Educator Resources

ready-to-go lessons and more

Select articles offer the following resources for classroom activities:

  • An original lesson for the high school to undergraduate levels written by a science educator specifically to accompany that article. It includes article content and extension questions, as well as activity handouts. The lesson opens in a PDF file. It is suggested that educators print the article and distribute copies to students in order to maximize the effectiveness of these lessons. For a list of available lessons, see our lesson directory.

  • Links to useful off-site resources that can help students perform lesson activities and/or learn more about a subject.

  • Links to off-site middle school lessons that are relevant to issues in the article. Occasionally, ActionBioscience.org provides a middle school handout in its original lesson instead. In either case, this is provided only when the article is suitable for middle school students.

To receive updates about new lessons and newly-posted articles, click on e-newsletter.

NSES correlation charts

ActionBioscience.org articles are correlated to the U.S. National Science Education Standards and organized in easy-to-follow charts. Educators may want to review the appropriate chart when looking for educational resources on this site.

NSES Correlation Chart: Grades 9-12

  • lists the science content standards for grades 9-12 in eight categories, as outlined by the National Academy of Sciences, USA
  • suggests online articles that apply to each of these content standards
  • identifies the online articles that have lessons available for classroom use; these lessons were written by educators specifically to accompany this web site’s articles
  • provides a link to the complete text of the official standards for educators who wish to evaluate our online articles as suitable resources for other grade levels and for cross-curricular applications

NSES Correlation Chart: Grades 5-8

  • Articles listed in this chart have been chosen because they not only apply to the NSES standards for grades 5-8 but they are also easier to read by younger learners

submit a lesson… become a lesson writer

We invite science educators to write lessons for the high school and/or undergraduate levels to accompany articles posted on this site. Educators published on this site will

  • receive an honorarium of $100 for each lesson
  • be acknowledged online as authors

ActionBioscience.org will retain exclusive Internet rights to the published material; however, authors can reprint their lessons in any other format, e.g., hard-copy journals.

Please write to editor@actionbioscience.org to request further information or to express your interest in writing a lesson. Submit a resume, indicating your teaching experience and educational background, in your initial e-mail to the editor.

Professional Development credit for NABT lesson writers

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) have partnered to offer a special arrangement for NABT members. Lesson writers, who are NABT members, will receive 18 hours of professional development credit for lessons published on ActionBioscience.org. Once a lesson writer has submitted a lesson to the site and it is deemed acceptable for online publication, the editor will contact NABT to send the writer the accreditation letter. We encourage NABT members to take advantage of this arrangement. Contact editor@actionbioscience.org for information about submitting a lesson.

Awards

  • Scientific American Best Biology Site (2003)
  • ENC award for quality educational web site (2002)
  • Site endorsed by NABT (1/04)