Describes an activity for first-grade students in which they learn about cave paintings and become spelunkers, or people who explore caves as a hobby, making their own paper head-lanterns. Explains that students draw animals on the walls of their "cave" (a dark hallway lined with brown kraft paper). (CMK)

On the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, salmon and water quality are more than just a news story. They are vitally important to the economy and environment--and are the inspiration for environmental science learning adventures. In this water quality project, four third-grade classes from Forks Elementary School in Forks, Washington,…

Teachers who have Spanish-speaking students in their science class, will likely be interested in learning about the recent releases of Spanish trade books for children. From appealing paperback series about colors, opposites, shapes, and numbers to smooth Spanish renditions of Isaac Asimov's engaging overview of the universe, these books are just…

Courses in introductory biochemistry invariably encompass basic principles of enzymology, with reinforcement of lecture-based material in appropriate laboratory practicals. Students undertaking practical classes are more enthusiastic, and generally display improved performance, when the specific experiments undertaken show direct relevance to…

This article features energizing and surprising activities for children at group time. In the drawing activity, children are asked to give instructions on how to draw a picture using vocabulary and descriptive language. In the mailbox activity, children will be surprised to discover that they have mail at group time. Mailboxes can be used for…

In 2001 foot and mouth disease broke out in the UK and millions of farm animals were slaughtered in order to eradicate it. This affected farmers, town dwellers, adults and children. Based on a small sample of 56 e-mails to a children's BBC (CBBC) message board and using an ethnomethodological approach, this article explores the way in which…

"Drosophila melanogaster" is emerging as a valuable genetic model system for the study of mental retardation (MR). MR genes are remarkably similar between humans and fruit flies. Cognitive behavioral assays can detect reductions in learning and memory in flies with mutations in MR genes. Neuroanatomical methods, including some at single-neuron…

Is California's Imperial Valley a watershed? If so, at what level and by what topographic logic? Is it a region? If so, at what level and by what geographic logic? Are its boundaries natural, political, or multivalent on different scales? In short, this essay looks at the special (re)production of environmental conditions within a cyborg world.…

Bestiality is a serious although less frequently occurring form of animal cruelty that may be linked to subsequent aggression against humans. This investigation examines whether a perpetrator's race, childhood residence, education, commission of a personal crime, and the number of personal crimes committed affects acts of bestiality committed…

Objective: The first objective of this study was to determine if children exposed to domestic violence were significantly more likely to be cruel to animals than children not exposed to violence. The second was to determine if there were significant age and gender differences between children who were and were not cruel to animals. Method: A…

This paper describes how a second grade science unit on penguins became the ideal content to integrate with the physical education curriculum. The movement experiences reinforced the information students learned about penguins and helped students to gain a deeper understanding of penguin behaviors. Together, the physical education teacher and the…

This article discusses how registered therapy dogs can motivate and support children as they practice reading aloud in the company of the dog and with the support of the dog's handler. It also offers practical advice to educators, librarians, administrators, and community members seeking to implement such a program in their communities.

Impairment of hippocampal function precedes frontal and parietal cortex impairment in human Alzheimer's disease(AD). Neurotrophins are critical for behavioral performance and neuronal survival in AD. We used complex and radial mazes to assess spatial orientation and learning in wild-type and B6-Tg(ThylAPP)23Sdz (APP23) animals, a transgenic mouse…

Classical fear conditioning requires the recognition of conditioned stimuli (CS) and the association of the CS with an aversive stimulus. We used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays to characterize changes in gene expression compared to naive mice in both the amygdala and the hippocampus 30 min after classical fear conditioning and 30 min after…

Damage to the medial region of the thalamus, both in clinical cases (e.g., patients with infarcts or the Korsakoff's syndrome) and animal lesion models, is associated with variable amnesic deficits. Some studies suggest that many of these memory deficits rely on the presence of lateral thalamic lesions (LT) that include the intralaminar nuclei,…