Taxonomy, the identification, naming, and classification of living things, is an indispensable unit in any biology curriculum and indeed, an integral part of biological science. Taxonomy catalogues life's diversity and is an essential tool for communication. Textbook discussions of taxonomy range anywhere from three to eight domains of kingdoms.…

The "Foundations" (English/language arts, mathematics, social emotional skills, approaches to play and learning, science, social studies, creative arts, and physical health and growth) are Indiana's early learning development framework and are aligned to the 2014 Indiana Academic Standards. This framework provides core elements that…

Honeybees, butterflies, and ladybugs all have fascinating mutually beneficial relationships with plants and play important ecosystem roles. Children also love these creatures. But how do we teach children about these symbiotic interactions and help them appreciate their vital roles in our environment? One must is to give children direct experience…

Level 6 (final-year BSc) students undertook case studies on between-site and temporal variation in river-water quality. They used professionally-collected datasets supplied by the Environment Agency. The exercise gave students the experience of working with large, real-world datasets and led to their understanding how the quality of river water is…

What makes an outstanding book for a young reader? Although it would be hard to create a rubric for every book, experienced teachers recognize them quickly. They fascinate and captivate with both their content and style. Award-winning trade books inspire young readers to want more... more information, more books, more inquiry, more science. The…

An overview of the ways in which interlibrary loan and document delivery statistics can assist in collection building and refinement. Included are how statistics can assist in the purchasing of new books and journals, in format selection and the purchase of backfiles, and how they assist in journal cuts and the selection of print materials to be…

Student discussions are a common teaching approach in graduate and advanced undergraduate courses because of their benefits to student learning, and to future professional development for natural resources professionals. However, traditional student-led discussions often are ineffective at meeting course and learning objectives and suffer from…

Micronutrient malnutrition affects the health and well being of 3 billion people globally. Identifying means to improve the micronutrient density in the edible portions of crops is an important way to combat nutrient deficiencies. By studying how plants obtain micronutrients from the soil, we can develop methods to enhance uptake. Although more…

This article discusses regeneration which is actually the dream of a scattering of biologists working in a relatively unheralded field called regenerative medicine. They hope to learn how other animals make whole their damaged parts, recreating complete working organs and appendages just as they did as embryos, but swiftly, and on a scale that…

Each year, well over a million students take college algebra and related courses. Very few of these students take the courses to prepare for calculus, but rather because they are required by other disciplines or to fulfill Gen Ed requirements. The present article discusses what the current mathematical needs are in most of those disciplines,…

Efforts to reform and improve teaching and learning in the undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines have grown increasingly stronger and more focused over the past two decades. Since the early 1990s, some notable unifying developments have given coherence to such initiatives, as well as other developments…

Many institutions offer courses that last less than a quarter and are a student's sole academic responsibility for that short term. There is an unfortunate and incorrect perception that such short classes cannot be used to teach substantively. At Colorado College, we teach all of our courses in 3.5 wk, including majors' courses in molecular cell…

This paper reconceptualizes Thomas Clifford Allbutt's contributions to the making of scientific medicine in late nineteenth-century England. Existing literature on Allbutt usually describes his achievements, such as his design of the pocket thermometer and his advocacy of the use of the ophthalmoscope in general medicine, as independent events;…

With what is technically possible increasing apace, this Webwatch brings some topical and spectacular animations to use in your teaching. You may have to customise them to your own systems but, providing your equipment is reasonably young, you should have little difficulty in launching them. There are endless possibilities for re-purposing these…

In this article, we provide three examples of the use of socioscientific issues (SSI) in a 5th-grade classroom. Taken from Earth science (beach sand replacement), life science (the Canadian seal hunt), and physical science (speed limits), the examples show how teachers can embed scientific content in controversial social issues that engage younger…