Although most high school students want their biology classes to include evolution, most high school biology classes in Minnesota do not emphasize evolution. This lack of an emphasis on evolution defies state educational standards and is associated with most students (high school and college) having serious misconceptions about evolution. The…

This article explores the synergy that can be created when concept-mapping techniques are used in collaboration with the construction of PowerPoint presentations to increase the richness of the learning experience. Some weaknesses of the typical PowerPoint format are highlighted with a description of how they can be overcome through a more…

This article examines why numbers have declined in French science universities. It shows that the main causes of this decline are the growth in student numbers between 1985 and 1995 and the changes that this brought about in the educational and social composition of the student population. Since the mid-1990s, increasingly fewer French students…

The need to support bioinformatics training has been widely recognized by scientists, industry, and government institutions. However, the discussion of instructional methods for teaching bioinformatics is only beginning. Here we report on a systematic attempt to design two bioinformatics workshops for graduate biology students on the basis of…

The Unit Operations Laboratory offers 2 courses in unit operations. One is a 2-semester course for chemistry and food engineering students that is more demanding because it considers more unit operations and places more emphasis on solving exercises. The other is a 1-semester course for chemistry and pharmacy students that considers fewer unit…

This article describes a simple and inexpensive hands-on simulation of protein folding suitable for use in large lecture classes. This activity uses a minimum of parts, tools, and skill to simulate some of the fundamental principles of protein folding. The major concepts targeted are that proteins begin as linear polypeptides and fold to…

A new, simple classroom technique helps cell biology students understand principles of Michaelis-Menten enzyme kinetics. A student mimics the enzyme and the student's hand represents the enzyme's active site. The catalytic event is the transfer of marbles (substrate molecules) by hand from one plastic container to another. As predicted, increases…

The wave equation is a classic partial differential equation that one encounters in an introductory course on boundary value problems or mathematical physics, which can be used to describe the vertical displacement of a vibrating string. Using a video camera and Wave-in-Motion software to record displacement data from a vibrating string or spring,…

The diversity and interdisciplinarity of computer science and the multiplicity of its uses in other sciences make it hard to define computer science and to prescribe how computer science should be carried out. The diversity of computer science also causes friction between computer scientists from different branches. Computer science curricula, as…

The authors detail the design, implementation and evaluation of an eConference entitled "Biohorizons," using a presage-process-product model to describe the development of an eLearning community. Biohorizons was a summative learning and assessment task aiming to introduce large classes of first-year Human Biology students to the practices of…

It is important to relate the biographies of black inventors and the evolution of engineering and technological education for blacks. This historical record is about people coming to grips with society's inadequacies and inequalities and moving beyond these to a participatory role in the nation's technological and engineering community. This book…

The program and abstracts of the presentations of the 1992 meeting of the Society for College Science Teachers are the topics of this report. Society officers are listed, a history of the society is provided, and membership information is given. The presentations reflect different topics in the teaching of college science. The abstracts of…

This essay, based on a national roundtable composed of science faculty, administrative leaders, foundation officers, and program directors examines the gap between advocacy and understanding that increasingly describes the status of science, mathematics, and technical education in the United States. The essay focuses on the capacity of the…

A study documented differences in learning style between several populations and a high school population of African-American students enrolled in science classes in a Northeastern North Carolina county. The Black students were compared to high school samples (male and female), college science majors, and nonscience college majors. Students from…

This study examined instruments measuring attitudes to science for the period from 1967 to 1977 as well as relevant research studies. Following an introduction (chapter 1), background information is provided in chapter 2, considering the importance of attitude measures in science education, reviews of research in science education, reviews of…