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This paper studies how students justify everyday, scientific, and pseudo-scientific propositions, and whether they recognize the type of justifications they use. For this purpose, we work with 54 students in the 3rd year of compulsory secondary education in the subject of biology and geology, in which two learning activities designed to work on the evaluation of propositions are implemented. The results provide information on the students' preference for using habits and explanations in the evaluation of everyday propositions, and expert testimony and personality traits in the evaluation of scientific and pseudoscientific propositions, as well as the inability to acknowledge explanations and personality traits. These results provide us with useful background for reflecting on how to work on epistemic cognition in the classroom and thus broaden the conceptual frameworks on epistemic cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the application of paper analogies which enhance biology teaching. Significance of analogies as learning tools; Construction of a biochemical paper models; Presentation of protein papergrams; Formation of a paper model of early brain development; Creation of a paper 3-D model of a eukaryotic cell.

This paper compares and analyzes the questions and problems of Genetics raised between 2010 and 2019) in the university entrance exams of four autonomous communities (Andalucia, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Murcia). After analyzing the 160 tests collected, it is found that there are differences between the communities both in the structure of the tests, the presence or not of certain contents and their evaluations in the correction. In relation to Genetics problems, differences between communities are also appreciated and certain aspects that can be improved from the didactic point of view are maintained. The need to modify the entrance exams is raised according to the desirable equity of the same. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on the topics related to science education which include the application of nanotechnology and ethics on college courses' general education, the issue regarding the scientific method curriculum development, and the relevance of student response system and its teaching application in biology.

This study examined whether publication outcome was affected by the gender of author, handling associate editor (AE), or reviewer, and whether there was gender bias in reviewer selection, in the journal Reproduction. Analyses were carried out on 4289 original research manuscripts submitted to the journal between 2007 and 2019. Both female and male AEs appointed more male reviewers than female reviewers, but female AEs were significantly more likely to appoint female reviewers than male AEs were (p < 0.001). When examining the gender of either first or last author manuscripts, those with female authors that were reviewed by female reviewers received better scores than those with male authors that were reviewed by female reviewers (p < 0.05): where the reviewer was male, no such effect was observed. Acceptance rates of manuscripts were similar for both female and male authors, whether first or last, regardless of AE gender. Overall, there was no significant correlation between gender of first or last author, or of AE, on the likelihood of acceptance of a research paper. These data suggest no bias against female authors during the peer review process in this reproductive biology journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designed for an introductory nonmajors biology course, this case study presents students with a series of short news stories describing a scientific study of cell-phone use and its health effects. Students read the news stories and then the scientific paper they are based on, comparing the information presented by the news media to the information contained in the original research article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just a decade ago Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action was released, catalyzing several initiatives to transform undergraduate life sciences education. Among these was the Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education (PULSE), a national organization commissioned to increase the adoption of Vision and Change recommendations within academic life sciences departments. PULSE activities have been designed based on the recognition that life sciences departments and faculty are embedded within institutions of higher education which, similar to other large organizations, are complex systems composed of multiple, interconnected subsystems. The organizational change research suggests that effecting large-scale changes (e.g., undergraduate STEM education transformation) may be facilitated by applying systems thinking to change efforts. In this paper we introduce the approach of systems thinking as a professional development tool to empower individual STEM faculty to effect department-level transformation. We briefly describe a professional development experience designed to increase life sciences faculty