Argues for the use of procedures known as clearing and double staining to clear soft tissues and differentially stain cartilage and bone in specimens. Describes each step of the process. (DDR)

Presents design and construction details of a controlled temperature heat block. Includes information about the heater block, thermistor probe, circuit board, and the housing. (DDR)

Defends cookbooks and lab manuals. Both can provide reliable procedures; are good places to start; and need not stand in the way of understanding, insight, or imagination. (MM)

Describes a demonstration that illustrates the reversibility of thermal reactions using a gas burner and copper sulfate. Explains the procedure and provides tips to guide student thinking. (DDR)

Describes how to determine the mass of a gas in a flexible, lightweight container and argues that the buoyant force of air needs to be taken into account. Recommends the use of mylar and describes equipment preparation. (DDR)

The use of toluidine blue as a stain for plant tissues is advocated. Directions for hand-cut tissue staining are provided. (PEB)

Describes two investigative labs that use live plants to illustrate important biological principles, include quantitative analysis, and require very little equipment. Each lab is adaptable to a variety of class sizes, course contents, and student backgrounds. Topics include the evolution of flower size in Mimulus and pollination of Brassicas. (DDR)

Presents two simple and reliable ways for measuring protease activity that can be used for a variety of investigations in a range of biology class levels. The investigations use protease from a variety of sources. (DDR)

Discusses processes for change that have been used to introduce innovative learning processes into laboratory courses. In one case the content of the course was not changed, just the order of presentation. In the second example cooperative learning processes were introduced in order to facilitate a change in the course content. (AIM)

Describes an activity in which teams of students locate laboratory safety equipment in a scavenger hunt contest. (WRM)

Presents a simulation model approach to the study of evolution. This model combines both practical and theoretical aspects of evolutionary biology course work. The author has used laboratory hardware for this simulation with 20 working groups of students. (HM)

Includes methods for determining melting and boiling points, illustrating the Finkelstein reaction, choosing acid-base indicators, growing perfect NaC1 cubes and "whiskers," bromination of alkenes, using vanadium in the laboratory, preparing phenylamine-copper (II) sulfate (VI) complex, simulating first-order chemical kinetics on a programmable…

Includes methods for demonstrating Schlieren effect, measuring refractive index, measuring acceleration, presenting concepts of optics, automatically recording weather, constructing apparaturs for sound experiments, using thermistor thermometers, using the 741 operational amplifier in analog computing, measuring inductance, electronically ringing…

Presented is a practical scheme to enable introductory biology students to investigate the mechanism by which urea is synthesized in the liver. The tissue-slice technique is discussed, and methods for the quantitative analysis of metabolites are presented. (Author/SL)

Describes a quick, inexpensive laboratory demonstration of Charles's Law. The opening of a large, round balloon is placed snugly over the mouth of a narrow-mouthed 750-mL Erlenmeyer flask, which is then heated in a strong flame. At end of the full procedure, students easily arrive at the conclusion that the volume of a gas is proportional to…