In response to the publication of the "Standards for Technological Literacy" by the International Technology Education Association (ITEA), technology education teachers have scrambled to add biotechnology-related components to the curriculum. This can present a particular challenge in terms of funding. In this article, the author details on a…

This article provides grounds for a new paradigm of environmental ethics and education based on the centrality of the sun and solar system--a shift from anthropocentrism to solar systemism. The article provides some grounds for this shift from the physical sciences that considers the planet Earth as part of a wider system that is dependent upon…

Over recent years there has been growing appreciation of the body's corporeal significance in how children learn in educational settings. "The body" has been conceptualised from a variety of perspectives that we characterise as: "the body without flesh", "the body with fleshy feelings" and "the body made flesh". We reflect on these perspectives…

Geschwind and Behan (1982) and Geschwind and Galaburda (1985a, 1985b, 1985c) suggested a correlation between brain laterality and immune disorders. To test whether this hypothesis holds true not only for the frequency of immune diseases and circulating autoantibodies, but extends also to cellular immunity, we examined the association between…

This article presents an interview with G. Kip Bollinger. G. Kip Bollinger currently works as a consultant for Intermediate Units, school districts, professional science societies, and science text and kit producers. He performs curriculum alignment, does assessment training, coaches science teachers, trains teachers in the use of specific…

Classification is a vital science-process skill for all students to master. Understanding dichotomous keys as a means of classification enables students to better comprehend large amounts of information and understand how to organize, compare and contrast, and analyze that information. To biology students, mastering the dichotomous key provides an…

A seven-week "gene to protein" laboratory sequence is described for an undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course. Student pairs were given the task of introducing a point mutation of their choosing into the well studied protein, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP). After conducting literature searches, each student group chose the…

In recent years, more and more elderly citizens have begun using mobile phones. However, most text presentations on mobile phones are not suitable for those whose vision has declined with age. The objective of this study was to discover how different Chinese text spacing would affect older adults' reading performance (time and error), text…

Previous research has found a positive relationship between AP® participation and performance with various college outcomes. Building on this work, the current study investigated the relationship between AP participation and performance with choice of college major. Specifically, this study examined whether students who take an AP Exam in a…

The use of drawing in the classroom has a contentious history in the U.S. education system. While most instructors and students agree that the activity helps students focus and observe more details, there is a lack of empirical data to support these positions. This study examines the use of three treatments (writing a description, drawing a…

Traditional undergraduate biology courses are content intensive, requiring students to understand and remember large amounts of information in short periods of time. Yet most students maintain little of the material encountered during their education. Poor knowledge retention is a main cause of academic failure and high undergraduate attrition…

Comic books employ a complex interplay of text and images that gives them the potential to effectively convey concepts and motivate student engagement. This makes comics an appealing option for educators trying to improve science literacy about pressing societal issues involving science and technology. Here, we report results from the first…

Systems thinking in biology education is an up and coming research topic, as yet with contrasting feasibility claims. In biology education systems thinking can be understood as thinking backward and forward between concrete biological objects and processes and systems models representing systems theoretical characteristics. Some studies claim that…

This study describes predictors of secondary traumatic stress and burnout in a national sample of helping professionals, with a specific focus on the unique responses of child welfare (CW) workers. Specific worker and exposure characteristics are examined as possible predictors of these forms of occupational distress in a sample of 669…

There is increasing enthusiasm for teaching approaches that combine mathematics and biology. The call for integrating more quantitative work in biology education has led to new teaching tools that improve quantitative skills. Little is known, however, about whether increasing interdisciplinary work can lead to adverse effects, such as the…