Investigates the effects of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) format on student's achievement, thinking abilities and motivation. Focuses on distribution equilibrium and assesses student understanding by studying metacognitive and practical factors. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/YDS)

Describes a science laboratory that plays an important role in making modern physics accessible to teachers, school classes, and individual students. Claims it is a resource and a complement to the traditional education system. (Author/CCM)

Summarizes the recent research on pollen germination and introduces some basic studies on pollen tube growth that can be conducted in a secondary school laboratory. Discusses the use of a light microscope and refrigerator to study pollen. (Contains 13 references.) (Author/YDS)

Science teachers who are committed to excellence in the classroom continually seek ways to improve teaching and learning, and the concept of multiple intelligences holds promise as a method for accomplishing this. The essence of the theory of multiple intelligences is to understand the many differences among students, the variations in the ways…

A bioinformatics laboratory exercise based on inherited human morphological traits is presented. It teaches how morphological characters can be used to study the evolutionary history of humans using parsimony. The exercise can easily be used in a pen-and-paper laboratory, but if computers are available, a more versatile analysis can be carried…

We have devised and implemented a DNA fingerprinting module for an upper division undergraduate laboratory based on the amplification and analysis of three of the 13 short tandem repeat loci that are required by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Combined DNA Index System (FBI CODIS) data base. Students first collect human epithelial (cheek)…

I present a proposal for a laboratory practice to generate and analyze data from a saturation equilibrium binding experiment addressed to advanced undergraduate students. [[superscript 3]H]Quinuclidinyl benzilate is a nonselective muscarinic ligand with very high affinity and very low nonspecific binding to brain membranes, which contain a high…

The process of construction of meanings for the concepts of concentration and neutralization is explored in terms of "contextualizing practices" (Lemke, 1990, "Talking Science. Language, Learning and Values," Norwood, NJ: Ablex) creation of meanings through connections established among actions and their context. This notion is expanded to include…

"Mystery Powders" is a popular exploratory activity in which secondary students describe properties of several white, powdery substances by means of observing their structure through magnifiers or dissection scopes, reactions with a variety of liquids, and heat. Once students or groups have determined the properties of the various powders, they…

We present a two-part undergraduate laboratory exercise. In the first part, electron transport in bovine heart submitochondrial particles causing reduction of cytochrome c is monitored at 550 nm. Redox-active dyes have historically been used in most previous undergraduate laboratory exercises of this sort but do not demonstrate respiratory…

A model of reactive oxygen species metabolism is proposed as a laboratory exercise for students. The superoxide ion in this model is generated during the reaction of oxidation of xanthine, catalyzed by xanthine oxidase. The effect of catalase, superoxide dismutase, and allopurinol on superoxide ion generation and removal in this system is also…

The life cycle of retroviruses is an essential topic of modern cell biology instruction. Furthermore, the process of HIV viral entry into the cell is a question of great interest in basic and clinical biology. This paper describes how students can easily recover their own DNA, amplify a portion of the "CCR5" chemokine receptor gene, characterize…

We report the development of a 3-week laboratory activity for an undergraduate molecular biology course. This activity introduces students to the practice of basic molecular techniques such as restriction enzyme digestion, agarose gel electrophoresis, cloning, plasmid DNA purification, Southern blotting, and sequencing. Students learn how to carry…

An HPLC and a UV-visible spectrophotometer are identified as instruments that helps to incorporate more biologically-relevant experiments into the course, in order to increase the students understanding of selected biochemistry topics and enhances their ability to apply an analytical approach to biochemical problems. The experiment teaches…

An overview is provided featuring comments from students in a high school chemistry course, who were required to present portfolios of their work at the end of each semester. Brief reflections were written on why the piece was chosen and what thy learned from the experience and the reflection pieces presented an opportunity to study student…