Presents a series of investigations focusing on the biodegradable packing materials ("peanuts"), which provide a method for exploring science through experimentation. These activities can help fourth through sixth graders sharpen their critical thinking and science process skills. (PR)

Describes the use of entomopathogenic bacteria for use in teaching general microbiology. (PR)

Presents the result of an empirical study on the reception and effectiveness of historical material being included in the physics program of a Swiss high school. (Author/NB)

Describes an educational project primarily aimed at teachers and 15 to 18-year-old students that describes the essential features of a modern high-energy physics experiment. (Author/CCM)

Explains how a school developed a model for ensuring progression in experimental and investigative science. Provides progression steps and examples of models. (CCM)

Presents an alternative way to teach chemistry by using transmuted laboratory activities in which students must predict outcomes within a certain error factor. Includes nine sample labs. (MKR)

Presents an alternative approach to bonding and geometry--the electron domain model--which avoids some of the problems with the conventional approach. Discusses difficulties with the orbital model at the introductory level, electron spin and the Pauli exclusion principle, electron pair domains, nonequivalent domains, multiple bonds, and origins…

Shows how ionization energies provide a convenient method for obtaining electronegativity values that is simpler than the conventional methods. Demonstrates how approximate atomic charges can be calculated for polar molecules and how this method of determining electronegativities may lead to deeper insights than are typically possible for the…

Presents a physics lab activity in which students determine if an electrode configuration simulates a section of concentric cylinders or concentric spheres. (WRM)

We report the development of a simplified procedure for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of mushrooms. We have adapted standard molecular techniques to be amenable to an undergraduate laboratory setting in order to allow students to explore basic questions about fungal diversity and relatedness among mushroom species. The…

This undergraduate laboratory experiment integrates multiple techniques ("in vitro" synthesis, enzyme assays, Western blotting) to determine the production and detection sensitivity of two common reporter proteins (beta-galactosidase and luciferase) within an "Escherichia coli" S30 transcription/translation extract. Comparison of the data suggests…

An exciting laboratory environment is activated by the preparation and novel use of magnetic materials to decontaminate water through adsorption and magnetic removal of metals and organics. This uncomplicated technique is also adaptable to the possible application of adsorbents to numerous other environmental substances.

This study was an attempt to identify the epistemological roots of knowledge when students carry out hands-on experiments in physics. We found that, within the context of designing a solution to a stated problem, subjects constructed and ran thought experiments intertwined within the processes of conducting physical experiments. We show that the…

The Kirby-Bauer method is regularly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, and is often employed in the classroom for teaching this concept. In this exercise, additional materials and instructions were given to students for the preparation of garlic extract and loading on blank BBL paper discs. They were further instructed to test…