Little empirical evidence suggested that independent reading abilities of students enrolled in biology predicted their performance on the Biology I Graduation End-of-Course Assessment (ECA). An archival study was conducted at one Indiana urban public high school in Indianapolis, Indiana, by examining existing educational assessment data to test…

There is a plethora of research suggesting that daily stressors and fatigue can have a significant effect on learning and various cognitive functions in young adults. Little is known, however, about how these effects impact learning and other neurocognitive functions in students with learning challenges when compared to their counterparts without…

As a large number of issues in contemporary biology are controversial, science teachers in so-called "faith" schools need to know what their employers regard as "doctrinal correctness". Any effective response to the rise of fundamentalism and atheism needs to answer challenges, take scientific knowledge into consideration and re-think traditional…

Proteolysis by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP) has emerged as a new molecular mechanism that controls wide-ranging functions in the nervous system, including fine-tuning of synaptic connections during development and synaptic plasticity in the adult organism. In the UPP, attachment of a small protein, ubiquitin, tags the substrates for…

This essay reviews key controversies in the history of the Darwinian research tradition: the Wilberforce-Huxley debate in 1860, early twentieth-century debates about the heritability of acquired characteristics and the consistency of Mendelian genetics with natural selection; the 1925 Scopes trial about teaching evolution; tensions about race,…

We propose an experimental model suitable for demonstrating allele frequency change in Drosophila melanogaster populations caused by selection against an easily scorable conditional lethal, namely recessive flightless alleles such as apterous and vestigial. Homozygotes for these alleles are excluded from reproduction because the food source used…

In this article, the authors present an inquiry-based approach to facilitate student understanding of the differences among common cloud descriptive characteristics through the use of a semi-dichotomous key developed by a former West Virginia state climatologist. The authors also demonstrate how students can analyze common class data sets that…

This study examined the influence of counselor perceived working conditions, length of time in field, counselor gender, mindfulness attitudes, compassion satisfaction, emotion-focused coping, problem focused coping, and maladaptive coping on levels of burnout and compassion fatigue in a sample of 213 mental health counselors. Cross-sectional…

The relationship between attendance policies and student grades in college courses was investigated. Specifically, a calculated grade point average was determined for all academic classes taught at Shelton State Community College between 2000 and 2008. These grade point averages were compared descriptively and statistically in an effort to…

Graduate students in chemistry, and in biological and biomedical fields must learn the fundamentals and practices of peptide and protein chemistry as early as possible. A project-oriented approach was conducted by first-year M.Sc and Ph.D students in biological sciences. A blind glass slide containing a cellular smear and an aqueous cellular…

It is fascinating to listen to middle school students talk about food for plants and animals and how that food is used. Some students describe ideas that are essentially correct. Some comments suggest that students are familiar with the content, but their understanding is incomplete or includes inaccuracies. Finally, some students have little…

The rapid development and increasing inter- and multi-disciplinarity of life sciences invokes revisions of life science course curricula, recognizing ("inter alia") the need to compromise between covering specific phenomena and general processes/principles. For these reasons there have been several initiatives to standardize curricula,…

Flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and sometimes can lead to death. Symptoms of flu can include fever or a feverish feeling, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headache, fatigue, vomiting, and diarrhea. Flu…

Reading the primary literature in a journal club format is an excellent practice where undergraduate students can develop their abilities in experimental data analysis and critical thinking, learn about new ideas and methods, and gain a foothold in scientific discourse. However, students are not familiar with the format, writing style, and depth…

Introductory biology courses form a cornerstone of undergraduate instruction. However, the predominantly used lecture approach fails to produce higher-order biology learning. Research shows that active learning strategies can increase student learning, yet few biology instructors use all identified active learning strategies. In this paper, we…