Approximately one-third of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) reportedly lose skills within the first 3 years, yet a causal mechanism remains elusive. Considering evidence of strong genetic effects for ASD and findings that distinct phenotypes in ASD associate with specific genetic events, we examined rates of parent-reported regression…

Although we can support Heyes' call for more research on mechanisms, we disagree that the problem has been ignored as Heyes suggests. We also doubt that basic learning mechanisms are alone sufficient to account for the broad range of findings in the selective social learning literature. Although phylogenetically shared learning mechanisms must…

Naturalists enrich our scientific understanding of biodiversity. However, just as countries have fallen behind on commitments to provide biodiversity conservation funding, so has the focus of life science stayed arm's length. The purpose of this article is to consider why biodiversity should be the center of life sciences education and how…

While expository texts are an efficient and dominant genre used by science teachers in the United States, they generally lack justification for their claims and fail to reflect science as practice. In contrast, epistemically considerate texts detail specific scientific experiments, providing the reader insight into the methods and data of a…

Empathy and executive functions (EFs) are multimodal constructs that enable individuals to cope with their environment. Both abilities develop throughout childhood and are known to contribute to social behavior and academic performance in young adolescents. Notably, mentalizing and EF activate shared frontotemporal brain areas, which in previous…

The use of digital technologies in teaching and learning has proven to be effective in aiding students' understanding of difficult concepts. Hence this study sought to find the effectiveness of ICT in teaching concepts of genetics which have been indicated as one of the biology concepts Ghanaian senior high school students find challenging. The…

This study aimed to investigate research trends related to socio-scientific issues (SSI). The SSI articles analysed were from highest-rating five science education journals with the highest impact ratings, published between 2011 and 2022, including "Science Education" [SE], "Journal of Research in Science Teaching" [JRST],…

The ability to connect key concepts of biochemistry with clinical presentations is essential for the development of clinical reasoning skills and adaptive expertise in medical trainees. To support the integration of foundational and clinical sciences in our undergraduate health science curricula, we developed a small group active learning exercise…

The effective and responsible educational application of ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools constitutes an active area of exploration. This study describes and assesses the implementation of a structured, GenAI-assisted scientific essay writing assignment in nucleic acid biochemistry. Briefly, students created,…

Purpose: The principal aim of the research was to develop Interactive Mobile Learning Modules (IMLM) as an approach to innovative teaching practices in online distance education. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed educational action research, using a quasi-experimental design catering to ninth-grade students (N = 104) attending a…

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the need to reliably detect the presence of viral genomes in human clinical samples. The most accurate viral tests involve the use of qPCR. Thus, it is important for students to understand the mechanism to detect viral genomes by qPCR including critical qPCR controls and how to properly interpret qPCR data.…

By adulthood, most males with fragile X syndrome (FXS) require support to navigate day-to-day settings. The present study cross-sectionally: (1) characterized the profile of daily living skills in males with FXS and (2) examined associated participant characteristics (i.e., fragile X mental retardation protein [FMRP] expression, nonverbal…

The speed of development of biotechnology within agriculture, industry, and medicine has changed our lives, and we need a biotechnological literacy to understand it. This implies that teachers in primary schools need to be biotechnologically literate in order to educate future generations. The aim of this study was to investigate Swedish…

Many biology students struggle to learn about the process of meiosis and have particular difficulty understanding the molecular basis of crossing over and the importance of homologous pairing for proper segregation. To help students overcome these challenges, we designed an activity that uses a newly developed Chromosome Connections Kit® from 3-D…

Teachers are highly reliant on textbooks for teaching. In the Republic of Korea, science textbooks help students to understand scientific terms through inquiry activities. However, there is a lack of analysis on whether the inquiry activities suggested in these textbooks appropriately cover the terms included in the main text. Therefore, this…