Describes using a local college for the teaching of the recommended Advance Placement laboratories as a way to increase greatly needed course time and to increase the amount of equipment available. (PR)

A university-school model science lab helps middle school teachers learn to use constructivism in the classroom by supporting their own knowledge construction. Elements of the educational environment are motive, time, reflection, community, and practice. Effective components for knowledge construction include authentic need, mistakes, cooperation,…

This article describes a course for reinforcing the knowledge of biochemistry in secondary school science teachers. The Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Barcelona designed a course to bring these teachers up to date with this discipline. In addition to updating their knowledge of biochemistry and molecular…

The life scientist's professional activity is much more than just laboratory work. Information search and retrieval and later communication of conclusions are important and substantial matters. How to manage knowledge is essential for the future scientific or technological careers of college students. Nevertheless, knowledge management is…

Program-level assessment of the biology curriculum at a small liberal arts college indicates progress in the development of communication skills and content knowledge. The authors propose a mechanism to provide more research opportunities for students, giving them all the tools necessary to do science. (Contains 5 figures.)

An integrated accessible microscopy workstation was designed and developed to allow persons with mobility impairments to control all aspects of light microscopy with minimal human assistance. This system, named AccessScope, is capable of performing brightfield and fluorescence microscopy, image analysis, and tissue morphometry requisite for…

Malathion is an organophosphorus insecticide, which is often sprayed to control mosquitoes. When applied to aquatic habitats, malathion can also influence the embryogenesis of non-target organisms such as frogs and fish. We modified the frog embryo teratogen assay in "Xenopus" (FETAX), a standard toxicological assay, into an investigative…

In this article, the author describes three reports conducted by the National Academies, a private, nonprofit organization whose charter is to assist the federal government and the American people in analyzing pressing science and technology policy issues. These reports are: (1) "Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing…

A main challenge in educating undergraduate students is to introduce them to the Internet and to teach them how to effectively use it in research. To this end, an Internet assignment was developed that introduces students to websites related to biomedical research at the beginning of a biochemistry/molecular biology laboratory course. The basic…

A Learning Support System (LSS) that emphasizes experiential research in natural environments using the cutting-edge technologies of GIS and multimedia has been developed for teaching environmental literacy to undergraduate students at the University of Georgia. Computers are used as cognitive tools to create a context in which students become…

An important learning goal of a molecular biology curriculum is the attainment of a certain competence level in experimental design. Currently, undergraduate students are confronted with experimental approaches in textbooks, lectures and laboratory courses. However, most students do not reach a satisfactory level of competence in the designing of…

The spaces and structures used for undergraduate science often work against new teaching methods and fail to provide environments that attract the brightest students to science. The undergraduate science building often offers little to inspire the imaginations of young minds. The typical undergraduate science building also tends to work against…

The main distinction between the overlapping fields of molecular biophysics and biochemistry resides in their different approaches to the same problems. Molecular biophysics makes more use of physical techniques and focuses on quantitative data. This difference encounters two difficult pedagogical challenges when teaching molecular biophysics to…

Data sharing among multiple lab sections increases statistical power of data analyses and informs student-generated hypotheses. We describe how to collect, organize, and manage data to support replicate and rolling inquiry models, with three illustrative examples of activities from a population-level biology course for science majors. (Contains 1…

A single-semester elective combines Mendelian and molecular genetics in a problem-solving format. Students encounter a genetic disease scenario, construct a family pedigree, and try to confirm their medical diagnoses through laboratory experiences. Encouraged to generate ideas as they test their hypotheses, students realize the importance of data…