Describes a board game, ImmunoScenarios, which was developed to reinforce the ideas about the immune system discussed in lecture classes. Emphasizes important characteristics of the body's specific defense system including specificity, cooperation among various cells, and memory. Includes directions for playing, student handouts, and scenarios.…

Presents a lecture and play in which the students themselves become the elements of the immune system. Aims at facilitating student comprehension and retention of the complicated processes associated with the immune system. Includes objectives, outline, background information sources, instructor guide, student narrator guide, extension, and topics…

Includes a description of a program designed to help students better recognize a wide variety of life forms and understand their important role in the ecosystem. Discusses the program format and observations about the program's effectiveness. A sample natural history sheet is also provided. (ZWH)

The authors present an exercise designed to help students overcome the misconception that most microbes make people sick. The activity helps students of all ages understand the important benefits of microbes such as in making bread, soy sauce, cheese, and wine. The role of microorganisms in processing cocoa and coffee and growing plants is also…

Provides protocols for the isolation and characterization of plasmid from E.coli. (ZWH)

The high points of the story of RNA are presented. The functions of RNA within the cell, how these functions are carried out, and how they evolved are described. The topics of splicing, self-splicing, RNA editing, transcription and translation, and antisense RNA are discussed. (KR)

Uses diagrams to aid in describing a simple, rapid technique for staining the nuclei of pollen grains that have been germinated in vitro. (ZWH)

Describes in detail the laboratory procedure for studying the process of amitosis in the vegetative cells of Nitella axillaris. (BR)

An explanation of the difference between the terms isosmotic and isotonic, and an experiment to demonstrate this difference are presented. (BB)

Concepts to be developed, objectives, and student instructions are provided for an activity useful as an introduction to or review of Mendelian genetics and sex determination. Universal codes (read by optical scanners at supermarket checkout stands) from soup can labels are used as chromosome maps during the activity. (JN)

Describes two methods for rearing small aquatic invertebrates using submerged surfaces in an unfiltered current of water where fish are present. Presents suggestions on how to use the invertebrate communities in the classroom. (JRH)

Describes an alternative to studying plant community composition and dynamics. Suggests that teachers and students collect soil samples containing buried seeds (the seed bank), germinate the seeds in the laboratory, and analyze community dynamics through the composition of the seed bank. (ZWH)

Provided is an activity for student-constructed dichotomous keys that requires nothing more than a pile of shoes. Examples and directions are given. (MA)

Describes a laboratory study in which students evaluate, in ecological terms, different landscapes representing ecosystems under varying degrees of human domination. Also discusses the context within which the study is arranged. (JN)