When Alan McCormack began his career in education several decades ago as a seventh-grade science teacher in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., he tried everything he could to enhance students' interest in the concepts of science.
"I first thought I could be successful automatically just by following techniques used by my college science professors -- lecturing and writing concepts on the blackboard - but that wasn't very engaging for seventh graders," laughs Alan, who serves as professor of Science Education at San Diego State University in San Diego, CA, and as president of the National Science Teachers…