Learning to Read the Earth and Sky: Explorations Supporting the NGSS, Grades 6-12

Is it time to refresh the way you think about teaching Earth science? Learning to Read the Earth and Sky is the multifaceted resource you need to bring authentic science―and enthusiasm―into your classroom. It offers inspiration for reaching beyond prepared curricula, engaging in discovery along with your students, and using your lessons to support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The book provides • examples of Earth science labs and activities you and your students can do as co-investigators; • insights into student expectations and misconceptions, plus ideas for inspiring true investigation; • stories of real scientific discovery translated for classroom consideration; • exploration of how you can mentor students as a teacher-scholar; and • guidance on how to translate the sweeping core ideas of the NGSS into specific examples students can touch, see, and experience. The authors of Learning to Read the Earth and Sky are husband-and-wife educators who promote science as something to figure out, not just something to know. They write, “It is our hope that readers will find our book short on ‘edu-speak,’ long on the joy of doing science, and full of stories of students, classrooms, scientists, and Earth and sky.”

Russ Colson is a scientist, teacher, author, gardener, and grandfather living in northwest Minnesota, far enough from city lights to see the Milky Way and the Aurora Borealis. During the dark northern winters, he teaches planetary science, meteorology, and geology at Minnesota State University Moorhead. In summers, he writes, gardens, and collaborates with undergraduate students on research projects in experimental planetary geochemistry. In 2010, he was selected by CASE and the Carnegie Foundation as US Professor of the Year.

Before coming to Minnesota, he worked at the Johnson Space Center in Texas and at Washington University in St. Louis where, among other things, he studied how a lunar colony might mine oxygen from the local rock. In addition to science fiction books and books on Earth Science and gardening, he has published a variety of technical papers, science fiction short stories, and essays on earth science education.