Biology curricula cover fungi in units on bacteria, protists, and primitive plants, but fungi are more closely related to animals than to bacteria or plants. Like animals, fungi are heterotrophs and cannot create their own food; but, like plants, fungi have cell walls, and are for the most part immobile. Most species of fungi have a filamentous…

For teachers, a common difficulty when introducing scientific thinking is finding ways to engage the participation of the students. Because most scientific problems require at least some specialized knowledge to formulate and solve, it can be hard to go beyond merely discussing the steps of the scientific method and illustrating them with the…

Use in research, natural history, behavior and characteristics, care and maintenance, breeding, and classroom use of the Mongolian gerbil are discussed. (BB)

Provided is a discussion of items covering a variety of fascinating biological topics which include: the elasticity of the furcula of starlings in flight, beavers increasing the greenhouse effect, effective invaders, traveling birds, the cuckoo deception, competitive sperm, hearing springs, heat and sight, blinking as punctuation, mutations, and…

Presents a directed-inquiry activity to take students one step beyond observation of how living organisms capture prey. Uses a field lab based upon predator-prey relationships to enliven the teaching of food web concepts to non-science-major freshman undergraduates. Can also be used in teaching high school biology students through college science…

The attitudes of 127 college students toward 30 different animals was assessed via a like/dislike questionnaire. Results indicated that female students disliked more animals than did males, and that non-Biology majors disliked more animals than did Biology majors. (SL)

Presented is an approach to the teaching of biological diversity using the theme of survival. Teaching methods for this approach and the advantages of its use are discussed. A suggested course outline is included. (CW)

Compares different views of the role of sexual reproduction concerning the survival and evolution of species. Discusses the benefits and disadvantages of thelytoky, one nontraditional method of reproduction. (CW)

Biology teachers in introductory and upper level high school courses generally present principles of taxonomy as part of the curriculum. Students learn about classification systems that categorizes species into recognized taxonomic groups based on their degrees of structural divergence or derived ancestral traits. References made, hereafter, to…

Describes a laboratory activity that is adaptable to several levels of biology students. Discusses methods for obtaining hellgrammites, performing the experiment, and analyzing the data. Includes sample charts and graphs. (CW)