Describes the use of student projects within a traditional biology laboratory class to incorporate openness, inquiry techniques, and student choice into course teaching. Included is a list of sample investigations. (CC)

Presents a description of the development of a laboratory-oriented chemistry course and the results noticed when the course was implemented. The syllabus was considered to be highly successful. (EB)

Offers examples of activities and practical ideas for the instruction of process skills in a laboratory setting. Includes suggestions for the processes of observing, comparing, inferring, collecting data, organizing data, interpreting results, identifying variables, formulating hypotheses, experimenting, predicting, and model building. (ML)

Provided are procedures for a demonstration which illustrates the concept of summer stratification of lakes in the temperate zone as maintained by thermal resistance to mixing. The demonstration requires only food coloring, water, and common laboratory equipment. (JN)

Shows how the natural membrane of a decalcified chicken egg can demonstrate the principle of osmosis within a single class period. Various glucose and saline solutions used, periods of time, physiological effects experiments, and correction for differences in initial weights are noted. (DH)

Outlines a demonstration involving weak acids and bases in aqueous solutions. A standard conductivity demonstration with a solution of acetic acid yields a barely glowing light bulb; a similar result occurs with ammonia solution. However, the bulb glows brightly when the solutions are mixed. (DH)

Discusses various ways established by the Task Group on Education in Astronomy, including publication of teaching resources and lists of speakers for teachers' meetings at all levels and of writers of articles for teachers' journals. (CC)

The Mole Concept is a learning cycle (patterned after University of Nebraska-Lincoln's ADAPT model) for the chemical unit "mole." Discusses objectives and activities involved in each phase of the cycle: exploration, invention, and application. Indicates the cycle is superior to traditional lecture-demonstration for teaching the abstract mole…

A college level plasmolysis experiment, demonstrating principles of cell/water relations, has been modified to demonstrate the objective collection of data. Background information, laboratory procedures, results, and instructional strategies are provided. (Author/JN)

Describes a physical science course for nonscience majors developed at California State University, Fullerton, to teach some of the basic principles and methodology of chemistry and physics using current environmental problems to stimulate students' interest. (HM)

Describes a laboratory demonstration that can be used to convert an analog quantity into frequency, which can then be converted into a binary measure using either an oscilloscope or a frequency counter. (MA)

Discusses how traditional lab exercises can be converted into investigative exercises. Describes an exercise on seed germination that has students design their own experiments based on their initial results. Involves students in the scientific process and allows them to experience the joys and disappointments of experimental work. (JRH)

Discusses and suggests some solutions for three problems related to chemistry laboratory management, including disappearance of teaching assistants, check in/out procedures, and slow students. (YP)

Uses Dictyostelium discoideum to aid in introducing cell differentiation to students. Students engage in a laboratory exercise that allows them to investigate the means by which embryonic cells choose developmental pathways. (ZWH)

Describes an inexpensive, reproducible alternative assay that requires minimal preparation and equipment for water testing. It provides students with a direct method of detecting potentially biohazardous material in water by observing the reduction in bacterial luminescence. (PR)