Archives
Growing Solutionaries: How Seeds to Solutions Builds Climate Confidence in Students
Any educator who teaches environmental literacy or climate change has both an opportunity and a responsibility: to address the eco-anxiety many students carry. If environmental literacy is to be meaningful, it must cultivate agency alongside…
Learning the Ways of the JEDI: Justice in Action
A group of students huddles over a map of their city. They are not just locating temperature variations—they are layering tree canopy data, income levels, and historic redlining maps that contributed to segregation in the first half of the 20th…
Science Performance Tasks Embedded in Learning (PTELs)
When I ask teachers what emotions come to mind when they hear the word assessments, many immediately say “anxiety” or “stress.” I’m not surprised—I feel similarly when I think back on my own experiences in school. I mostly remember summative,…
Exploring Extreme Heat with Understanding Global Change
At the 2025 CASE Conference in Palm Springs, I had the opportunity to share how teachers across California can leverage freely available satellite data to anchor meaningful, NGSS-aligned investigations for students in grades 5-12.
Collaborative Curiosity: Using Buddy Classes to Expand Science Learning
Teachers Chris Scharfenkamp and Mhylet Zataray at Lorin Eden Elementary School in Hayward are showing how powerful cross-age learning can be by pairing their 5th graders and 1st graders for hands-on science.
Make it a STEAMy summer, with library online resources!
Make it a STEAMy summer with free online science and library resources from COMPASS at the California State Library! From hands-on PebbleGo activities to TeachingBooks recommendations, National Geographic Kids, virtual dissections, and documentaries,…
Teaching Towards a Sustainable Future
In response to California's new AB 285 climate education mandate, a team of educators developed a Solutions Mapping workshop to help teachers visualize the causes and solutions to climate change across disciplines. By encouraging collaborative…
The Importance of Healing-Centered Science Classrooms
Trauma-informed teaching is essential for supporting students' well-being and learning. By fostering belonging, adopting a "warm demander" mindset, and using culturally responsive practices, science educators can create healing-centered classrooms…
CAST is now on the Dashboard!
Learn about the integration of CAST data into the California Dashboard and strategies to close achievement gaps in science. Explore CASE's CAST Academy, resources for 3D science instruction, and actionable steps to include K-12 science in your…
The Role of Elementary Science Instruction in Preparing Students for the California Science Test
Discover how early science education lays the foundation for success on the California Science Test (CAST). Learn about the importance of elementary instruction in building critical thinking skills and preparing students for CA NGSS-aligned…