Emphasizes discoveries at the frontiers of science. Includes an instructional poster illustrating the hydrothermal vent communities on the deep ocean floor. Describes research activities related to the new discipline of astrobiology, a multidisciplinary approach to studying the emergence of life in the universe. Research activities include the…

Discusses opportunities and challenges for the field of evolutionary biology, particularly in areas related to molecular genetic technologies, the environment, biodiversity, and public education. (Author/KHR)

The relationship between Eastern and Western languages is explored. Possible origins and the spread of language over the Eurasian land mass are discussed. (CW)

Major differences between plants and animals are presented. Discussed are autotrophs and heterotrophs, plant growth and development, gas exchange, the evolution of plants, ecosystem components, the alleged inferiority of plants, and fungi. (CW)

Summarizes recent findings that help in understanding how evolution has brought about the diversity of plant life that presently exists. Discusses basic concepts of evolution, diversity and classification, the three-line hypothesis of plant evolution, the origin of fungi, and the geologic time table. Included are 31 references. (CW)

Presented is a discussion of recent evidence on the evolution of human forms on earth gathered and evaluated using mitochondrial DNA techniques. Theories regarding the possibility that a common female ancestor existed in Africa about 200,000 years ago are discussed. A list of teaching aids is provided. (CW)

People for the American Way, a civil liberties organization that monitors censorship, found fundamentalists more active, better organized, more emboldened, and more sophisticated in their censorship attacks. They are increasingly intimidating school boards, and their focused harassment has increasingly frightened publishers into removing…

Demonstrates the magnitude of an extinction event by using a simulation to illustrate the massive nature of the loss of a family and the number of species that perish to achieve that result. (RT)

Summarizes the development of the Earth's age calculation including the work of Archbishop Ussher, James Hutton, Lord Kelvin, Ernest Rutherford, Bertram Boltwood, and Arthur Holmes. Describes the changes in radioisotope dating methods. (YP)

Undergraduates (n=25) participated in a study designed to describe and evaluate the use of concept mapping in teaching a college course on evolution; determine whether students' concept maps reveal "critical junctures" in learning as the course unfolds; and assess the impact of concept mapping on students' study practices and on…

The presentations of evolutionary theory of 13 prominent secondary school biology textbooks (3 Chinese, 8 American, and 2 Soviet) were examined using the methods of content analysis. Pronounced differences in topic emphasis among the 13 textbooks and systematic trends between countries are discussed. (Author/ZWH)

Contrasts data gathered regarding how textbooks deal with natural selection and teacher's ability to explore pupils' ideas related to it with an approach seeking to develop the pupils' capacity to explain biological change using the model of natural selection. Results show the approach is often characterized by superficial handling of key ideas…

Provides both the pedagogic and scientific thinking that guided the construction of a classroom role play called "The Great Evolution Debate," which is about the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species." Provides tentative findings regarding learning from role playing. (ZWH)

This paper examines how and why individuals with mental retardation were seen as a public menace between 1900 and 1920. Degenerationism is presented as a phenomenon that supports God's creation of humans in a civilized state, that explains human pathology as a medical/psychiatric degeneracy, and that characterizes degenerates as atavistic…

A historically rich teaching intervention was developed for biological evolution with the intent of promoting a conceptual change from students' initial understanding to a more Darwinian understanding. Results from evaluation of the intervention indicate promise in the use of historical materials in conjunction with a conceptual change strategy.…