Explores the relevance of hierarchies to information processing. Suggests that participants in all conditions create hierarchical representations as they work, and those in nonlinear conditions use this structure to guide their exploration of the material. An important function of hierarchies may be to define relationships between concepts.…

Suggests the reason few students of biological and environmental sciences study in international settings is that there is not agreement on the value of international science education. Reviews obstacles to reaching an agreement as well as recent successes at St. Lawrence University. Provides examples of the value of improving international…

Lists outstanding science trade books for children in the categories of Biography, Earth and Space Science, Integrated Science, Life Science, Physical Science, and Technology and Engineering. Explains the book selection process. (YDS)

Documents an evolving attempt to manage a values argument writing assignment in a large enrollment plant science class. Explores how developing library skills improved students' writing. Contains 22 references. (DDR)

Describes a project that sought to document biodiversity in northwest Costa Rica. Presents a unit designed to enable students to gain an understanding of the importance of biodiversity. (Author/JRH)

Presents the legal definitions of copyright and copyright law. Answers questions such as, How does copyright apply to materials published on the Internet? and What might be done to reduce lawsuits? Explains the importance and necessity of using recent materials in life sciences curriculum. Provides a list of several popular publications and…

Presents an activity in which students develop a handy strategy for exploring probability as applied in the life sciences by learning to use the Punnett square, an effective tool that helps students visualize sample spaces and determine the likelihood of events. (ASK)

This role-playing simulation is designed to help teach middle level students about the typical lifecycle of a fungus. In this interactive simulation, students assume the roles of fungi, spores, living and dead organisms, bacteria, and rain. As they move around a playing field collecting food and water chips, they discover how the organisms…

Using microbiology activities in the classroom is an effective way for teachers to address National Standards in the life sciences. However, common microbiology activities that involve swabbing doorknobs and hands are too risky due to the likelihood of culturing human pathogens. In addition, making sterile media and maintaining sterile conditions…

The Bumblebee Game is an exciting outdoor game, which demonstrates aspects of bumblebee natural history including food chains, food webs and competition for food, predation by crab spiders, parasitism by "Conopidae" ("Diptera") and brood parasitism by cuckoo bees. It has been played successfully with groups of 10-25 people. Although most suitable…

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax bioterrorism mailings, the science community and others worried that technical articles might inadvertently aid those planning acts of terrorism. Some authors asked the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) for permission to withhold critical information from…

This article presents outdoor inquiry activities to help English Language Learner (ELL) students learn life science concepts. As a public high school ELL science teacher, the author of this article use these place-based and scaffolded inquiry activities outside to reinforce concepts she teaches in the classroom all year long. Through inductive…

The use of blended learning, face-to-face contact alongside e-based activities, provides academic staff with an opportunity to match their teaching strategies with the changing student cohort. This study report students' perceptions of e-learning activities early in bioscience modules; students from all three levels of undergraduate study were…

This report provides statistical information about the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. Its primary purpose is to serve as an information source. It offers no endorsement of or recommendations about policies or programs. National Science Foundation reporting on…

Reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" aloud to her sixth-grade students inspired this author to create a mathematics activity based on budgeting for school supplies for Hogwarts School. In that lesson, each student was assigned a name from the Hogwarts School roster and allotted a different dollar amount for his/her budget. Students…