members' understanding of systems thinking, present evidence that faculty applied a systems thinking approach to initiate department-level change, and discuss the degree to which transformation efforts were perceived to be successful. Though focused on faculty in the life sciences, our findings are broadly transferable to other efforts seeking to effect change in undergraduate STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We apply the theory of learning to physically renormalizable systems in an attempt to outline a theory of biological evolution, including the origin of life, as multilevel learning. We formulate seven fundamental principles of evolution that appear to be necessary and sufficient to render a universe observable and show that they entail the major features of biological evolution, including replication and natural selection. It is shown that these cornerstone phenomena of biology emerge from the fundamental features of learning dynamics such as the existence of a loss function, which is minimized during learning. We then sketch the theory of evolution using the mathematical framework of neural networks, which provides for detailed analysis of evolutionary phenomena. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed theoretical framework, we derive a generalized version of the Central Dogma of molecular biology by analyzing the flow of information during learning (back propagation) and predicting (forward propagation) the environment by evolving organisms. The more complex evolutionary phenomena, such as major transitions in evolution (in particular, the origin of life), have to be analyzed in the thermodynamic limit, which is described in detail in the paper by Vanchurin et al. [V. Vanchurin, Y. I. Wolf, E. V. Koonin, M. I. Katsnelson, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 119, 10.1073/ pnas.2120042119 (2022)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What knowledge do you need to be an effective instructor? One key type of knowledge is pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which includes awareness of how students are likely to think about a topic and where they will struggle as they learn that topic. We propose PCK as a valuable framework for reflecting on your own knowledge for teaching topics in evolution. We have created a searchable file that uses PCK as a framework to organize over 400 peer-reviewed papers from 40+ journals to give you better access to relevant resources for teaching evolution to undergraduates and advanced high school students. None of us have time to read 400 papers to inform our teaching, so we provide tips to maximize your use of this collective knowledge in the time you have available. We have written these to be useful to instructors across career stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although John Scopes and his famous "Monkey Trial" strongly influenced the ongoing evolution-creationism controversy, relatively little is known about Scopes's post-trial life. Moreover, many questions about his trial remain unanswered (e.g., did he actually teach evolution in Dayton?). This paper answers these questions with new information from a previously ignored source - his family and friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper was to give a demonstration of the primary materials and methods we used in learning communities (LCs) for biology students. The LCs were based on the performance pyramid theoretical structure. The objectives were to show the pedagogical links biological and mathematical concepts through co-curricular projects; assess students' perceptions of the performance pyramid model, and demonstrate a method for assessing LC efficacy directly related to General Biology I and College Algebra course content. Forty-eight students were recruited into the LCs with 39 students completing the LCs. The participants completed co-curricular projects that linked biology and mathematics course content with guidance from a peer leader. The LC participants completed the Augmented Student Support Needs Scale (SSNS-A) to assess perceptions of performance pyramid elements, as well as separate biology and mathematics quizzes related to their General Biology I and College Algebra courses, respectively. It was found that all co-curricular projects had biology and mathematics learning objective and outcomes. The SSNS-A had adequate internal consistency for appraising multiple aspects of the performance pyramid in general. However, some aspects and student responses might need more clarification. The quizzes had adequate internal consistency and LC students had large gains in biology (d = 1.88) and mathematics (d = 2.62) knowledge and skills from the beginning to end of their General Biology I and College Algebra courses. Promising aspects and limitations the LC activities and assessments are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the author's use of technology in teaching biology. Need for applying technology in order to teach biology better; Exploration of a number of technology applications; Opportunities offered by technology to educators; Caveats to keep in mind when deciding on technology applications.

