Gottlieb's (1991/2007) target article represents a milestone in our understanding of the impact of social experience on developmental malleability. Interactions across the species-typical and operant behavior categories are increasingly understood to exist. The social contingencies present in the normal species-typical developmental manifold are…

Mice from replicate lines, selectively bred based on high daily wheel-running rates, run more total revolutions and at higher average speeds than do mice from nonselected control lines. Based on this difference it was assumed that selected mice would find the opportunity to run in a wheel a more efficacious consequence. To assess this assumption…

This study observes the evolution of persons with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) and profound intellectual disabilities living in residences with a Program for Residents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) characterised by a different educator's presence ratio and different logistic accommodations. This population is characterised by the…

In the ever-expanding realm of science, educators struggle to share new discoveries and techniques with their students. Keeping abreast of recent advances can be daunting, even for the most motivated teacher. Fortunately, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program helps educators keep up with the…

The emergence of shared symbol systems is considered to be a pivotal moment in human evolution and human development. These changes are normally explained by reference to changes in people's internal cognitive processes. We present 2 experiments which provide evidence that changes in the external, collaborative processes that people use to…

The modern history of biology shows how Darwin's selectionist theory has replaced instructionist theories in explaining the operations of living things: first with inheritance through the gene pool of the 1850s, and second with the replacement of a template theory of immune system function in the 1960s. Today scholars in several disciplines…

Evolution education is of increasing interest to the science education community. This special issue of the "Journal of Research in Science Teaching" has been devoted to the subject of evolution. The following articles are included: (1) "Evolution: Biological Education's Under-Researched Unifying Theme" by Catherine L. Cummins, Sherry S. Demastes,…

This book contains a collection of 12 articles first printed in the magazine Scientific American. These articles show how life manages to eke out an existence where, by all rights, it shouldn't and helps in explaining the roles of energy and the building-block elements in the cycles of life. The titles include: (1) "The Evolution of the…

Technology contributes to the growth of human knowledge in five distinct, though overlapping, ways: (1) all technologies are material embodiments and thus more or less durable records of ideas that have survived some test with external reality; (2) telescopes, microscopes, and similar technologies extend external experience and knowledge to areas…

The hazards posed by new techniques of genetic manipulation have prompted scientists to regulate and in some cases restrict their own basic investigations. Describes some possible applications of the new techniques and outlines the established research guidelines. (GS)

Article described the conceptual outlook of a great teacher, Jacob Bronowski, who stressed in his new film series how imagination is influential in presenting scientific material for student audiences. (Author/RK)

Education should give an understanding of the world and of man, as well as offer the vocational training, at which the university excells. The use of case studies to provide immediate insight into advancing knowledge and the study of evolution have important instructional and educational implication for the goal of understanding man. (JH)

This paper points out that creationists have developed a skill unique to their trade, namely, that of misquotation and quotation out of context from the works of leading evolutionists. This tactic not only frustrates scientists but it misleads school board members, legislators, and the public. A representative sampling of scientists' responses to…

Considered are the effects of the Scopes trial on textbook publishers, textbook writers, and textbooks used in schools. The authors question whether it was a victory for evolutionists or for other groups. (RH)

Describes a science activity, using a bacterium and a fungus, to illustrate the effects of competition and barriers on geographical distribution. (Author/PEB)