Imagine saving just one of the 23,000 species threatened with extinction. Students studying endangered species in a general life science course faced the decision of which species to save as a summative assignment in a unit on scientific explanation and argumentation. They used the claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER) framework in which students…

Practical laboratory work in parasitology can be very limited, due to the difficulty in maintaining multi-host parasite life cycles, especially for a large, once-yearly undergraduate laboratory class for life science students. The use of mackerel, "Scomber scombrus," bought from a local fishmonger, is an ideal model to investigate important…

The care and use of animals in education and medical research are very controversial and emotional public issues. Society needs to discuss these issues to reach an ethical stand. A sample of 118 sciences student teachers from a South African university responded to a questionnaire on animal rights and using animals for food, clothes, sport,…

This book is a collection of life science classroom demonstrations. Explanations that review key concepts are included. Topics are: stimulus and response; gravitropism; phototropism; living organisms; carbon dioxide; gases emitted by plants; greenhouse effect; stomata; transpiration; leaf skeletons; seed growth; water evaporation in plants; carbon…

Discusses the behavior, housing, care, diet, and feeding of painted turtles. Also suggests several classroom activities and provides guidelines related to long-term captivity and human disease prevention. (DH)

Describes an activity on worms that investigates their anatomy and habitat and reactions to various environments. (Contains 12 references.) (YDS)

Over the past decade, much has been learned about the ocean's secrets and especially about the creatures of the deep sea. The deepest parts of the oceans are currently the focus of many new discoveries in both the physical and biological sciences. Middle school students find the deep sea fascinating and especially seem to enjoy its mysterious and…

Animals Alive! is designed to help teachers develop an inquiry-oriented program for studying the animal kingdom in which, whenever possible, live animals are collected locally, studied, observed, and then released completely unharmed back into their natural habitats. By careful selection and modification of the chapter questions, activities, and…

Project AIMS (Activities to Integrate Mathematics and Science) has as its purpose the integration of subject matter in grades K-9. Field testing of the curriculum materials produced by AIMS indicates that this integration produces the following beneficial results: (1) mathematics becomes more meaningful, hence more useful; (2) science is…

Suggestions are provided for using animals (particularly snakes) as the focus of studies and activities in the science classroom. For example, cages with animals can serve as a learning center on various aspects of the animal. A list of suggestions for the care and feeding of snakes is provided. (JN)

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 brain is a truly fascinating structure! It controls the body and allows everyone to think, learn, speak, move, feel, remember, and experience emotions. Although the brain is a single organ, it is very complex and has several regions, each having a specific function. These functionally diverse regions work together to allow for coordination of…

This paper includes a general account of the biology of the brine shrimp, instructions on how the organism may be cultured, the results of some experiments on the ecology and population biology of the species, and some suggestions for further studies. (Author/CW)

Suggests activities for studying the variety of life forms found and the interaction of living things during a class trip to the beach. (WRM)

This book presents a variety of activities that enable students to learn how to identify mammals and their unique characteristics. Designed to be used in conjunction with a tour of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, the activities in the book are organized around the exhibits. Some activities are appropriate for use before the tour…