Educators are recognizing the potential power of immersive virtual reality (IVR) to allow learners to experience previously intangible firsthand phenomena, such as atoms and molecules. In this study, an IVR simulation of a complex gene regulation system was co-designed with an undergraduate microbiology course instructor. The course, with 234…

Scientific advances in genetic analysis have been made possible in recent years by technical developments in computational biology, or bioinformatics. Bioinformatics has opened up the human genome to diverse analyses involving automated laboratory hardware and machine learning algorithms and software. As part of an emerging field of social…

Two foundational concepts in biology education are 1) offspring are not identical to their parents, and 2) organisms undergo changes throughout their lives. These concepts are included in both international and U.S. curricular standards. Research in psychology has shown that children often have difficulty understanding these concepts, as they are…

With just one exception, all of the volumes in Terman's Genetic Studies of Genius report the results of a longitudinal study of more than a thousand intellectually gifted children. That single exception is Volume II, Cox's single-authored "The Early Mental Traits of Three Hundred Geniuses," which instead was a retrospective study of 301…

The study of genetics centers on how encoded information in DNA underlies similarities and differences between individuals and how traits are inherited. Genetics topics covered in a wide variety of undergraduate biology classrooms can relate to various identities held by students such as gender identity, disability, and race/ethnicity, among…

This study examined trajectories of daily living skills, behavior problems, body mass index (BMI), and health conditions spanning nearly a decade in adolescents and adults with fragile X syndrome (N = 134; age range at study end = 19-49 years), examining influences of sex and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms. Hierarchical linear modeling…

Conflation of sex and gender is implicated in the development of essentialist thinking, which has been linked to the justification of systems of prejudice in modern society. This exploratory study presents findings from a person randomized control trial conducted with 460 students in 8th-10th grade that investigated the extent to which students…

Classroom-level influences on literacy skills in kindergarten through Grade 2, and on literacy and numeracy skills in Grades 3, 5, 7, and 9, were examined by comparing the similarity of twins who shared or did not share classrooms with each other. We analyzed two samples using structural equation modeling adapted for twin data. The first, Study 1,…

Limited information is available concerning the specificity of the forms and functions of aggressive behavior exhibited by boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS). To investigate these relationships, we conducted indirect functional assessments of aggressive behavior exhibited by 41 adolescent boys with FXS and 59 age and symptom-matched controls with…

When and how do infants learn color words? It is generally supposed that color words are learned late and with a great deal of difficulty. By examining infant language surveys in British English and 11 other languages, this study shows that color word learning occurs earlier than has been previously suggested and that the order of acquisition of…

Mechanisms are central in scientific explanations. However, developing mechanistic explanations is difficult for students especially in domains in which mechanisms involve abstract components and functions, such as genetics. One of the core components of genetic mechanisms are proteins and their functions. Students struggle to reason about the…

In recent years, game-based learning has shown significant promise for creating engaging and effective learning experiences. Developing models that can predict whether students will struggle with mastering certain concepts could guide adaptive support to assist students with mastering those concepts. Game-based learning environments offer…

Agricultural systems are complex and can be used as examples to teach science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts. However, inclusion of agriculture in core STEM courses is often limited. Three professional development sessions for K-12 teachers were offered in 2021-2022 (hybrid or remote sessions) and repeated in 2022-2023…

To learn to read, the brain must repurpose neural systems for oral language and visual processing to mediate written language. We begin with a description of computational models for how alphabetic written language is processed. Next, we explain the roles of a dorsal sublexical system in the brain that relates print and speech, a ventral lexical…

This cross-sectional and descriptive study examined the family quality of life (FQoL) among 72 Brazilian families who have children with Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder in which most individuals have an intellectual disability, usually mild. Data were collected using sociodemographic and clinical data forms and the Beach Center FQoL…