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

  • Health & Science Building

    Health & Science Building

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The College of Western Idaho's Health & Science Building has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • University of Kentucky Reopens Scovell Hall

    The University of Kentucky recently reopened Scovell Hall, part of the Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE), following comprehensive renovations to the 120-year-old facility in Lexington, Ky., according to a news release.

  • Building Beyond Simulation: Creating Immersive Ecosystems for Healthcare Education

    Health sciences education is one of the fastest-growing facility types in colleges and universities. The demand for medical, nursing, and allied health professionals is driving the creation and renovation of medical simulation training facilities that provide students with real-world experience through advanced simulation-based learning.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.