Submission Guidelines for Lesson Writers

• Ready-to-go lessons and more
• Submit a lesson
• Professional Development credit for NABT lesson writers
• Awards

ready-to-go lessons and more

Select articles on ActionBioscience.org are accompanied by the following resources for classroom activities:

• An original lesson for the high school to undergraduate levels written by a science educator specifically to accompany that article. Some lessons also include middle school activities because the content applies to standards and because the accompanying article is easier to read by younger learners. Each lesson includes article content and extension questions, as well as activity handouts. Lessons open in a PDF file. For a list of available lessons, see our lesson directory.

• Links to useful off-site resources that can help students perform lesson activities and/or learn more about a subject. Links are targeted for specific grades — middle school, high school, or undergraduate level. These links are posted immediately after each lesson’s description.

• U.S. National Science Education Standards (NSES) Charts offer choices for lesson planning. Educators may also want to review these charts when looking for educational resources by keyword on this site.

To receive updates about new lessons and articles, click on e-newsletter.

submit a lesson

We invite science educators to write lessons for the high school and/or undergraduate levels to accompany articles posted on this site. If applicable to the curriculum, middle school activities can also be included. Educators published on this site will

• receive an honorarium of $100 for each lesson
• be acknowledged online as authors

Writers must sign a release form for lessons submitted in order for their lessons to be published and to receive payment. ActionBioscience.org will retain exclusive Internet rights to the published material; however, authors can reprint their lessons in any other format, e.g., hard-copy.

Lesson Writer’s Content Guidelines:

• Choose an article on ActionBioscience.org as the basis of the lesson you are writing. Part of the lesson should focus on article discussion (content/extension questions). The remainder of the lesson (student handouts) should contain activities that extend student’s inquiry about the issues and science presented in the article.
• Do not choose an article that already has an accompanying lesson. One way to find articles without lessons is to scan the NSES Correlation Charts. In the charts, when an article is accompanied by a lesson, the link is gold. Articles without lessons have blue links.
• Lessons should contain one to two page student handouts for at least two skill levels; for example, general-level high school biology (handout 1), AP biology – undergraduate year 1 (handout 2). Handouts should contain activities/projects that have been tested in the classroom for clarity and accuracy.
• Present teacher instructions and other information at the beginning of the lesson, (see lessons already posted for structure of the lesson instructions).
• Do not base activities or link to external resources in the lesson because these online resources may disappear from the Web or their URLs may change.
• On a separate page, list some suggestions for related activities or resources published on other web sites which can be offered as “useful links for educators” or “useful links for student research” on ActionBioscience.org.
• References, if any, must be listed alphabetically at the end of the lesson; cite only direct sources, using the author-date-reference style.
• Writers must guarantee the originality of their work, so give credit to others’ input.

Lesson Writer’s Format Guidelines:

• Follow the format of lessons already published (suggestion: copy a published lesson to your document and work from there).
• Use Microsoft word-processing software; note: single space between sentences.
• Use standard 12 point times new roman font for text.
• Set margins to l=.75”, r = .5”, and top and bottom to .5”
• Length of lessons should range from 4 to 6 pages (this includes instructions, questions on the article, and graphics/tables).
• Please do not “design” the lesson (web text is not like print – its format is coded).
• If graphics are included, paste them directly into your document within the appropriate section and in the dimensions required for their use; obtain permission for use of copyrighted graphics.
• Do not insert boxes around text; if a box is required, please indicate this in writing within square [ ] parentheses (do the same for other instructions to the editor).
• Spreadsheet-style material should be inserted directly into the document.
• Use S1 units (with English equivalents) for all measurements.

Please write to editor@actionbioscience.org to request further information or to express your interest in writing a lesson. Submit a resume, indicating your teaching experience and educational background, in your initial e-mail to the editor.

professional development credit for NABT lesson writers

The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) and the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) have partnered to offer a special arrangement for NABT members. Lesson writers, who are NABT members, will receive 18 hours of professional development credit for lessons published on ActionBioscience.org. Once a lesson writer has submitted a lesson to the site and it is deemed acceptable for online publication, the editor will contact NABT to send the writer the accreditation letter. We encourage NABT members to take advantage of this arrangement.

awards

• Scientific American Best Biology Site (2003)
• ENC award for quality educational web site (2002)
• Site endorsed by NABT (2004)