This is a PLOS Computational Biology Education paper. The idea that the brain functions so as to minimize certain costs pervades theoretical neuroscience. Because a cost function by itself does not predict how the brain finds its minima, additional assumptions about the optimization method need to be made to predict the dynamics of physiological quantities. In this context, steepest descent (also called gradient descent) is often suggested as an algorithmic principle of optimization potentially implemented by the brain. In practice, researchers often consider the vector of partial derivatives as the gradient. However, the definition of the gradient and the notion of a steepest direction depend on the choice of a metric. Because the choice of the metric involves a large number of degrees of freedom, the predictive power of models that are based on gradient descent must be called into question, unless there are strong constraints on the choice of the metric. Here, we provide a didactic review of the mathematics of gradient descent, illustrate common pitfalls of using gradient descent as a principle of brain function with examples from the literature, and propose ways forward to constrain the metric. Author summary: A good skier may choose to follow the steepest direction to move as quickly as possible from the mountain peak to the base. Steepest descent in an abstract sense is also an appealing idea to describe adaptation and learning in the brain. For example, a scientist may hypothesize that synaptic or neuronal variables change in the direction of steepest descent in an abstract error landscape during learning of a new task or memorization of a new concept. There is, however, a pitfall in this reasoning: a multitude of steepest directions exists for any abstract error landscape because the steepest direction depends on how angles are measured, and it may be unclear how angles should be measured. Many scientists are taught that the steepest direction can be found by computing the vector of partial derivatives. But the vector of partial derivatives is equal to the steepest direction only if the angles in the abstract space are measured in a particular way. In this article, we provide a didactic review of the mathematics of finding steepest directions in abstract spaces, illustrate the pitfalls with examples from the neuroscience literature, and propose guidelines to constrain the way angles are measured in these spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-literacy (knowledge of natural history, and direct observation of the natural world and the organisms it contains) is critical to a holistic understanding of biology. Many undergraduate biology students lack this knowledge and experience, often because of a lack of engagement with the environmental science curriculum. The effectiveness of service learning is well established, but few examples of service-learning projects in the context of natural history education have been published. We describe how we used best practices for the development of a field-based service-learning project in a college-level natural history course. The project was built around established learning goals and was conducted through a partnership with a local state park. Students worked in groups to conduct bird biodiversity surveys and prepared a printed bird-watching guide, which was presented to park staff. The project was linked to a series of assignments intended to maximize academic and personal growth, including a project plan, progress report, and reflection paper. Students reported increased engagement in the course curriculum and an increased sense of the relevance of the course content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central dogma of molecular biology is key to understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype, although it remains a challenging concept to teach and learn. We describe an activity sequence that engages high school students directly in modeling the major processes of protein synthesis using the major components of translation. Students use a simple system of codes to generate paper chains, allowing them to learn why codons are three nucleotides in length, the purpose of start and stop codons, the importance of the promoter region, and how to use the genetic code. Furthermore, students actively derive solutions to the problems that cells face during translation, make connections between genotype and phenotype, and begin to recognize the results of mutations. This introductory activity can be used as an interactive means to support students as they learn the details of translation and molecular genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College instructors often teach scientific thinking by asking students to review and analyze a primary research article. The main purpose of this study was to explore how classroom response systems (CRS) could help impact the quality of written analysis papers submitted for this assignment by students taking 100-level biology courses at a medium-sized suburban, two-year college in the northeastern United States. Students in all participating course sections received written instructions on five key elements of critical analysis (CA) to include in scientific study analysis papers. Classroom instruction on recognizing these key elements in primary research papers was provided either via CRS or via an instructor-facilitated classroom discussion enhanced by the same PowerPoint presentation. A rubric, designed specifically for this assignment, was validated prior to its use in this study. Fifty students participated in the study, and those who received the CRS intervention achieved significantly higher CA scores for identifying implications of study findings, while the group that received only written instructions achieved significantly higher CA scores for discussing the credibility of the references used by the authors in planning the critiqued study. The implications of this study are discussed along with ideas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous research in teaching biology shows that learning the theory of biological evolution is very complex. In this paper we present the theoretical foundations of a didactic proposal based on the modeling and metacognition on the epistemological obstacles in