Laboratory courses serve as important gateways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. One of the challenges in assessing laboratory learning is to conduct meaningful and standardized practical exams, especially for large multisection laboratory courses. Laboratory practical exams in life sciences courses are frequently…

This article presents three cases of community-engaged, or "public," scholarship across diverse disciplines (social science, natural science, and health science) in which the rigid boundaries of what has been conceived as traditional service-learning have been blurred. The innovations represented within these cases explicitly address…

Scientific research has traditionally been left to professionals in Russia. Here, though, graduates and undergraduates work alongside established scientists from different fields, on modern equipment. Some even earn enough money to support themselves. The students have been given this chance under a joint program of the United States and Russia…

Insufficient awareness exists of the variety of social and cultural factors that form the context of ecological research and determine its significance. Proposes dialogue between natural and social sciences through integrating different sociocentric research approaches into a comprehensive research plan without bureaucratic or disciplinary…

Distinctions between natural ecosystems and human ecosystems are misleading. Natural and social sciences can be integrated through the concept of a "human-use ecosystem," in which social scientists analyze the community, household, and individual, and natural scientists analyze the land. Includes a case study of St. Kitts. (KC)

The Bumblebee Game is an exciting outdoor game, which demonstrates aspects of bumblebee natural history including food chains, food webs and competition for food, predation by crab spiders, parasitism by "Conopidae" ("Diptera") and brood parasitism by cuckoo bees. It has been played successfully with groups of 10-25 people. Although most suitable…

An interdisciplinary master's program in the natural sciences designed to attract medical school applicants denied admission and other students wishing graduate study before committing themselves to a doctoral program is described. Results of a survey of the 310 graduates since 1967 are also reported. (MSE)

A course at Hampshire College that examines the character and history of literary natural history and surveys many of its significant American authors and works is described. Issues of the relationship between people and nature are raised and discussed in terms of current environmental debates. (MLW)

As a newly appointed joint hire in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Natural Sciences and the College of Education, Department of Middle/Secondary Education, my charge was to bridge the communication gap between these two departments and colleges. To meet this challenge, I developed four collaborative projects between the Natural…

Discussed is the development and evolution of a college program of wilderness studies. The conduct of the class in backcountry areas, the general curriculum content, and logistics of the courses are discussed. (RE)

The article describes the Walla Walla County Conservation District Education Program. The district, located in southeast Washington State, has organized a diverse range of activities for adults, students at all grade levels, and youth groups. (Author/SMB)