Reviews six science books for children, two on the human body, two on plants, one on wolves, and one on zoology. (AEA)

Focuses on the botanical publications of two 18th-century English women writers, Elizabeth Blackwell and Priscilla Bell Wakefield. Analyzes their books. Indicates that they contribute new perspectives and techniques to the historical tradition of botanical writing and illustrating and exhibit modern techniques for effective technical…

Identifies a plant species found in California that is probably related to a now extinct continental ancestor of a species found on the Hawaiian Islands. Discussed are the implications about how plants worldwide came to be where they are. (KR)

Discusses botanical literature used in a biology course for nonmajors. (JRH)

Describes how seeds contain the information of both the past and future of the world's plants. (CCM)

Presents five suggestions for using sunflowers to teach elementary students. The ideas include: setting up an exploration table and keeping journals about the plant; taking sunflower measurements and making predictions; reading "Camille and the Sunflowers"; creating sunflower still-lifes; and doing sunflower seed math. A list of…

Makes the case that, contrary to popular belief, Mendel's famous paper about plant breeding announced no major findings. Reports on the paper's rediscovery as a result of a priority dispute between de Vries and Correns. (Author/MM)

Food, medicine, clothing--much of what people encounter every day comes from plants or plant products. However, plants often do not get as much attention in the K-12 curriculum as they deserve. Because of the essential role plants play in peoples lives, it is important to include standards-based plant units in the elementary science curriculum.…

Reconstructing phylogenies from nucleotide sequences is a challenge for students because it strongly depends on evolutionary models and computer tools that are frequently updated. We present here an inquiry-based course aimed at learning how to trace a phylogeny based on sequences existing in public databases. Computer tools are freely available…

This study investigates how peer assessment can help students to learn about photosynthesis in a "high attaining," year nine class in a UK 11-18 comprehensive school. There is limited research on how peer assessment can influence the learning of "high attaining students"; most existing research focuses on how formative…

We report on the development of a middle school life sciences inquiry module, Sensing the Environment. This "data-enriched" inquiry module includes a series of activities exploring the nature of science, photosynthesis, transpiration, and natural selection, which culminates in students' querying authentic environmental data to support a scientific…

The authors engaged in an education experiment to determine if the integration of lab and lecture activities in zoology and botany proved beneficial to student learning and motivation toward biology. Their results revealed that this strategy positively influenced students' academic achievement, conceptual understanding, and ability to apply…

This paper describes an easy experiment to study the absorption and action spectrum of photosynthesis, as well as the inhibition by heat, high light intensity and the presence of the herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) on the photosynthetic process. The method involves measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence emitted by intact…

By following their wonderful ideas or critical exploration, three eighth graders learned how to do traditional Chinese painting, which is taught by copying old masters' work from the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The standard manual, which most learners have been using for these three hundred years, is the "Mustard Seed Garden Manual of…

First year students' academic performance in three Life Science courses (Botany, Zoology and Bioscience) was compared. Pass rates, as well as the means and distributions of final marks were analysed. Of the three components (coursework, practical and theory examinations) contributing to the final mark of each course, students performed best in the…