relation to the learning of this content. This proposal aimed at students to build a model of evolution by natural selection and allopatric speciation, while reflecting on the learning strategies used in this process and on the epistemological obstacles that make this work difficult. In addition to developing the fundamentals of the didactic proposal we offer some concrete examples of activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lab presented in this paper utilizes a proven four-step pedagogical framework (McLaughlin & Coyle, 2016) to redesign a classic Association of Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE) undergraduate lab (McLaughlin & McCain, 1999) into an authentic research experience on vertebrate fourchambered heart development and physiology. The model system is the chicken embryo. Through their research, students are also exposed to the embryonic anatomy and physiology of the vertebrate heart, the electrical circuitry of the developing heart, and the effects of pharmacological drugs on heart rate and contractility. Classical embryological micro-techniques, explantation of the embryo, surgical removal of the beating heart, isolation of the heart chambers, and more advanced tissue culture methods are also conducted. In this laboratory paradigm, students work in pairs to ask their own questions concerning the effects of two human cardiovascular drugs, denopamine? and acebutolol? on both in vivo and in vitro chicken embryonic heart rate and contractility, develop testable hypotheses based on information gathered from relevant scientific literature, devise and carry out a controlled experiment, and present the data in a professional scientific manner pertaining to a topic of clinical significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Europe, language policies of recent years established different models of bilingual education, also known as "Content and Language Integrated Learning" (CLIL), in order to promote multilingualism. The study presented in this paper focuses on a bilingual project (English-German) in the subject of Biology in Germany. Commonly, two types of bilingual concepts in schools can be distinguished, namely bilingual branches and modules. Contrary to branches, bilingual modules include a whole class with all its students and do not choose participants based on marks and abilities. The modular concept comprises a unit of 10 to 14 lessons on a specific topic being taught in a foreign language, in this case English. The study's underlying question is whether motivation for English and/or Biology can be increased for certain subgroups of students due to participation in bilingual modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first provides a bird's-eye view of the topics involved in teaching undergraduate courses in bioinformatics. It then presents constructive suggestions on how to design such courses so that the subject can be introduced early in the undergraduate curriculum; that allows students to pursue a career in the field by taking few additional courses. This effort represents a first step in the design and implementation of a major in bioinformatics. The approach encourages an interaction among the faculty in biology and in computer science and paves the way for wider channels of communication which can benefit both computer scientists and biologists. Worth noting is the description of a project-oriented syllabus that has been used in a joint Brandeis–Wellesley course for the past years. This paper may also assist as a guide for further discussions on the teaching of bioinformatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present an educational innovation strategy that consists on the implementation of a virtual investigation project in biology. In university education, some lab practices are prohibitive due to high costs. For distance university education, there are few virtual educational resources that can be used instead. In this paper we share the experience of using the dose-response simulator 1.0. The simulator has been developed in our lab to explore the usability and the learning levels achieved by the students. An exploratory study was conducted with a group of students from the Research Methods I course of the Bachelor's degree biology program. The work corresponds to a virtual, structured, semi-closed type, guided by specialized teaching supervision. Two levels of knowledge were evaluated: the management of the program and the understanding of theoretical knowledge. 69.2% of the students stated that using the simulator was easy. According with Bloom's taxonomy, from 100 to 92.3% performed well in activities at the apply and analyze levels, and 76.9 to 61.5% at the synthesize level. 7.7% did not adapt at all. The results indicate a high level of student learning. Simulators are an alternative for teaching when lab practices are expensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the analysis of a questionnaire of the Representation of Content (ReCo, Loughran et al. 2004) so as to generate a map of the pedagogical content knowledge of the cell in five professionals of the biological area who work as biology teachers in secondary education Chile. The analysis will identify the relationships established between the domains of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)-Maps of the PCK and the didactic model of the participants. It is possible to identify similar and distant beliefs among participants, according to the PCK domains and their relationships. The results show that the PCK is specific to each professional, that the relationships between the component of PCK are mainly conceptual in the participants, that the constructivist didactic model is the least common and that the most widely shared beliefs among professionals are those related to the knowledge component of student understandings. The convenience of analyzing PCK maps as an element to guide actions that contribute to substantiate the performance of these professionals is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiencing the thrill of an original scientific discovery can be transformative to students unsure about becoming a scientist, yet few courses offer authentic research experiences. Increasingly, cutting-edge discoveries require an interdisciplinary approach not