A BioLogica trial in six U.S. schools using interpretive approach is conducted by the Concord Consortium that examined the student motivation of learning genetics. Multiple data sources like online tests, computer data log files and classroom observation are used that found the result in terms of interviewees' perception, class-wide online…

A description of learning experience that uses a four-step instrumentational framework involving concrete and representational experiences to promote conceptual understanding of abstract biological concepts by a series of closely-related activities is presented. The students are introduced to the structure and implications of DNA using four…

Sickle cell disease was first reported in 1910 by J. Herrick, and since then, various associated conditions and complications have been described. Sickle cell disease is a hereditary disorder characterized by abnormality of the hemoglobin in the red blood cell. During periods of decreased oxygen tension in the red blood cell's environment, the…

The social and emotional development of gifted students can be influenced by many factors. Genetics, experiences, learning, family values, perceptions, and interactions all contribute to the development of gifted children. Under the heading of experiences is students? use of computers. The potential effects of using these technologies is…

Among biomedical scientists, there is a great deal of controversy over the nature of race, the relevance of racial categories for research, and the proper methods of using racial variables. This article argues that researchers and scholars should avoid a binary-type argument, in which the question is whether to use race always or never.…

The genetic and environmental contributions to the development of general cognitive ability throughout the first 16 years of life were examined using sibling data from the Colorado Adoption Project. Correlations were analyzed along with structural equation models to characterize the genetic and environmental influences on longitudinal stability…

The past two decades have seen an explosion in research in the fields of violence and trauma and behavior genetics. These two fields came into direct conflict when Lisabeth Fisher DiLalla and Irving I. Gottesman outlined a fundamental conceptual limitation of trauma and violence research: that rather than being causal, the well-documented…

Gene-environment interplay is a general term that covers several divergent concepts with different meanings and different implications. In this review, we evaluate research evidence on four varieties of gene-environment interplay. First, we consider epigenetic mechanisms by which environmental influences alter the effects of genes. Second, we…

Background: Speech sound disorder (SSD) is a common childhood disorder characterized by developmentally inappropriate errors in speech production that greatly reduce intelligibility. SSD has been found to be associated with later reading disability (RD), and there is also evidence for both a cognitive and etiological overlap between the two…

Leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter (VWM) is an autosomal recessive brain disorder, most often with a childhood onset. Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy indicate that, with time, increasing amounts of cerebral white matter vanish and are replaced by fluid. Autopsy confirms white matter rarefaction and cystic degeneration. The…

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of heritable mental retardation, affecting (~ around) 1 in 4000 males. The syndrome arises from expansion of a trinucleotide repeat in the 5'-untranslated region of the fragile X mental retardation 1 ("FMR1") gene, leading to methylation of the promoter sequence and lack of the fragile X mental…

The neuropsychological underpinnings of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Reading Disability (RD) and their comorbidity may be studied usefully with the double dissociation design. The results of studies using the double dissociation method may be linked to the search for an endophenotype of ADHD and RD and their comorbidity.…

Autism is a heterogeneous disorder that can reveal a specific genetic disease. This paper describes several genetic diseases consistently associated with autism (fragile X, tuberous sclerosis, Angelman syndrome, duplication of 15q11-q13, Down syndrome, San Filippo syndrome, MECP2 related disorders, phenylketonuria, Smith-Magenis syndrome, 22q13…

This paper proposes a genetic development of the concept of limit of a sequence leading to a definition, through a succession of proofs rather than through a succession of sequences or a succession of epsilons. The major ideas on which it is based are historical and depend on Euclid, Archimedes, Fermat, Wallis and Newton. Proofs of equality by…

Today, societal decisions in areas of complexity are often dominated by one of three alternative ways: (a) by scientists, nowadays often in combination with commercial interest; (b) by politicians alone; and (c) by simply "laissez-faire," or "the tyranny of small steps." None of these three ways of decision making is fully…