Enhancing Science Teaching through Performing Marbling Art Using Basic Solutions and Base Indicators

Basic solutions are an indispensable part of our daily life. Basic solutions are commonly used in industries such as the textile industry, oil refineries, the fertilizer industry, and pharmaceutical products. Most cleaning agents, such as soap, detergent, and bleach, and some of our foods, such as chocolate and eggs, include bases. Bases are the fundamental concepts of chemistry. Indicators are chemical compounds that can be added to solution to determine whether it is a base or not. This article describes an activity whose primary aim is to teach base indicators to preservice elementary teachers. In this activity, the authors turned the traditional art of marbling into something achievable with the chemical substances that are the basic solutions and base indicators found in nearly all chemistry laboratories. Therefore, this activity can be called chemical marbling. The preservice elementary teachers learned the base indicators and basic solutions throughout this activity. The purpose of the study is not only to teach the science concepts to the preservice elementary teachers with fun but also to promote the development of their attitudes toward science, creativity, and aesthetic feelings. Suggestions stress that chemical marbling might be a good tool to acquire the preservice elementary teachers’ cognitive and affective learning outcomes.     

Research Frontiers in Ecosystem Service Science

Ecosystems - How are ecosystem services conceptualized, analyzed, and forecast into the future? How can ecosystem service science be advanced to improve environmental decision-making at all scales?...     

Incorporating Argumentation through Forensic Science

This article outlines how to incorporate argumentation into a forensic science unit using a mock trial. Practical details of the mock trial include: (1) a method of scaffolding students’ development of their argument for the trial, (2) a clearly outlined set of expectations for students during the planning and implementation of the mock trial, and (3) an example of how to use questioning to guide students through the planning of the mock trial. While a general forensic science unit is provided in the article, a teacher can use the details of the mock trial with any forensic science unit for either middle school or secondary science students.     

Audio-Visual Approaches to Science Teaching

From Instinct to Intelligence/How Animals Learn by Gloria Kirshner. Grosset &; Dunlap Publishers, 51 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010. 1970. 127 pp., $3.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

A Pictorial History of Oceanographic Submersibles by James B. Sweeney, Crown Publishers, Inc., 419 Park Ave. South, New York, N.Y. 10016. 1970. 314 pp., Indexed, Bibliography. $9.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Where the Winds Sleep: Man's Future on the Moon—A Projected History by Neil P. Ruzic. Doubleday &; Co., Inc., Garden City, New York, 1970. 236 pp., Indexed. $5.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Hunters and Collectors by George H. T. Kimble. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10036. 1970. 48 pp., Indexed. $4.95 trade edn., $4.72 lib. edn. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Life in Ponds by Jean Gorvett. American Heritage Press, New York. 1920. 31 pp. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Discovering What Goldfish Do by Seymour Simon. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 330 West 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 1970. 47 pp. $3.95 trade edn. $3.83 lib. edn. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.

Building and Flying Scale Model Aircraft 3rd Edition by Walter A. Musciano. Herman Publishing Service, Division of Cahners Pub. Co., Inc., 221 Columbus Ave., Boston, Mass. 02116. 1970. 245 pp. Glossary, $7.95. Reviewed by Robert C. Hayden.     

Teaching Bernoulli's Principle through Demonstrations

ABSTRACT

One proven strategy to help students make sense of abstract concepts is to sequence instruction so students have exploratory opportunities to investigate science before being introduced to new science explanations (Abraham and Renner 1986 Abraham, M. R. and Renner, J. W. 1986. The sequence of learning cycle activities in high school chemistry. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 23: 121–143. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Renner, Abraham, and Birnie 1988 Renner, J. W., Abraham, M. R. and Birnie, H. H. 1988. The necessity of each phase of the learning cycle in teaching high school physics. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 25: 39–58. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). To help physical science teachers make sense of how to effectively sequence lessons, this article summarizes our experiences using an exploration–explanation sequence of instruction to teach Bernoulli's principle to prospective middle and secondary science teachers in a science methods course. We use demonstrations during our Bernoulli unit to help students go back and forth between their observations of phenomenon and what occurs on the microscopic level with what we have termed molecular talk. Students engage in guiding questions, consider their old and new understandings of science, and use evidence to construct new ideas during all stages of the lesson.     

The Value of Opinion in Science and the Forest Service Research Organization

ABSTRACT There is confusion about conflicts of interest between sources of funding and the extent to which Forest Service researchers are free to publish their findings. Forest Service Research is an independent entity with no administrative accountability to policy makers up to the office of the Chief of the Forest Service. Congressional mandate ensures that research will be free from the influence of politics that land management necessarily entails. Because politics involves opinions, it is important to note that opinions per se are not scientific and must be appropriately compared with empirical data before they can be considered so. It is the quantitative test of an opinion that renders it scientific, not the opinion itself.     

动物资源学课程定位与教学探讨

动物资源学是近几年生物学科新设课程之一,到目前为止,尚无明确的教材和教学体系。本文结合近几年的教学经验,就该课程的定位、教学对象、教学体系与教学内容以及教学实践等问题进行了详细的探讨,旨在就动物资源学的教学体系抛砖引玉,为丰富课堂教学和提高教学质量提供参考。     

Science through the internet: Researching, evaluating and citing websites

This article attempts to convey the joys and frustrations of skimming the Internet trying to find relevant information concerning an academic’s work as a scientist, a student or an instructor. A brief overview of the Internet and the “do’s and don’ts” for the neophyte as well for the more seasoned “navigator” are given. Some guidelines of “what works and what does not” and “what is out there” are provided for the scientist with specific emphasis for biologists, as well as for all others having an interest in science but with little interest in spending countless hours “surfing the net”. An extensive but not exhaustive list of related websites is provided.     

实验动物学教学改革的探索与实践

近几年来,实验动物学已成为生命科学发展的重要支撑,在高等医学教学中具有重要的地位.根据我国实验动物学的教育现状,在实验动物学教学实践中,对教学内容、教学方法和考核方式等方面进行了改革和探索,为培养综合应用型人才打下坚实基础.     

Teaching ecosystem ecology through studying sewage treatment

Sewage treatment plants offer an excellent model ecosystem in which inputs and outputs can be quantified, and the response of the system to change measured

The dynamics of ecosystem functioning can be difficult for students to appreciate when systems are complex and difficult to quantify, in terms of flow of energy and cycling of matter. Most ‘textbook’ examples of real ecosystems are based on data collected over many years of study. A sewage treatment plant offers a working ‘model’ of an ecosystem but one which is still relatively complex, yet quantifiable. If is also a system which mimics a number of the transformations of energy and matter, which go in real ecosystems. It allows students to clearly understand the relationships between inputs and outputs, whilst being introduced to the design principles of environmental engineering required to design such an artificial ecosystem.