How can science instruction help students and teachers engage in relevant genetics content that stimulates learning and heightens curiosity? Project-based science can enhance learning and thinking in science classrooms. We describe how we use project-based science features as a framework for a genetics unit, discuss some of the challenges…

The Y chromosome is of great interest to students and can be used to teach about many important biological concepts in addition to sex determination. This paper discusses mutation, recombination, mammalian sex determination, sex determination in general, and the evolution of sex determination in mammals. It includes a student activity that…

Serial dilution is often a difficult concept for students to understand. In this short dry lab exercise, students perform serial dilutions using seed beads. This exercise helps students gain skill at performing dilutions without using reagents, bacterial cultures, or viral cultures, while being able to visualize the process.

This lesson was developed for middle school students using actual research on grass shrimp ("Palaemonetes pugio") to illustrate the process of a scientific investigation. The research was conducted at Savannah State University and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Education through the Living Marine…

Infants are sensitive to biological motion, but do they recognize it as animate? As a first step towards answering this question, two experiments investigated whether 6-month-olds selectively attribute goals to shapes moving like animals. We habituated infants to a square moving towards one of two targets. When target locations were switched,…

Verbs have two separate levels of meaning. One level reflects the uniqueness of every verb and is called the "root". The other level consists of a more austere representation that is shared by all the verbs in a given class and is called the "event structure template". We explore the following hypotheses about how, with specific reference to the…

This study examined fatigue profile during intermittent exercise in 10 men with mild to moderate mental retardation (MR) and 10 men without mental retardation (C). They performed 4 x 30 s maximal knee extensions and flexions with 1-min rest on an isokinetic dynamometer. Peak torque of flexors (PTFL) and extensors (PTEX), total work (TW), and…

Teachers of biology and related subjects are increasingly meeting objections from students and their parents to the teaching of evolution and the exclusion of what is called the theory of Intelligent Design. This paper attempts to draw together arguments and evidence which may be used by such teachers. Four lessons are drawn from the 1982…

Thomas Kuhn, in "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," posited that science does not progress by the steady accumulation of knowledge, but rather by a system of competition among paradigms. They vie for supremacy through greater parsimony, explanatory power, and popularity among the community of scientists (Kuhn, 1962). The current…

An activity involving analysis of art in biology courses was designed with the goals of piquing undergraduates' curiosity, broadening the ways in which college students meaningfully engage with course content and concepts, and developing aspects of students' higher-level thinking skills, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. To meet these…

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of a prediction/discussion-based learning cycle (HPD-LC), conceptual change text (CCT) and traditional instruction on 10th grade students' understanding of genetics concepts. Sample: Participants were 112 10th basic grade male students in three classes of…

In this two-part activity, high school biology students examine human karyotyping, sex-chromosome-linked disorders, and the relationship between biological sex and gender. Through interactive simulations and a structured discussion lab, students create a human karyotype and diagnose chromosomal disorders in hypothetical patients, as well as…

Students often enter biology programs deficient in the math and computational skills that would enhance their attainment of a deeper understanding of the discipline. To address some of these concerns, I developed a series of spreadsheet simulation exercises that focus on some of the mathematical foundations of scientific inquiry and the benefits…

A study of modern genetics requires students to successfully unite the principles of Mendelian genetics with the functions of DNA. Traditional means of teaching genetics are often successful in teaching Mendelian and molecular ideas but not in allowing students to see how the two subjects relate. The laboratory module presented here attempts to…

We present three studies pertaining to learning, engagement and motivation during laboratory lessons in three high school biology classrooms. In the first, quantitative methods are used to compare students' in-the-moment reports of learning, engagement, and motivation during laboratory with other classroom activities. Data were collected with the…