Dozens of studies have found learning strategies based on the "testing effect" promote greater recall than those that rely solely on reading; however, the advantages of testing are often only observed after a delay (e.g., 2-7 days later). In contrast, our research, which has focused on kinesiology students learning kinesiology…

Decades of behavioral observations have shown that invertebrate and vertebrate species have the ability to distinguish between self-generated afferent inputs versus those that are generated externally. In the present article, I describe activities focused around the discussion of a classic American Physiological Society paper by Curtis C. Bell…

Mercury is a known neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to children and unborn fetuses. Consumption of contaminated fish is one major route of mercury exposure. This laboratory experiment gives students an opportunity to measure mercury concentrations in store-bought seafood and compare the results to suggested exposure limits. The U.S.…

This biology investigation on "Pristipomoides filamentosus" larval development, survival, and aquaculture research was developed with three educational objectives: to provide high school students with (1) a scientific background on the biology and science of fisheries as well as overfishing, its consequences, and possible mitigations;…

The effects of dynamic and static visualizations in understanding physical principles of fish locomotion were investigated. Seventy-five students were assigned to one of three conditions: a text-only, a text with dynamic visualizations, or a text with static visualizations condition. During learning, subjects were asked to think aloud. Learning…

Giant freshwater prawn ("Macrobrachium rosenbergii" De Man) embryos can be cultured "in vitro" to hatching in 15% (v/v) artificial seawater (ASW). This technique can be applied as a bioassay for testing toxicity or for the effects of various substances on embryo development and can be used as a simple and low-cost model for…

This paper reports on a study of ecology teaching and learning in a Swedish primary school class (age 10-11 yrs). A teaching sequence was designed to help students read nature in a river ecosystem. The teaching sequence had a "bottom up" approach, taking as its starting point a common key organism--the freshwater shrimp. From this…

In this article, the authors present a classic playground game called "Sharks and Fishes" to introduce second- to fourth-grade students to the concept of "predation," or the relationships between a predator and its prey. By incorporating the game in a learning cycle on predation, students not only learn about predation in a memorable way, but they…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for Sharks and Rays, along with profiles of three teachers who took the course. Fifteen course takers from nine states who responded to the annual…

Inverness Research studied the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) Seminars on Science program for eight years, from its inception in 1998 to 2006. This paper presents teacher survey ratings for "The Diversity of Fishes", along with profiles of two teachers who took the course. Course takers report on the annual follow-up surveys…