Advancing equity and justice in undergraduate biology education requires research to address the experiences of disabled students. Scholars working in disability studies have developed models of disability that inform Discipline-Based Education Research (DBER). To date, DBER literature has been predominantly informed by the medical and social…

While a conception of science as value free has been dominant since Max Weber defended it in the nineteenth century, recent years have witnessed an emerging consensus that science is not -- and cannot be -- completely free of values. Which values may legitimately influence science, and in which ways, is currently a topic of heated debate in…

This article describes a community mentoring model for UREs that avoids some of the common pitfalls of the traditional paradigm while harnessing the power of learning communities to provide young scholars a stimulating collaborative STEM research experience.

Journal clubs have been used to advance students' scientific skills beyond basic knowledge and comprehension, but students often view the traditional format of analyzing reported data and experimental design as laborious and intimidating. As such, the traditional approach can diminish student engagement and enthusiasm for the value of scientific…

We present a simplified human alcohol metabolism model for a mass balance team project. Students explore aspects of engineering in biotechnology: designing/modeling biological systems, testing the design/model, evaluating new conditions, and exploring cutting-edge "lab-on-a-chip" research. This project highlights chemical engineering's impact on…

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been endorsed as a powerful instructional tool in higher education; however, relatively little is known about the long-term effects of participation in these programs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the educational enhancements of URE participation from the perspective of practicing…

Relations between structure and function of the Golgi apparatus are emerging from recent laboratory work on this cellular organelle which modifies proteins, sorts them, and packages them for delivery. The structure's three specialized compartments are explained through discussions of the glycosylation pathway, density-gradient experiments,…

Summarizes research done on the resting and action potential of nerve impulses, electrical excitation of nerve cells, electrical properties of Nitella, and temperature effects on action potential. (GS)

Discusses the optimality of natural selection, ways of testing for optimum solutions to problems of time - or energy-allocation in nature, optimum patterns in spatial distribution and diet breadth, and how best to travel over a feeding area so that food intake is maximized. (JR)

The purpose of this study is to first develop an 8-week college teaching module based on root competition literature. The split-root technique is adapted for the teaching laboratory, and the Sugar Ann English pea (Pisum sativum var. Sugar Ann English) is selected as the species of interest prior to designing experiments, either original or…

Two of this article's authors--an art professor and a biology professor--shared a project for advanced biology, art, nursing, and computer science majors involving scientific research that used digital imaging of the brain of the zebrafish, a newly favored laboratory animal. These contemporary and innovative teaching and learning practices were a…

Discusses trends, research activities, and conferences in geodynamics. These include topics on the lithosphere and lower continental crust formation discussed at a U.S. Geodynamics Committee workshop (Austin, Texas 1982) and symposia (each dealing with specific topics) sponsored by the Inter-Union Commission on Dynamics and Evolution of the…