Recently added articles from Journal of College Science Teaching:
Parting shot.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)(Brief article)
Jul 01, 2009 ... The Hubble community bids farewell to the soon-to-be decommissioned Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. In tribute to Hubble's longest-running optical camera, a planetary nebula has been imaged as WFPC2's final "pretty picture." This planetary nebula ...
Light speed ahead?(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
Jul 01, 2009 ... Can traveling at warp speed ever become a reality? Two Baylor University physicists believe they have an idea that can turn traveling at the speed of light from science fiction to science, and their idea does not break any laws of physics. Dr. Gerald Cleaver, associate professor ...
Immune system has legs.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
Jul 01, 2009 ... How do white blood cells get to the site of infection or injury? They must crawl swiftly along the lining of the blood vessel--gripping it tightly to avoid being swept away in the blood flow--all the while searching for temporary "road signs" made of special adhesion molecules that let ...
Experimental population genetics in the introductory genetics laboratory using Drosophila as a model organism.(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Population genetics is the interface of ecology and evolution. Historical and recent events (e.g., gene flow, population declines or expansions, selection, speciation) can be inferred from present allele frequencies and genetic variation. Labs ...
Introducing scientific writing to students early in their academic careers.(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ability to effectively convey scientific concepts through writing is vital for the broad dissemination of new scientific discoveries. Recently, training of undergraduates in scientific writing has been increasingly emphasized in a variety of fields ...
Student-centered learning in an Earth science, preservice, teacher-education course.(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Elementary education majors do not generally have the best attitudes toward science. In a poll of 70 students taken at the beginning of the semester for the last three semesters, 27 liked science, 23 did not, and 20 did some of the time. An ...
Connecting mathematics and science: a learning community that helps math-phobic students.
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Five years ago, a survey of first-year students at a small liberal arts college in Maine revealed some very interesting results. The survey revealed that students really liked biology courses, yet they did not like mathematics courses. This was a cause of ...
Taking ownership of learning in a large class: group projects and a mini-conference.(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Helping students take ownership of their learning is often a challenge in a large lecture course. Though research suggests that students must take an active role in knowledge construction to achieve true understanding (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking 2000), ...
Current research: summer reading suggestions.(Recommended readings)
Jul 01, 2009 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] To supplement your summer reading, NSTA's affiliates would like to suggest some recent articles on education research. These articles cover a variety of topics that include diversity, technology, and science teacher retention. More importantly, you do not ...
And the winners are ... award-winning science books of 2008.
Jul 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most people are probably familiar with major literary awards such as the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pulitzer Prizes, National Book Awards, Booker Prizes, and the Caldecott and Newbery awards for children's literature. Unfortunately, few of the books that ...
Cats have nine lives, but only one liver: the effects of acetaminophen.(CASE STUDY)
Jul 01, 2009; ... One goal of undergraduate organic chemistry is to train students so that they can write mechanisms for reactions using curved arrows to indicate the flow of electrons. It is a challenge to motivate students to learn how to write reaction mechanisms. They often question the need for such ...
Scaffolding the unbelievable: understanding light and vision.(FAVORITE DEMONSTRATION)
Jul 01, 2009; ... Many of my students profess that they understand the law of reflection and can "prove" it by shining a light beam toward a mirror and demonstrating that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection (Meltzer and Espinoza 1997). My students also tell me that they understand vision: ...
Bewilderment disorder.(Short story)
Jul 01, 2009; ... Once upon a time in a land far from here, there lived a farmer's son. Stu was a hard-working and pleasant lad, always willing to put his shoulder against any project. He was cheerful, friendly, strong, and obedient, happy to do as he was asked by his parents, and by the benign (and ...
Creating hybrid communities using inquiry as professional development for college science faculty.(RESEARCH and TEACHING)(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... The Center for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Education (CSMEE) has suggested that science faculty encourage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to think seriously about quality teaching of undergraduates. The center also recommends "inquiry-based and interdisciplinary ...
Student learning in a project-based molecular biology course.(RESEARCH and TEACHING)(Report)
Jul 01, 2009; ... Have you ever undertaken a major curriculum reform and later wondered whether it was worth the effort? This report seeks to answer that question for a molecular biology course by using long-term learning assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative, inquiry-based curriculum ....
Wearing too many hats.(SCST: SOCIETY FOR COLLEGE SCIENCE TEACHERS)
Jul 01, 2009; ... Writing this column has taken me several starts--partly because I am new to the art of writing an editorial column and wasn't really sure what direction to take it, and partly because every time I start writing (including writing the first two sentences) I am inevitably interrupted. After ...
A curious thing happened on the way to constructivism ...(POINT OF VIEW)
Jul 01, 2009; ... I worked closely with four graduate teaching assistants to design and deliver a biology laboratory program based on constructivist learning theory, specifically the incorporation of cooperative learning, guided-inquiry, and long-term group investigations (Brooks and Brooks 1993; NRC 2000) ....
The sleeping brain.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
Mar 01, 2009 ... In research published this week in Neuron, Marcos Frank, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, postdoctoral researcher Sara Aton, and colleagues describe for the first time how cellular changes in the sleeping brain promote the formation ...
Unrusted iron in the ocean.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
Mar 01, 2009 ... Iron dust, the gold of the oceans and rarest nutrient for most marine life, can be washed down by rivers or blown out to sea or--a surprising new study finds--float up from the sea floor. The discovery, published online in Nature Geoscience, connects life at the surface to ...
Designing peer review for pedagogical success: what can we learn from professional science?
Mar 01, 2009; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Peer review takes place in a variety of ways in college science, ranging from face-to-face in the classroom to anonymously over the internet. Goals include improving students' writing, deepening their conceptual understandings, and increasing their ...