The Monkey and the Hunter

Learning about the water situation in other regions of the world and the devastating effects of floods on drinking water helps students study science while learning about global water quality. This article provides science activities focused on developing cultural awareness and understanding how local water resources are integrally linked to the quality of the world's water supply. After reading and discussing a case study highlighting one water situation facing the people of Kenya, students explore water sanitation and testing methods, including solar pasteurization and the Colilert test for total coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli. These investigations are relevant to inquiry-based water quality labs for high school biology, chemistry, and environmental science.     

How to Generate Student Excitement in Science

The Draw-an-Archaeologist Test (DART) is an easy way to elieit students' conceptions about archaeology and can be adapted to other subject matter. When implemented as the first activity of an archaeology unit, it provides a starting point for introducing archaeology and addressing students' misconceptions about it. In this drawing activity, students are asked to describe not only what archaeologists do, but who they are in terms of gender and ethnicities. This activity can be used to generate a discussion on equity and to access differences between genders and ethnicities, which fulfills one of the national science education standards for the history and nature of science.     

The Heat Is On! Using Particle Models to Change Students' Conceptions of Heat and Temperature

Elementary, middle-level, and high school science teachers commonly find their students have misconceptions about heat and temperature. Unfortunately, student misconceptions are difficult to modify or change and can prevent students from learning the accurate scientific explanation. In order to improve our students' understanding of heat and temperature, we created a three-part instructional activity designed to engage them in the development of kinetic particle models. First, the students use household materials—food coloring and water—to investigate and create particle models depicting motion at the molecular level. Second, the students complete a similar activity designed to help them visualize the connections between heat and particle motion. Third, the students build a thermometer, observe it in action, and create particle models explaining how the thermometer works. By the end of the series of activities, the students are able develop their own definitions for heat and temperature. Through this hands-on and minds-on series of activities, students learn to define and differentiate the concepts of heat and temperature.     

Sterilization the Sane “Pesticide”

Unpacking, an effective lesson-planning technique, can help students use scientific inquiry to understand the power behind hurricanes. Teachers identify a concept and then guide students to "unpack" it and look for new discoveries. The activity provides a means for students to develop the abilities to do scientific inquiry, demonstrate how it is applied, and develop understanding about the method. Additionally, students demonstrate abilities of technological design and understanding about science and technology. This activity promotes students' knowledge of the Earth's constant change, pattern recognition to enable prediction, statistical analysis and graphical display to reveal patterns in data, and the science behind hurricane rotation.     

Digital game design-based STEM activity: Biodiversity example

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to design a digital game design-based STEM activity for fifth-grade students learning about endangered organisms and significance of biodiversity for living. This activity was carried out with twenty students in a public school in Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey during academic year of 2018–2019 spring term. This study planned as eight-lesson time (8?×?40?minutes) and completed at this lesson time. The students were given the digital game design challenge in real-life problem context that has been created based on design-based science learning and for which they shall use their knowledge and skills in each of the STEM disciplines. During this design challenge, students worked like a scientist and an engineer. They carried out scientific research and inquiry process in the science discipline, understood the engineering design process in the engineering discipline, established mathematical relations in the mathematics discipline, learned how to make coding in the technology discipline, and used this knowledge and skills thus acquired in their suggested solutions for the design challenge. They designed a digital game by coding and presented science knowledge and skills that acquired from inquiry process.     

Inquiring into Familiar Objects: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Introduce Scientific Vocabulary

Learning science vocabulary is an often tedious but important component of many curricula. Frequently, students are expected to learn science vocabulary indirectly, but this method can hinder the success of lower-performing students (Carlisle, Fleming, and Gudbrandsen 2000). We have developed an inquiry-based vocabulary activity wherein students explore how new words apply to familiar objects, piquing their interest in the words’ meanings, prior to direct instruction. Groups of students were asked to apply new vocabulary words to familiar objects set up at various rotation stations. The students were encouraged to play with the objects, discuss answers with their group, and write down the vocabulary words they thought best described each object. Since the words were new to the students, there was no credit for correct answers, making the students comfortable exploring a new topic. After the rotation stations, we led students in a discussion of their answers and followed up with direct instruction on the words’ definitions. Here we give three examples of this activity used in our physical science classroom—one each for energy, simple machines, and force vocabulary—but this activity can easily be modified for biology and Earth science curricula.     

