Science Activities and the Retarded Child

Cobb, Vicki Lots of Rot New York; J. B. Lippincott, 1981 35 pp. $9.95 trade, $9.89 library. Reviewed by Frances B. Spuler.

Sheaffer, Robert The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1981 242 pp. $15.95. Reviewed by R. F. Trimble.

Taylor, Ron The Story of Evolution New York: Warwick Press, 1981 80 pp. $9.90. Reviewed by A. Gilbert Wright.

D'Ignazio, Fred Small Computers: Exploring Their Technology and Future New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1981 146 pp. $8.90. Reviewed by Judith A. Douville.

Stwertka, Eve, and Albert Stwertka Industrial Pollution: Poisoning Our World (Impact Books) New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1981 96 pp. $7.45. Reviewed by Robert H. Bell.

Claypool, Jane Alcohol and You (Impact Books) New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1981 96 pp., $ 7.45. Reviewed by Austin T. Hyde, Jr., M.D.

The Johns Hopkins Atlas of Human Functional Anatomy, 2d ed. Leon Schlossberg, illustrator George D. Zuidema, editor Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980 115 pp. $17.50 hardcover, $10.95 paperback. Reviewed by Carl Gans.

Harper &; Row's Complete Field Guide to North American Wildlife, western edition (Assembled by Jay Ellis Ransom) New York: Harper &; Row, 1981 809 pp. $12.95 vinyl, $17.50 cloth. Reviewed by Donald J. Nash.

Houdini Miracle Mongers and their Methods: A Complete Exposé Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1981 240 pp. $13.95. Reviewed by R. F. Trimble.

Rublowsky, John Born in Fire: A Geological History of Hawaii New York: Harper &; Row, Publishers, 1981 84 pp. $9.95 ($9.89 library ed.). Reviewed by M. Grant Gross.

Lampton, Christopher Meteorology: An Introduction (Impact Books) New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1981 96 pp. $7.45. Reviewed by Ira W. Geer.

Fields, Alice Satellites New York: Franklin Watts, Inc., 1981 48 pp. $6.90. Reviewed by Frances B. Spuler.     

Education Through Art

In this article, the author revisits a case study presented in Arts Education Policy Review 105(1) in September/October 2003. The author discusses Arts Collaborator's Incorporated's (ACI) efforts to educate the community about art and about arts opportunities in River City. Themes visited in the discussion are community development through the arts, and connecting economic development to education. Implications for the arts education community that the author draws from this discussion are (a) ACI has assets and connections that the arts education community may not have, (b) ACI uses its influence to teach and promote certain kinds of art, and (c) the arts education community needs to be aware of advocacy groups to maintain education standards and to fully use available opportunities.     

Comparative Laboratory Evolution of Ordered and Disordered Enzymes

Intrinsically disordered proteins are ubiquitous in nature. To assess potential evolutionary advantages and disadvantages of structural disorder under controlled laboratory conditions, we directly compared the evolvability of weakly active ordered and disordered variants of dihydrofolate reductase by genetic selection. The circularly permuted Escherichia coli enzyme, which exists as a molten globule in the absence of ligands, and a well folded deletion mutant of the Bacillus stearothermophilus enzyme served as starting points. Both scaffolds evolved at similar rates and to similar extents, reaching near-native activity after three rounds of mutagenesis and selection. Surprisingly, however, the starting structural properties of the two scaffolds changed only marginally during optimization. Although the ordered and disordered proteins accumulated distinct sets of mutations, the changes introduced likely improved catalytic efficiency indirectly in both cases by bolstering the network of dynamic conformational fluctuations that productively couple into the reaction coordinate.     

Apprehension and Pedagogy in Evolution Education

Instructors’ apprehensions and the decisions instructors make about pedagogy are often linked when it comes to teaching evolution. Whether it is the reticence of K-12 teachers that their instruction may affect their students’ religious beliefs detrimentally or that they may become caught up in some administrative, media, parental, or school political turmoil or whether it is the apprehension of college students who perceive that their religious beliefs are being explicitly challenged, such fears can be reduced by understanding their roots and by honing pedagogy in ways that reduce perceived threats. This article describes why it is prudent to address these often secretly held apprehensions and how to help instructors feel free to employ their best pedagogical methods to teach evolution without lingering fear. Some suggestions are given for pre-college and college instructors interested in combining effective pedagogy with as little perceived threat as possible. Methods are offered that allow instructors to focus on underlying scientific misconceptions even if those misconceptions are ultimately facilitated by non-scientific sources, while giving creationist or creationist-leaning students a chance to learn the appropriate scientific conceptions without their religious beliefs being explicitly threatened in a science course.     

新课程标准生物学选修1探究实验的组织

生物学是以实验为基础的自然科学,针对人教版生物学选修1"生物技术实践"探究实验课的特点,从教师的自身素质和驾驭实验课的能力方面,对应该怎样组织选人教版生物学选修1的探究实验教学.进行了初步的探索和研究.力求对教师教学技能和今后的探究实验课教学有所裨益,从而提高生物学探究实验课的教学质量.     

Evolution and the Cumulative Nature of Science

One of the characteristics of science is its cumulative nature. As more discoveries are made and more is learned, we progressively come to a more and more complete understanding of the physical universe. Evolutionary biology serves as an excellent example of this progressive trend in knowledge, since we now understand significantly more about the mechanisms and details of the evolutionary process than we did in decades past. It is important to comprehend these progressive changes and communicate them effectively to students of evolutionary biology.     

Informational Landscapes in Art, Science, and Evolution

An informational landscape refers to an array of information related to a particular theme or function. The Internet is an example of an informational landscape designed by humans for purposes of communication. Once it exists, however, any informational landscape may be exploited to serve a new purpose. Listening Post is the name of a dynamic multimedia work of art that exploits the informational landscape of the Internet to produce a visual and auditory environment. Here, I use Listening Post as a prototypic example for considering the creative role of informational landscapes in the processes that beget evolution and science.     

Human Evolution and Education in Slovene Schools

This article discusses the importance and benefits of providing lower secondary school students with some knowledge of human evolution and its educational context. The author surveyed science teaching in secondary and upper secondary schools in Slovenia and concluded that evolution in general, and human evolution in particular, do not feature prominently in the curriculum and so are not represented by many teaching contact hours. Neither are popular, well-designed, and up-to-date books on the subject--whether by Slovene authors or in translation--readily available to interested students. And yet, paleoanthropology??the study of human evolution in its wider context??is a rapidly developing, high-profile branch of science with major popular appeal. Recent discoveries??many of them spectacular??have provided a much more detailed picture of human evolutionary history, significantly modifying earlier ideas about our ancestry. The subject not only attracts much public interest but also has major educational benefits: human evolution exemplifies many general evolutionary principles, illustrates the synergy of focused multidisciplinary approaches in the life sciences, and reinforces teaching of environmental conservation, human relations, and social responsibility. Because of the subject??s importance, the author provides some suggestions on how the teaching of human evolution might be incorporated into the school curriculum and considers some of the educational resources available to support its teaching.