To optimize learning experience and improve learning performance, current virtual experimental systems usually assist students with stepwise guidance before operations and feedback after them. However, stepwise and excessive guidance can lead to student overreliance, while late feedback cannot avoid potential errors during experimental learning.…

Affect and emotions matter to science learning. They also matter because they are integral to science identity formation and sense of belonging. This study aims to foreground the epistemic and affective character of laboratory work in higher science education by conceptualizing it as epistemic practice, in which students activate their body and…

Dissection is a unique multisensory educational experience and is essential to learning the anatomical construction of the human and animal bodies. This study aims to introduce a specialized design for the assessment of dissection and to discuss the assessment's attributes. The design was a product of the "assessment drives learning"…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many courses to move online, presenting a particular challenge for hands-on laboratory courses. One such course in our Biotechnology track is an advanced Protein Interactions lecture/laboratory course. This 8-week course typically meets for 5 h a week in the laboratory space. For the Fall 2020 version of the course,…

To this day, it remains unresolved whether experimental amnesia reflects failed memory storage or the inability to retrieve otherwise intact memory. Methodological as well as conceptual reasons prevented deciding between these two alternatives: The absence of recovery from amnesia is typically taken as supporting storage impairment…

Inhibitors of fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) increase endogenous levels of anandamide (a cannabinoid CB[subscript 1]-receptor ligand) and oleoylethanolamide and palmitoylethanolamide (OEA and PEA, ligands for alpha-type peroxisome proliferator-activated nuclear receptors, PPAR-alpha) when and where they are naturally released in the brain.…

We investigated whether postextinction administration of methylene blue (MB) could enhance retention of an extinguished conditioned response. MB is a redox compound that at low doses elevates cytochrome oxidase activity, thereby improving brain energy production. Saline or MB (4 mg/kg intraperitoneally) were administered to rats for 5 d following…

Cannabinoid receptors type 1 (CB1) play a central role in both short-term and long-term extinction of auditory-cued fear memory. The molecular mechanisms underlying this function remain to be clarified. Several studies indicated extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase with its downstream effector AKT, and…

The procedures used in the initial development of a Mathematics Laboratory within the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) Mathematics Program are reported. The thesis of the report is that in the development of educational programs, especially those which are complex, attention should be directed both to the design of the program and the…

Describes a number of student-focused laboratory exercises that are inexpensive, yet show the scientific character of archaeology. Describes the environmental laboratory exercise which includes the following analysis topics: (1) pollen; (2) earth core; (3) microfaunal; and (4) microwear. Describes the ceramic laboratory which involves…

Argues that cookbook chemistry laboratory experiments do little to teach scientific inquiry. Suggests providing students with laboratory experiences that follow the introduction of a concept and challenge students to investigate that concept through an experiment involving very few initial instructions. Lists some such challenges used in chemistry…

Discusses the goals of learning cycle laboratories in helping students acquire knowledge about a specific topic and to do so moving in a non-threatening way from the concrete operational level to the formal operational level. Describes an experiment designed for such laboratories dealing with the topic of oxidation-reduction. (TW)