Middle School Teachers Can Learn Better Ways to Sequence Science Lessons with a New NSTA Book

ARLINGTON, Va. – Business Wire – Instructional Sequence Matters, Grades 6–8: Structuring Lessons With the NGSS in Mind, shows how simple shifts in the way teachers arrange and combine activities can help improve student learning. The new NSTA Press book introduces the “explore-before-explain” method while making it easier to put the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into practice.

Instructional Sequence Matters discusses two popular approaches for structuring science lessons: POE (Predict, Observe, and Explain) and 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate). The book explains what contemporary research says about sequencing and how you can make the needed changes. Ready-to-teach physical science lessons use either a POE or 5E sequence to cover heat and temperature, magnetism, electric circuits, and force and motion. Detailed examples show how specific aspects of all three dimensions of the NGSS can translate into the classroom.

The book helps both novice teachers and classroom veterans discover the rationale and the real-life examples they need to restructure the hands-on approach they now use.

Browse sample pages of this title for free at the NSTA Science Store website.

For additional information or to purchase a copy of Instructional Sequence Matters, Grades 6–8 and other books from NSTA Press, visit the NSTA Science Store.

Featured

  • Fellowes Expands Finish and Wall-Covering Options for Architectural Wall Systems

    Fellowes Architectural Solutions has expanded the materials library for its architectural wall systems with a series of new finishes and wall-covering options intended to provide architects and designers with additional choices for commercial interiors, according to a company news release.

  • Higher Ed is Betting on New Buildings While Quietly Undermining Their Campuses — Here’s Why

    In this climate, the owner’s representative has changed from a delivery-focused advisor to a strategic campus partner. Institutions are increasingly relying on owner’s reps not just to manage, cope, schedule, and budget, but also help evaluate whether a project should proceed at all.

  • University of Pennsylvania Releases Design of Future Physical Sciences Building

    The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, Penn., recently released renderings of an upcoming 350,000-square-foot Physical Sciences Building, according to news release. The facility was designed by CO Architects and will unite the university’s departments of Physics and Astronomy, Mathematics, and Earth and Environmental Science.

  • RIT Saunders College of Business – Lowenthal Hall Addition

    RIT Saunders College of Business – Lowenthal Hall Addition

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. RIT Saunders College of Business's Lowenthal Hall Addition has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.