How to Use the Science of Snow to Engage Middle School Students in an Interdisciplinary Experience

In this interdisciplinary and field-based activity, grade 5 to 9 students engage in a comprehensive scientific study of snow. Through a series of in-class and out-of-class structured interdisciplinary and team-teaching lesson progressions, students will collect data to be able to analyze and apply knowledge about weather, the physical properties of snow, and the structure of matter that will increase understanding about the nature of science.     

Selecting Trade Books for Elementary Science Units

Understanding the concept of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and its interaction with matter (absorption, reflection, and transmission) can be difficult for students in seventh and eighth grade physical science classes. This inquiry-based activity (IBA) is aimed at improving their understanding of these concepts by exploring the interaction of EMR with leaves of different plant species or health conditions. Incorporating at least two different types of leaves from the local environment and measuring their interaction with EMR peaks student interest in this activity. After completing this IBA, students will see how objects interact in different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and gain a better understanding of phenomena such as reflection and absorption. Further, this IBA can help them understand how human eyes perceive different colors. This activity can be expanded by a biology teacher to include a discussion about leaf pigments and how their interaction with EMR determines the colors of leaves. Concepts covered in this IBA can be related to remote sensing science and how sensors on board satellites collect Earth Observation data.     

Practising Conservation Biology in a Virtual Rainforest World

The interdisciplinary science of conservation biology provides undergraduate biology students with the opportunity to connect the biological sciences with disciplines including economics, social science and philosophy to address challenging conservation issues. Because of its complexity, students do not often have the opportunity to practise conservation biology. To increase exposure to this science, this paper describes a virtual rainforest island on which students collect data related to forest carbon storage, while also confronting ethical issues. Students are asked to independently make decisions, collect data and explore the island before writing a research report with recommendations for the future management of the island’s forests. The ethics of decision-making are addressed in the students’ research reports and are reinforced through guided class discussion. Students will complete this activity with increased ethical awareness, as well as a better understanding of the challenges associated with the practise of conservation biology.     

Developing Inquiry through Activities that Integrate Fieldwork and Microcomputer-Based Technology

This article describes an activity that integrates both mathematics and science while inviting students to make connections between the two and learn significant concepts in a meaningful way. Students work within the real-world context of wildlife population scenarios to make predictions, test their hypotheses, and determine and construct graphs that best represent their data while learning the importance of animal habitats and the factors that impact wildlife populations in continually changing ecosystems. Discussion and experiences with students prior to this activity should ensure that they understand ideas about carrying capacity, components of habitat, and limiting factors.     

Arduino-Assisted robotic and coding applications in science teaching: Pulsimeter activity in compliance with the 5E learning model

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to design and develop an Arduino-assisted robotic and coding activity in compliance with the 5E learning model for middle school students to construct knowledge and realize learning in science teaching. The study was conducted on 6^th grade students attending a private middle school in Turkey in the second term of the 2018 and 2019 school year. Application of the designed activity was carried out in the science laboratory with the participation of 10 students who were the members of the STEM club. The activity was designed to teach the concept of pulse addressed within the subject of circulatory system in the science curriculum in line with the 5E learning model. With this activity developed, systematic contraction and relaxation movements of the heart while working were modeled through robotics and coding. In addition, through this activity, it was intended to introduce the students to coding, to improve their attitudes towards technology, to develop their information processing skills and to help them to relate the concept of pulse to daily life. In this way, the students were provided with opportunities to experience Arduino-assisted robotic and coding applications and to integrate such applications into their daily life.     

Make an Earthquake: Ground Shaking!

