Explains how to use galvanotaxis and mutagenesis experiments to study Paramecium's swimming behaviors and ion channel functions. (YDS)

Describes an activity in which students are introduced to the concept of food webs through a role-playing tag game. (Author/CCM)

Describes an activity in which students map mockingbirds' territories and describe at least 10 common behaviors of these birds. (Author/CCM)

Presents a science activity that is a combination of guided-inquiry and open-inquiry in which students investigate crayfish. (YDS)

What capabilities are required for an organism to evince an "explicit" understanding of gaze as a mentalistic phenomenon? One possibility is that mentalistic interpretations of gaze, like concepts of unseen, supernatural beings, are culturally-specific concepts, acquired through cultural learning. These abstract concepts may either require a…

Given the prominence of sense of place in environmental education curricula, this paper aims to empirically examine and strengthen the conceptual understanding of sense of place. The results and implications are derived from research where five commercial fishermen and five organic farmers from the New England Seacoast region participated in a…

In biology education, the study of structure has traditionally involved the use of dissection. Animal-rights campaigners have caused biology educators and learners to question the necessity of dissections. This study reviews the research evidence for the efficacy of alternatives to dissection and then turns to research evidence on attitudes to…

Bulletin boards throughout schools in the month of January often have mittens, snowflakes, or penguins as decorations. This month's topic celebrates those tuxedo-clad birds that have come to symbolize winter and provides students with the opportunity to investigate adaptations that help penguins survive in their environment.

An oil spill occurs somewhere in the world almost every day of the year, and the consequences can be devastating. In this month's column, students explore the effects of oil spills on plants, animals, and the environment and investigate oil spill clean-up methods through a simulated oil spill. The activities described in this article give students…

Teachers love to have their students actively engaged with hands-on manipulatives in the pursuit of scientific investigation. However, students cannot develop an understanding of every important concept in science through their own investigation. There are points in their lessons that require outside information, usually through some type of text…

Nature journaling is a useful skill for science students, independent of whether they also consider themselves artists. A pencil and sketchbook can be carried anywhere to record ecological information in many ways. A traditional page in a nature journal may consist of quick studies of plant and animal life sketched out as rudimentary line drawings…

We report a practical class designed for undergraduate students of Marine Sciences as a part of the Genetics course. The class can also be included in undergraduate studies of food technology. The exercise was designed to emphasize the application of molecular biology techniques to fish species authentication and traceability. After a simple and…

Previous studies have demonstrated the sensitivity of chimpanzees to facial configurations. Three studies further these findings by showing this sensitivity to be specific to second-order relational properties. In humans, this type of configural processing requires prolonged experience and enables subordinate-level discriminations of many…

Concern about a possible bird flu pandemic has grown in the medical community with the spread of the avian flu virus around the globe. Health officials say there is no immediate threat but add that an influenza pandemic occurs every 30 to 40 years, and prudence demands planning now. That planning will increasingly involve local school officials,…

The present study examined spatial learning in goldfish using a new apparatus that was an open-field circular pool with latticed holes. The subjects were motivated to reach the baited hole. We examined gustatory cues, intramaze cues, the possibility that the subject could see the food, etc. In Experiment 1, the position of the baited hole was…