Learning media is a tool that makes it easier for educators to convey material to students effectively and efficiently to improve the quality of learning. Biology subjects in the essential enzymes and cell metabolism competencies require precision and accuracy, so appropriate learning media are needed. Booklets are a medium that can make it easier…

Molecular Cell Biology (MCB) should be taught according to the scientific practices, avoiding cumulative and memory knowledge construction, but favoring scientific thinking. A way to achieve this goal is to apply activities involving scientific news, which construct knowledge through significant learning and the development of critical thinking.…

The Joint Educational Project's (JEP) STEM Education Programs at the University of Southern California (USC) present an elementary-level curriculum centered on the science of stem cells in partnership with Dr. Adam MacLean, an Assistant Professor of Quantitative and Computational Biology at USC for the broader impacts of a National Science…

Using real-world situations to engage students in learning specific content is advocated by educational research as an effective strategy. However, motivating students to establish personal and emotional connections with the curricular content is challenging. We presented a didactic strategy named "the presidential election of the human…

Pigments are light-absorbing substances that are abundant in nature, serving roles in coloration, camouflage, mate/pollinator attraction and photosynthesis among higher life forms. Among microbial organisms, pigments can also be found in a wide range of phyla. While some of these pigments function in photosynthesis, namely among algae and some…

The laboratory exercise described here aims to provide a relevant context for learning basic DNA techniques in an introductory animal science course at tertiary level. In two 4-hr laboratory sessions, students assess the suitability of bulls for inclusion in a gene-assisted selection program for A2 [beta]-casein by genotyping commercial bull…

How much do students really know about chromosomes? This article describes a partner activity and then a whole-class activity that use modeling to teach DNA replication, connect it to the shape of chromosomes during mitosis, and help students understand how daughter cells have the same DNA. Modeling is integral to science, helping students…

"Catalase," an enzyme found in both plant and animal cells, prevents the accumulation of toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide (H[subscript 2]O[subscript 2]) by catalyzing its decomposition to water and oxygen gas. Because this enzyme is ubiquitous, it is frequently used in high school biology laboratories to explore enzyme reactions. This…

Stem cells are cells that can self-renew and differentiate into a variety of cell types under certain conditions. Stem cells have great potential in regenerative medicine and cell therapy for the treatment of certain diseases. To deliver knowledge about this frontier in science and technology to medical undergraduate students, we designed an…

Although engineering design is dependent upon the use of science and mathematics, the actual prototype, model, or solution that pre-college students generate can be accomplished without the students explicitly using scientific or mathematical concepts. It is therefore important to explore how students apply science and mathematics concepts when…

The cell is the fundamental basis for understanding biology much like the atom is the fundamental basis for understanding physics. Understanding biology requires the understanding of the fundamental functions performed by components within each cell. These components, or organelles, responsible for both maintenance and functioning of the cell…

In this letter we present an innovative and cost-effective method of constructing crystal structures using Dual Lock fastening adhesive tape with table tennis (ping pong) balls. The use of these fasteners allows the balls to be easily assembled into layers to model various crystal structures and unit cells and then completely disassembled again.…

Biomodeling is the study of the structures and behaviors of interacting biological entities such as molecules, cells, or organisms. While physical and chemical processes give rise to various spatial and temporal structures, even the simplest biological phenomenon is infinitely more complex (Kling 2004). Over the past decade, much of biomodeling…

In this activity, students are given the opportunity to combine skills in math and geometry for a biology lesson in the cell cycle. Students utilize the data they collect and analyze from an online onion-root-tip activity to create a paper-plate time clock representing a 24-hour cell cycle. By dividing the paper plate into appropriate phases of…

Prior studies on scaffolding for investigative inquiry practices (i.e. forming a question/hypothesis, collecting data, and analyzing and interpreting data [21]) revealed that students who received scaffolding were better able to both learn practices and transfer these competencies to new topics than were students who did not receive scaffolding.…