Educator Guides

Use these lesson plans paired to articles from the June/July issue of Science News Explores to have students analyze data visualizations from Analyze This articles, get a template to use the KWL literacy practice with your students and learn how to hula hoop using physics principles.

Pair these lesson plans with articles from the May issue of Science News to have students compare observational and experimental study designs and propose their own research topic for one of them, and explore how scientists are developing taste-mimicking virtual-reality (VR) technology.

Check out these lesson plans paired to articles from the May issue of Science News Explores to learn how eyelashes’ properties and structure help them repel water from eyes and use examples of fossils to explore the evolutionary relationship between birds and dinosaurs.

Review types of ecological relationships among organisms then have students identify which relationship type matches different examples of organism pairs and learn how geology might explain the existence of ghostly blue lights that have been haunting a small town.

Use these lesson plans paired to articles from the April issue of Science News Explores to introduce students to STEM comic strips that tell the stories of animal research studies and have them create their own, download a 3-2-1 literacy template to use with any article and cover concepts of electrical fields in Earth’s atmosphere.

Incorporate articles from the March issue of Science News to learn how scientists are using data from the James Webb Space Telescope to find out what exoplanets might be made of and investigate common characteristics among organisms using phylogenetic trees and cladograms.

Pair these lesson plans with articles from the March issue of Science News Explores to incorporate fictional phenomena from any Technically Fiction article with your students, download a template for concept maps and have students answer questions about Yellowstone National Park’s geologic history.

Check out these lesson plans paired to articles from the February issue of Science News to compare class survey data about where different emotional responses are felt in their bodies to two recent studies and have students apply concepts of scale and proportion while learning about how electrospinning turns dough into nanonoodles.

Our first Science News Explores educator guide highlights an article type called Explainers that takes a deep dive into a key scientific concept or process. Use this guide to build a lesson plan based on any Explainer article, learn about the Cornell Note-taking system and download a student template and have students investigate new species found in […]

Use one of the literacy templates in this guide with any Science News or Science News Explores article. Each template guides students through a different literacy strategy to help increase effective learning, comprehension and retention. These templates were created in collaboration with our Science News Learning Literacy Ambassador Janice Lewis.

Use articles from the January issue of Science News to review components of respiration and photosynthesis while students investigate what impact megafire smoke may have on California nut trees and have students explore how a Dune-inspired spacesuit may filter urine into drinkable water.

Incorporate articles from the December 14 & 28 Science News issue to introduce the importance of functional groups using the pigments aldehyde and carboxyl psittacofulvin found in parrots and to discuss how chemical analysis can support conclusions made about the metabolism of vampire bats.