offered in current departmental-based courses. Here, we describe a one-semester, learning laboratory course on organismal biomechanics offered at our large research university that enables interdisciplinary teams of students from biology and engineering to grow intellectually, collaborate effectively, and make original discoveries. To attain this goal, we avoid traditional ''cookbook'' laboratories by training 20 students to use a dozen research stations. Teams of five students rotate to a new station each week where a professor, graduate student, and/or team member assists in the use of equipment, guides students through stages of critical thinking, encourages interdisciplinary collaboration, and moves them toward authentic discovery. Weekly discussion sections that involve the entire class offer exchange of discipline-specific knowledge, advice on experimental design, methods of collecting and analyzing data, a statistics primer, and best practices for writing and presenting scientific papers. The building of skills in concert with weekly guided inquiry facilitates original discovery via a final research project that can be presented at a national meeting or published in a scientific journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Systems biology research typically involves the integration and analysis of heterogeneous data types in order to model and predict biological processes. Researchers therefore require tools and resources to facilitate the sharing and integration of data, and for linking of data to systems biology models. There are a large number of public repositories for storing biological data of a particular type, for example transcriptomics or proteomics, and there are several model repositories. However, this silo-type storage of data and models is not conducive to systems biology investigations. Interdependencies between multiple omics datasets and between datasets and models are essential. Researchers require an environment that will allow the management and sharing of heterogeneous data and models in the context of the experiments which created them. Results: The SEEK is a suite of tools to support the management, sharing and exploration of data and models in systems biology. The SEEK platform provides an access-controlled, web-based environment for scientists to share and exchange data and models for day-to-day collaboration and for public dissemination. A plug-in architecture allows the linking of experiments, their protocols, data, models and results in a configurable system that is available 'off the shelf'. Tools to run model simulations, plot experimental data and assist with data annotation and standardisation combine to produce a collection of resources that support analysis as well as sharing. Underlying semantic web resources additionally extract and serve SEEK metadata in RDF (Resource Description Format). SEEK RDF enables rich semantic queries, both within SEEK and between related resources in the web of Linked Open Data. Conclusion: The SEEK platform has been adopted by many systems biology consortia across Europe. It is a data management environment that has a low barrier of uptake and provides rich resources for collaboration. This paper provides an update on the functions and features of the SEEK software, and describes the use of the SEEK in the SysMO consortium (Systems biology for Micro-organisms), and the VLN (virtual Liver Network), two large systems biology initiatives with different research aims and different scientific communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an activity that engages students in model-based reasoning, requiring them to predict the behavior of the trp and lac opérons under different environmental conditions. Students are presented six scenarios for the trp operon and five for the lac operon. In most of the scenarios, specific mutations have occurred in genetic elements of the system that alter the behavior from the norm. Students are also challenged to relate their understanding of operon behavior to the "Big Ideas" of homeostasis, evolution, information, interactions, and emergent properties. By using opérons to teach students to reason with models of complex systems and understand broad themes, we equip them with powerful skills and ideas that form a solid foundation for their future learning in biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how textbooks introduce infectious diseases and if the activities promote the development of scientific competencies in this topic. Eight textbooks widely used in 9th grade (14-15 years old) Biology and Geology teaching are analysed. The results show that the textbooks make reference to numerous diseases, although they do not focus on individual and relevant cases in our context. The models of infection are not connected with specific diseases. Activities requiring the memorization of concepts are more frequent than the application ones, being the scientific explanation of phenomena the main competency addressed in the last ones. One implication is the need to enhance tasks addressing socio-scientific controversies to promote critical thinking and the development of scientific practices by students in this science topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how DNA banding patterns in a gel can aid in the conviction or exoneration of suspects and be utilized for positive identification of biological fathers in paternity cases can be intimidating. In reality, the logistics and technology used in such cases are rather straightforward. This exercise is designed for use in high school environments as a stand-alone paper lab and as a primer to an actual wet-lab experience, if available. Upon conclusion of the experience, students will have confidence in understanding how DNA fingerprinting can constitute strong evidence in forensic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) generates reliable data. Its ability to characterize learning preference has been validated. However, the ILS has had very limited application in biology education. In 2009, students in an introductory biology laboratory completed the ILS. Overall academic performance (2009) was negatively associated with learning preference in two ways. As student preference to perceive information intuitively increased, the overall lab grade tended