The main purposes of this activity are to help students explore possible factors affecting the extent of the damage of earthquakes and learn the ways to reduce earthquake damages. In these inquiry-based activities, students have opportunities to develop science process skills and to build an understanding of the relationship among science, technology, and society as recommended in the National Science Education Standards.     

Ciliary function of the frog oro-pharyngeal epithelium

Summary The palate epithelium of the frog was examined by scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy and high speed cine micrography. The cilia remain stationary for much of the time in the end-of-effective stroke position. Each beat cycle begins with a forwardly-directed recovery stroke lasting about 60 ms, followed by an effective stroke towards the oesophagus lasting about 12 ms. Activity can often be correlated with the presence of mucus, which is carried as strands on the tips of the ciliary effective strokes whilst the recovery strokes move beneath the mucus. Coordination of ciliary activity was very variable; local antiplectic metachrony of the recovery strokes could almost always be seen, and on very active epithelia effective strokes were associated with approximately diaplectic waves (either to left or right), but any particular pattern of coordinated activity was transient and quickly transformed to another pattern. Beating and coordination of these short cilia were compared with those of cilia propelling water.     

Attitudes of Students at a Private Christian Liberal Arts University Toward the Teaching of Evolution

Students at private Christian colleges tend to have a viewpoint that incorporates faith and belief in God. Whether due to misconceptions about evolution, lack of knowledge of the nature of science, or belief that their faith cannot allow them to accept evolution, there tends to be a great deal of confusion about evolution. This study investigates the attitudes toward evolution of students at a small Christian liberal arts university located in east Texas (East Texas Baptist University, ETBU) and how they would feel most comfortable being approached about evolution in the college science classroom. The majority of students at ETBU are from either Texas or Louisiana. In high school, both states require at least one science course to be taken and evolution to be taught at some level of understanding. Students show a fair understanding that science includes only naturalistic explanations . However, a greater number of science courses and maturity level of the student resulted in significant differences (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.002, respectively) in the understanding of science. Nevertheless, there was a general assertion that God should be included in the definition of science by the majority of students (64.4%), indicating a misunderstanding of the nature of science. Students responded that they would be most comfortable with being approached in the classroom about evolution through the presentation of the science supporting evolution (19.6%), and being shown how creationism and intelligent design are not science (29.8%). A number of students responded that the professor should accept creationism and intelligent design as science and teach them as such (38.2%). This paper will present methods to address students that respond to evolution in this manner.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AND RELIGION

Belief in creationism and intelligent design is widespread and gaining significance in a number of countries. This article examines the characteristics of science and of religions and the possible relationship between science and religion. I argue that creationism is sometimes best seen not as a misconception but as a worldview. In such instances, the most to which a science educator (whether in school, college or university) can normally aspire is to ensure that students with creationist beliefs understand the scientific position. In the short term, the scientific worldview is unlikely to supplant a creationist one for students who are firm creationists. We can help students to find their evolutionary biology courses interesting and intellectually challenging without their being threatening. Effective teaching in this area can help students not only learn about the theory of evolution but better appreciate the way science is done, the procedures by which scientific knowledge accumulates, the limitations of science, and the ways in which scientific knowledge differs from other forms of knowledge.     

