Spring 2026 California Classroom Science – Vol. 38 Issue 3
President's Message
Planet, People, Purpose
As spring unfolds across California, we are reminded that this season is one of renewal, growth, and possibility. Our theme for this edition, “Planet, People, Purpose,” invites us to reflect on how science education connects learners to the world around them, empowers communities, and inspires meaningful action. Just as the natural world reawakens,…
Next Generation Science Standards
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 century. One student pauses and asks, “Why are the hottest neighborhoods also the ones that were…
NGSS - Spotlight
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 awareness.
Planet, People, Purpose: Sustaining the Practice of Teaching
As we reflect on Planet, People, Purpose, I find myself thinking less about curriculum maps and more about people; specifically, the preservice and early-career teachers stepping into their own classrooms for the first time. As many preservice folks wind down their credential program this spring and hiring starts to ramp up, they need us more…
FYI
Get Involved in CASE!
This spring, CASE is holding elections for 2027-2029 Board of Directors positions. Board members serve two-year terms and are vital to shaping the vision and direction of the organization.
Cultivating Resilience and Real Science in the Classroom with the FRYS Network
On a foggy morning in California’s Central Valley, a group of high school students gather around a classroom fish tank. Inside, salmon are swimming– some moving quickly, others resting at the bottom, gills pulsing, but bodies still. “That one has a curled spine,” one student says. Another records the data. Right next to the tank is another small…
ATLAS: Bringing Authentic Science Performance Tasks into California Classrooms
Imagine a world where assessments surface students’ science understanding in ways that parallel the instructional shifts the California Science Framework calls for. Imagine assessments that support teachers in eliciting, noticing, valuing, and working with students' ideas. Imagine classrooms where students find their experiences valued, and…
Story of Impact - Wonder in Their World, Riverside Unified School District
Investing in science professional development boosts teacher confidence, which leads to devoting more instructional time to science, thereby increasing student engagement and attendance.
Observing the March Equinox
Have you noticed how the days are getting longer, or where and when the Sun is rising or setting? Observing these changes and looking for patterns in them is a human endeavor, and has been practiced by cultures around the world for millennia. The Sun and the sky are available to us all!
Science Education Conference
Hope in Action: How Agency First Classrooms Change Everything
This year, something unexpected happened in my science classrooms: students didn’t want the units to end. Their reaction signaled something deeper than engagement; they experienced learning as meaningful, self-driven, and hopeful. This article extends my 2025 CASE Conference workshop by showing how agency-first practices and AI-supported co-design,…
Save Hours with AI: NGSS-Aligned Science Lessons in a Click
In a school year defined by tight schedules, rising expectations, and newly emerging district AI policies, many science educators are asking the same question: How can I use AI to save time without sacrificing NGSS rigor or equity?
Making Kepler Click
The Making Kepler Click lesson series helps teachers make Kepler’s Laws meaningful through hands-on modeling, data analysis, and student discourse grounded in the Five Practices Framework.
Engaging Educators with Building Thinking Classrooms in Science K-12
This workshop at the 2025 CASE Conference in Palm Springs used the instructional practices from the book Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning, and applied them to the science classroom. In this workshop, participants engaged in a thinking task called “Oranges and Balloons” in the role of a…
If You Give a Hawk a Mouse, You’ll Need a Lesson Plan and Assessment Tools to Go With It
How can educators leverage state-provided resources to strengthen instruction, build assessment confidence, and ultimately support student mastery—without adding more to their plates?
Science That Sticks: Three Simple Shifts That Help Every Learner Thrive
In classrooms across the country, the first ten minutes of the day often disappear into routines that check boxes but don’t ignite thinking. Worksheets. Quiet compliance. Tasks students rush through or copy. As I shared in my Science That Sticks session at CSTA, this missed moment is one of the most powerful places to reclaim learning and rebuild a…
Dance of the Universe: Using Kinesthetic Modeling to Bring Astronomy to Life
How do we help students grasp the vastness of the universe and the invisible forces that shape it? In the Dance of the Universe workshop at the 2025 CASE Conference, a collaboration between the Solano County of Education and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, educators explored a hands-on, movement-based approach to astronomy instruction: one…
Bringing Climate in the Classroom to Life through Roads to Removal
In our conference workshop, we only had a small window to scratch the surface of what becomes possible when students explore climate solutions that are emerging right in their own communities. One of the pieces I wished we’d had more time for was the jigsaw using the Roads to Removal website. Even in a short session, participants immediately saw…
Join Today!
Not a member of CASE? Join/Renew today
California Classroom Science
CASE's signature publication, is an electronic publication that is produced quarterly. The publication consists of mostly original content produced by CASE members and provides information of interest to California science educators.
CCS is packed with information, news, resources, ideas, and activities of current interest to science educators. CCS is delivered to CASE members electronically via e-mail and is available on our website for all to enjoy.
Image Credits for Homepage Thumbnails
Thumbnail images and artwork on our homepage come from a variety of sources, including iStock (purchased by our association), free image sites, author contributions, and original designs by our graphics department. All rights remain with their respective creators.
- President's Message - Photo by Vardan Papikyan on Unsplash
- Sky Highlights - Photo by Jonatan Pie on Unsplash
- Avoiding Burnout - Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
- Reframing AI in Science - Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
