The test scores of spatial ability for women lag behind those of men in many spatial tests. On the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), a significant gender gap has existed for over 20 years and continues to exist. High spatial ability has been linked to efficiencies in typical computing tasks including Web and database searching, text editing, and…

Genetically modified (GM) crops such as maize (Zea mays L.), cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), soybean [Glycine max (L.) Moench], and canola (Brassica rapa L.) have been widely adopted by American farmers. In spite of their use in the United States, the European Union (EU) imposed a 6-year de facto moratorium (1998-2004) on the cultivation/import of…

The purpose of the present study was to examine agreement on childhood disability among the teachers and parents of children with cognitive delays in Vietnam. The participants were 57 teachers in kindergarten programmes (for children 2 to 6 years of age), and 106 mothers and 93 fathers of the children attending these kindergarten programmes. The…

The authors teach upper-level science courses in cell biology, genetics, and biochemistry at a public, four-year "community university" that serves a demographically diverse population of traditional and nontraditional students. In this article, they describe some of the issues they have found to be particularly significant at their "community…

The importance of genetic factors in autism has prompted the development of mutant mouse models to advance our understanding of biological mechanisms underlying autistic behaviors. Mouse models of human neuropsychiatric diseases are designed to optimize (1) face validity, i.e., resemblance to the human symptoms; (2) construct validity, i.e.,…

Bacterial transformation is a commonly used technique in genetic engineering that involves transferring a gene of interest into a bacterial host so that the bacteria can be used to produce large quantities of the gene product. Although several kits are available for performing bacterial transformation in the classroom, students do not always…

There is a scarcity of research evaluating the effect of the classroom exposure of students to historical and/or female role models in the sciences. This paper describes a unit involving an historical female role model that was incorporated into a college-level science course. The goals of the unit were to provide an historical context for…

This document contains 13 low budget labs, demonstrations, and activities to be used in the biology classroom. Each activity has a teacher preparation section which states the purpose of each lab, some basic information, a list of materials and what they do, and how to prep the different solutions and chemicals. All labs are designed for a…

The variety of cultures represented by international teaching assistants (ITAs) demands a skillful accommodation of intercultural information to assist effective adaptation for the American classroom. The literature on intercultural communication often provides a simple illustration of persons representing different cultures interacting to create…

Describes models for selection, genetic drift and migration for teaching high school biology. (LS)

Banding techniques were used in follow-up chromosome studies on two adult institutionalized retardates who had been previously described as having a low ridge count due to a high number of arches on the fingertips associated with undefined chromosomal abnormalities. (CL)