The use of multiple tools for teaching medical biochemistry

In this work, we describe the use of several strategies employing the philosophies of active learning and problem-based learning (PBL) that may be used to improve the teaching of metabolic biochemistry to medical and nutritional undergraduate students. The main activities are as follows: 1) a seminar/poster system in a mini-congress format (using topics of applied biochemistry); 2) a true/false applied biochemistry exam (written by peer tutors); 3) a 9-h exam on metabolism (based in real publications); 4) the Advanced Biochemistry course (directed to peer tutors, where students learn how to read and criticize real medical papers); 5) experiments about nutrition and metabolism, using students as volunteers, and about free radicals (real science for students); 6) the BioBio blog (taking advantage of the "web age," this enhances out of class exchanges of information between the professor, students, and peer tutors); 7) student lectures on public health issues and metabolic disorders directed to the community and lay people; and 8) the BioBio quiz show. The main objective of these activities is to provide students with a more practical and interesting approach to biochemistry, such as the application of theoretical knowledge to real situations (diseases, experiments, media information, and scientific discoveries). In addition, we emphasize the importance of peer tutor activities for optimized learning of both students and peer tutors, the importance of a closer interaction between students and teaching staff, and the necessity to initiate students precociously in two broad fields of medical activity: "real" basic science and contact with the public (also helping students--future doctors and nutritionists--to be able to communicate with lay people). Most activities were evaluated by the students through written questionnaires and informal conversations, along various semesters, indicating good acceptance and approval of these methods. Good student scores in the biochemistry exams and seminars indicated that these activities are also working as valid educational tools.     

Perspective: Teaching evolution in higher education

Abstract.— In the past decade, the academic community has increased considerably its activity concerning the teaching and learning of evolution. Despite such beneficial activity, the state of public understanding of evolution is considered woefully lacking by most researchers and educators. This lack of understanding affects evolution/science literacy, research, and academia in general. Not only does the general public lack an understanding of evolution but so does a considerable proportion of college graduates. However, it is not just evolutionary concepts that students do not retain. In general, college students retain little of what they supposedly have learned. Worse yet, it is not just students who have avoided science and math who fail to retain fundamental science concepts. Students who have had extensive secondary-level and college courses in science have similar deficits. We examine these issues and explore what distinguishes effective pedagogy from ineffective pedagogy in higher education in general and evolution education in particular. The fundamental problem of students' prior conceptions is considered and why prior conceptions often underpin students' misunderstanding of the evolutionary concepts being taught. These conceptions can often be discovered and addressed. We also attend to concerns about coverage of course content and the influence of religious beliefs, and provide helpful strategies to improve college-level teaching of evolution.     

The effects of low water contents on physiological activities of seeds

Physiological activity changes in seeds when water content is changed from 0 to 40%. The limited metabolism of dry seeds allows for studies of the role of water in the biochemical reactions of living systems. At very low water contents, seeds exhibit limited biochemical activity, however light reactions and some oxidative processes are possible. As water content is increased, enzymatic reactions are increasingly facilitated. At moisture contents of about 24% mitochondrial electron transport is detectable. Changes in the physiological activity of seeds occur at discrete moisture levels that are reflective of discrete changes in the thermodynamic properties of water.     

Statistical Confusion Among Graduate Students: Sickness or Symptom?

Abstract: Statistics is one of the most important yet difficult subjects for many ecology and wildlife graduate students to learn. Insufficient knowledge about how to conduct quality science and the ongoing debate about the relative value of competing statistical ideologies contribute to uncertainties among graduate students regarding which statistical tests are most appropriate. Herein, we argue that increased education of the available statistical tests alone is unlikely to ameliorate the problem. Instead, we suggest that statistical uncertainties among graduate students are a secondary symptom of a larger problem. We believe the root cause lies in the lack of education on how to conduct science as an integrated process from hypothesis creation through statistical analysis. We argue that if students are taught to think about how each step of the process will affect all other steps, many statistical uncertainties will be avoided.     

In the shadow of the Moon,what type of solar eclipse will we see?

Solar eclipses occur several times a year, but most people will be lucky if they see one total solar eclipse in their lifetime. There are two upcoming total solar eclipses that can be seen from different parts of the United States (August 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024), and they provide teachers with an amazing opportunity to engage students with a remarkable astronomical event. We summarize the science behind eclipses and describe an inexpensive activity for students from third grade up through middle school that will let them use models to see the differences between total, annular, and partial solar eclipses. The activity lets students explore why, during a solar eclipse, people in different areas will see different types of eclipses. The activity can be used as a way to get students excited about astronomy and the upcoming eclipses. We also give ideas for ways that teachers can engage their students during the eclipses.