This study aimed to investigate research trends related to socio-scientific issues (SSI). The SSI articles analysed were from highest-rating five science education journals with the highest impact ratings, published between 2011 and 2022, including "Science Education" [SE], "Journal of Research in Science Teaching" [JRST],…

Eleven years before the "rediscovery" in 1900 of Mendel's work, Hugo De Vries published his theory of heredity. He expected his theory to become a big success, but it was not well-received. To find supporting evidence for this theory De Vries started an extensive research program. Because of the parallels of his ideas with the…

School science descriptions about Mendel and his story are problematic because several statements that are controversial among historians of science are repeated over and over again as if they were established facts. Another problem is the neglect of other scientists working on inheritance in the second half of the nineteenth century, including…

This historical narrative describes the foundation of education as established by J. A. Comenius (1592-1670). It explores the transfer of Comenius' tenets, utilized and modified through the years, up to their impact upon the ground-breaking experiments of G. Mendel (1822-1884), "the father of genetics". It explores the questions of…

Science textbooks and classes mostly emphasize what are considered by today's standards the "right" or "correct" interpretations of particular phenomena or processes. When "incorrect" ideas of the past are mentioned at all, it is simply to point out their errors, with little attention as to why the ideas were put…

The intersection of science and our society has led to legal and ethical issues in which we all play a part. To support development of scientific literacy, college science courses need to engage students in difficult dialogues around ethical issues. We describe a new course, Stem Cells and Society, in which students explore the basic biology of…

Scientific literacy is the ultimate goal in science education world-wide; especially in this modern society of science and technology. How to help individuals to make good judgments and promote their skills of argumentation becomes an important issue. Meanwhile, in the Information Age, visual image is an important medium for conveying information.…

This issue features four articles which represent social and ethical concerns effecting all world citizens. Three conference reports are also presented. A large portion of the journal is devoted to news items. An extensive bibliography is given with a brief description of each publication. A calendar lists the coming events through September,…

"Name That Gene" is a simple classroom activity that incorporates bioinformatics (available biological information) into the classroom using "Basic Logical Alignment Search Tool (BLAST)." An excellent classroom activity involving bioinformatics and "BLAST" has been previously explored using sequences from bacteria, but it is tailored for college…