Addresses the difficulty that teaching assistants and new faculty members may experience in finding a convenient outline of the task of preparing an experiment for undergraduates. Explains all phases of developing a laboratory exercise and includes a list of things to consider for each phase. (DDR)

Describes a computerized English-auction experiment that helps students to understand marginal cost and its interrelationships with supply and the efficiency of competitive markets. Explains that the English auction is in a market where there are many sellers (students) and one buyer (computer). States that this exercise offers a good introduction…

Describes unexpected experiences with student laboratory activities. Makes recommendations for addressing two types of lab disasters: (1) when lab preparations fail prior to the beginning of lab; and (2) when students produce unexpected results with the proper use of materials. (Contains 11 references.) (WRM)

Explains an online introductory biology course that applies the inquiry approach to hands-on laboratories. Evaluates learning objectives such as the knowledge of biology, reasoning, attitudes, and graphing skills. (YDS)

In this paper, the authors describe their development of an introductory laboratory course in microbiology that is geared towards students in grades 8-10. The course was developed as part of the Mentoring for Science Program at Harvard Medical School, an outreach program created by the Minority Faculty Development Program, directed towards…

This article extends Simpson's (2003) research on sex differences in social dilemmas. To test the hypotheses that men defect in response to greed and women to fear, Simpson created Fear and Greed Dilemmas, but experiments using these games supported the greed hypothesis only. In this article I focus on why the fear hypothesis failed and suggest…

The colourful, vigorous territorial display behaviour of the Siamese fighting fish, "Betta splendens", has great appeal for both pet enthusiasts and animal behaviourists. Their beauty, longevity, easy maintenance and rearing make them a popular pet and an ideal science laboratory specimen. This investigation utilises "B. splendens" to test for the…

Science teachers continually search for effective ways to help students make sense of science concepts and principles. For students to learn to think more like scientists, science teachers must decrease the number of lectures and "follow-the-recipe" laboratory experiments and increase the use of activities that incorporate student inquiry.…

When an odor is paired with a delayed illness, rats acquire a relatively weak odor aversion. In contrast, rats develop a strong aversion to an olfactory cue paired with delayed illness if it is presented simultaneously with a gustatory cue. Such a conditioning effect has been referred to as taste-potentiated odor aversion learning (TPOA). TPOA is…

Over the past decade, apoptosis has emerged as an important field of study central to ongoing research in many diverse fields, from developmental biology to cancer research. Apoptosis proceeds by a highly coordinated series of events that includes enzyme activation, DNA fragmentation, and alterations in plasma membrane permeability. The detection…

We have developed a wet lab DNA microarray simulation as part of a complete DNA microarray module for high school students. The wet lab simulation has been field tested with high school students in Illinois and Maryland as well as in workshops with high school teachers from across the nation. Instead of using DNA, our simulation is based on pH…

The use of crude flower extracts to the principle of analytical chemistry automation, with the flow injection analysis (FIA) procedure developed to determine hypochlorite in household bleaching products was performed. The FIA comprises a group of techniques based on injection of a liquid sample into a moving, nonsegmented carrier stream of a…

This article describes a novel, hands-on method to qualitatively determine the extent of microbial activity in topsoil using ordinary blank paper. Appropriate and scalable for the high school and college level, these experiments expose students to some of the challenges facing environmental researchers and also contribute to curriculum development…

Forty-eight new secondary science teachers participated in a study that required a listing, discussion, and application of criteria to rank three chemistry laboratory procedures. The three similar lab procedures involved synthesis of a compound from its elements. The top criteria noted by teachers focused on procedural issues (i.e., timeliness,…

Unified Technical Concepts (UTC) is a modular system for teaching applied physics in two-year postsecondary technician programs. This UTC laboratory textbook, the first of two volumes, consists of 56 learning modules dealing with basic concepts of physics. Addressed in the individual chapters of the guide are the following topics: force, work,…