Royce , Ed.D., is a past president of the National Science Teaching Association and currently serves as a Professor in Teacher Education and the Co-Director for the MAT in STEM Education at Shippensburg University. Her areas of interest and research include utilizing digital technologies and tools within the classroom, global education, and the integration of children's literature into the science classroom. She is an author of more than 140 publications, including the Science and Children  Teaching Through Trade Books column.

You may also like

Web Seminar

Join us on Thursday, January 30, 2025, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET, to learn about the search for planets located outside our Solar System....

Join us on Thursday, November 14, 2024, from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET, to learn about the role that rocks and minerals play regarding climate change....

Book Chapter