Educator Guides

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.

Review the major components of the immune system then have students investigate lifecycles of pathogens and the possibility of polar bear exposure to them and discuss the ethics of experimental design using a rat training study with articles from the November 20 issue of Science News.

Use a carnivorous plant enzyme and an enzyme from a symbiotic fungal friend to introduce catalysts to your students before having them investigate their own example and potential applications and show popular “liquid cat” in-home experiments to teach about experimental design.

Begin a unit on natural selection using the northern sea robin before having students create their own species with adaptations specific to a unique habitat and introduce a new type of gamma ray electromagnetic radiation found from lightning with articles from the November 2 issue of Science News.

Incorporate articles from the October 19 issue of Science News to begin a unit on energy transfer by having students compare how convective cells of gas on the surface of a distant star are like a lava lamp and discuss how an experimental failure led to a surprising discovery of photoluminescent bat toes.