Describes symbiosis and its significance in the day-to-day lives of plants and animals. Gives specific examples of mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism in the relationships among fungus and plant roots, animals and bacteria, birds and animals, fish, and predator and prey. (MDH)

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

Describes the Irish National Stud and its relationship to science education. Includes the history of the stud and a full description of its grounds. (MM)

The National Science Education Standards (National Research Council [NRC], 1996) call for a greater emphasis on scientific inquiry in K-12 science classes. The Inquiry Standards recommend that students be engaged with scientific questions in which they collect and interpret data, give priority to evidence to construct explanations, test those…

Activities using the same historical case study can be designed for courses of varying degrees of proficiency by altering the format to suit each academic level. The case of Isidro Mejia, a construction worker who had six nails accidentally shot into his head from a nail gun, is the basis for a series of case study exercises. (Contains 4 figures.)

This study reports on the teaching of life sciences (biology) to blind and visually impaired learners in South Africa at 11 special schools with specific reference to the development of science process skills in outcomes-based classrooms. Individual structured interviews were conducted with nine science educators teaching at the different special…

IN THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE, EMPHASIS HAS BEEN PLACED ON A TYPE OF INDEPENDENT STUDY INVOLVING SELECTION, DESIGN, PERFORMANCE, AND REPORTING OF AN EXPERIMENT TO EVALUATE AN HYPOTHESIS FORMULATED BY THE STUDENT CONCERNING A TOPIC OF HIS SELECTION. THE FACULTY HAS DEVELOPED A PROJECT SELECTION FORM, WITH…

Presents experiments using wild birds as predators and pastry as prey and colored stones as background to demonstrate natural selection. Describes the exercise as an exercise in simulating natural selection. (Author/CW)

The computer is being used in an innovative manner to teach the recognition of normal and abnormal canine heart sounds at the University of Chicago. Experience thus far indicates that the PLATO program resources allow the maximum development of the student's proficiency in auscultation. (Editor/LBH)

Describes a science activity of interest to elementary school children, in which the monarch butterfly is observed progressing through the stages of development of its life cycle. (JR)

Marine hermit crabs are a simple and exciting way to introduce landlocked students to the ocean. Tips for keeping the crabs in the classroom, crab anatomy/behavior, and student activities (including a challenge to students to race their crabs) are discussed. (Author/JN)

The author advocates the expression of wonder and excitement in biology teaching in order to convey the fresh joy of discovery to young students. (SA)

The primary concern was the extent to which life science concepts occurred in selected secondary-school life science textbooks. Ecology concepts were the most widely and evenly distributed in junior high textbooks, and physiology terms were the most frequently occurring for senior high books. (MP)

Models, based on Gowin's Epistomological V model, are presented which are intended to be useful in illustrating ideas to students about how knowledge is acquired and how to relate laboratory work to the concept being learned. (SA)

Described is an activity in which the interactions between a parasite and its host may be demonstrated using the relationship between yogurt and two species of bacteria. Background information on Koch's postulates is provided. Materials, laboratory procedures, and results are discussed. (CW)