Students may be slathered with SPF 30 sunscreen all summer at the beach or pool, but what do they know about ultraviolet (UV) light radiation and absorption? The authors of this article found the perfect opportunity to help students find out the science behind this important health precaution, when they developed a series of practical strategies…

It has been a practice at the University of Washington to begin their workshops on investigative sciences for preservice and inservice K-8 teachers with the discussion of variables. The teaching of the concepts of variables is important, as it provides students with the opportunity to understand other aspects of an investigation, such as the use…

Forensics can serve as the perfect vehicle for science exploration and learning. As part of a professional development workshop, teachers participated in various forensic activities. This article describes an archaeological dig simulation that provides the catalyst for an inquiry-based activity. In this activity, teachers make crime scene…

This report delineates a three-part investigation into first graders' preferences, selection rationales, and processes when choosing a picture book to own. One-hundred ninety first graders were invited to select their favorite book from among nine high-quality, well-illustrated picture books representing a variety of topics, media, and genres. In…

Purpose: Pragmatic language disorders (PLDs) are difficult to diagnose in a cost-effective manner, and there are few assessment tools that yield quantitative data. This investigation was designed to determine whether two formal assessment tools would differentiate PLDs in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) from controls matched on…

The authors investigated the effect of chronic exercise on feelings of energy and fatigue using meta-analytic techniques. Chronic exercise increased feelings of energy and lessened feelings of fatigue compared with control conditions by a mean effect delta of 0.37. The effect varied according to the presence or absence of a placebo control or…

Three experiments investigated the contrasting predictions of the evolutionary and decision-theoretic approaches to deontic reasoning. Two experiments embedded a hazard management (HM) rule in a social contract scenario that should lead to competition between innate modules. A 3rd experiment used a pure HM task. Threatening material was also…

The use of bilingual graphic organizers (bilingual knowledge maps [BiK maps]) as a presentation format was investigated for the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary. Participants were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions for the task of studying 32 German-English word pairs. Participants in each condition were trained on either lists or BiK maps…

Are traditional laboratories in the core introductory biology courses teaching physiology majors the art and trade of science, or simply leaving them with a memory of trivial experiments done for unknown reasons? Our students, a population dominated by premed and physiology majors, think the latter and have encouraged us to challenge this model,…

This investigation explores the level, type, and extent of household mediation of television, the Internet, and videogames employed by parents of achieving and underachieving, intellectually gifted children in light of the recently declared "war on indecency." It examines various child-rearing practices and perceptions as well as salient…

During practical science Sc1 experiments, some children find making predictions very difficult. The use of scenarios seems to be an excellent way of encouraging children to think creatively about what might happen and focus their attention on what they should experience. If children use carefully selected and explained data, it can help them to…

Background: Knowledge of genetic influences, on developmental disorders such as autism spectrum, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and learning disabilities, has increased the opportunities for understanding the influences of the early environment. Methods: This paper provides a selective, narrative review for clinicians of the effects of…

Background: Patterns of low heart rate, skin conductance and cortisol seem to characterise children with disruptive behaviour disorder (DBD). Until now, the startle paradigm has not been used in DBD children. We investigated whether DBD children, like adult psychopaths, process emotional stimuli in an abnormal way. Method: Twenty-one DBD and 33…

The potential role of environmental factors in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is an area of emerging interest within the public and scientific communities. The high degree of heritability of ASD suggests that environmental influences are likely to operate through their interaction with genetic susceptibility during vulnerable periods of…

The present study extends the literature base that is answering the call to examine the validity of J. L. Holland's (1959, 1997) 6 types of themes (realistic [R], investigative [I], artistic [A], social [S], enterprising [E], and conventional [C]) in his typology when applied to populations that are culturally different from the populations with…