Describes a laboratory employed in undergraduate teaching that uses fruit flies to test student-selected compounds for their ability to cause mutations. Requires no prior experience with fruit flies, incorporates a student design component, and employs both rigorous controls and statistical analyses. (DDR)

A study examined the relationship between the creative thinking of 114 13 to 14-year-old females and scientific problem-solving ability. The students did well in the "preliminary trialing" stage and were more proficient in "interpreting" and "performing" process skills. The other three components, "communication,""planning," and "reflecting,"…

Presents findings of the images of science drawn upon in laboratory work by upper secondary and university students in academic streams with a science focus. Questions required students to comment on laboratory investigations carried out by research scientists or science students. Shows that students' reasoning has an epistemological and an…

Discusses collaboratories, defined as Internet-mediated science in which scientists are connected to each other, to instruments, and to data, independent of time and location. Explores past and current collaboratory efforts, including K-12 collaboratories, to identify factors that predict success and failure, and assesses directions for future…

Presents a demonstration that is a safe blend of two other vivid and memorable demonstrations. Combines two exothermic reactions involving granulated sugar to devise a reaction that produces a small amount of smoke and a growing column of black carbon. (DDR)

Discusses the biology of magnetobacteria and describes how they can be used in an empirical test of natural selection that takes three to four weeks. Contains 11 references. (WRM)

Describes the construction of a conductivity meter that includes a timer and a readout display that provides semiquantitative information. The meter can be made into a hand-held or lecture hall (demonstration) version. (WRM)

Presents guidelines for equipping physics labs with components from each of four technology-use categories: (1) computer interfacing; (2) modeling; (3) simulations; and (4) research-reference-presentation. Includes references to useful websites discussing educational technology. (WRM)

Discusses how English-as-a-Second-Language students are seeking help at U.S. college and university writing centers. This trend emphasizes the complementary role of the writing center and ESL writing instruction in improving ESL writing skills. Writing center and ESL writing pedagogy share process and collaborative approaches, which emphasize the…

Propose that educators use statistics to show that writing centers help to create a climate where struggling students succeed and successful students excel. Considers how to add "academic culture," something less concrete, to the bottom line. Challenges readers to think about how their writing centers enhance and advance a culture of academic…

Presents a laboratory activity using an Ob-scertainer which can be completed by students working as individuals, in pairs, and in groups. Explains the pair approach and focuses on the hypothesis forming process and group roles. (YDS)

Vignette and laboratory experiments suggest that negative reactions to people with mental illness are a direct consequence of their symptomatic behavior, but because of their poor external validity, these studies cannot tell us whether widespread negative public reactions to people with mental illness actually result from observation of…

This article presents Virtual Radiopharmacy Laboratory (VR LAB), a virtual laboratory accessible through the Internet. VR LAB is designed and implemented in the framework of the VirRAD European project. This laboratory represents a 3D simulation of a radio-pharmacy laboratory, where learners, represented by 3D avatars, can experiment on…

The question of facilitating inquiry in the context of whole-class interactions versus individual work in the laboratory is not a new issue in science education. Science teachers have always been confronted with the question of the value added by the time and expense required for individual work in the science laboratory versus inquiry…

The practical epistemologies of university students during laboratory work in chemistry are analyzed to enhance understanding of how teaching practices interact with learners. The purpose is to develop a theoretical framework of learning as action that can be used by educational researchers to examine meaning-making, but also by teachers in close…