to decrease. Similarly, as student preference to understand information globally increased, the overall lab grade tended to decrease. To promote better academic performance by Intuitive and Global students, all students (2010) completed two mini-journal activities. The mini-journal approach to student laboratories models how scientists work: Students read a mini-journal article as the relevant literature, identify follow-up questions, design a simple experiment to answer one question, collect and interpret data, and present their work in the form of a scientific paper. In 2010, the negative associations between overall lab grades and student preferences to perceive information intuitively or to understand information globally were absent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students' ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central focus of current reforms in higher education. This study, part of a broader naturalistic research project, aims at developing a theoretical framework for conceptualizing different contexts for questioning, illustrating the application of the proposed framework (contextual questioning zones) and reflecting about some of the dimensions of teaching and learning, for overcoming some of the challenges that higher education institutions are facing presently. The discussion of two 'opposite' contexts of enquiry is based on qualitative data, gathered through close collaboration with four teachers of undergraduate biology at a Portuguese university. These teachers were observed during their 'daily activity' during an academic year. Data was also gathered by interviewing these teachers and 8 selected students, at the end of the year, and used to sustain the argumentation. The paper concludes with some reflections and suggestions to promote authentic enquiry-based learning experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introductory biology courses form a cornerstone of undergraduate instruction. However, the predominantly used lecture approach fails to produce higher-order biology learning. Research shows that active learning strategies can increase student learning, yet few biology instructors use all identified active learning strategies. In this paper, we present a framework to design biology instruction that incorporates all active learning strategies. We review active learning research in undergraduate biology courses, present a framework for organizing active learning strategies, and provide clear implications and future research for designing instruction in introductory undergraduate biology courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Positioning System (GPS) technology can be used to connect students to the natural world and improve their skills in observation, identification, and classification. Using GPS devices in the classroom increases student interest in science, encourages team-building skills, and improves biology content knowledge. Additionally, it helps educators meet the ISTE's Educational Technology Standards and the National Science Education Standards while increasing the environmental literacy of their students. This paper provides suggestions for utilizing GPS technology in student-led explorations of the local flora, as well as other innovative ideas for using these devices in science instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer science has become ubiquitous in many areas of biological research, yet most high school and even college students are unaware of this. As a result, many college biology majors graduate without adequate computational skills for contemporary fields of biology. The absence of a computational element in secondary school biology classrooms is of growing concern to the computational biology community and biology teachers who would like to acquaint their students with updated approaches in the discipline. We present a first attempt to correct this absence by introducing a computational biology element to teach genetic evolution into advanced biology classes in two local high schools. Our primary goal was to show students how computation is used in biology and why a basic understanding of computation is necessary for research in many fields of biology. This curriculum is intended to be taught by a computational biologist who has worked with a high school advanced biology teacher to adapt the unit for his/her classroom, but a motivated high school teacher comfortable with mathematics and computing may be able to teach this alone. In this paper, we present our curriculum, which takes into consideration the constraints of the required curriculum, and discuss our experiences teaching it. We describe the successes and challenges we encountered while bringing this unit to high school students, discuss how we addressed these challenges, and make suggestions for future versions of this curriculum.We believe that our curriculum can be a valuable seed for further development of computational activities aimed at high school biology students. Further, our experiences may be of value to others teaching computational biology at this level. Our curriculum can be obtained at http:// ecsite.cs.colorado.edu/?page_id=149#biology or by contacting the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to introduce and develop a teaching method and process that incorporates quick response (QR) codes and smartphones into field trips for biology classes. The teaching process using QR codes and smartphones consisted of four steps. The first step was the selection of a suitable field study site and identification of species at the site. For this study, a tidal mudflat in Korea was selected and 24 species were identified at the field site. The second step was the generation by the instructor of QR codes for the 24 species, construction of QR code sheets for the species, and installation of a "QR code decoding app" on students' smartphones. In step 3, students explored and identified species at the field study site using the QR code sheets and shared their results with classmates via a social network system (SNS). The final step was the presentation and discussion of results in follow-up classes. The teaching method developed for this study led to active classroom discussion via smartphone social-networking services. Besides detailing the "scan and learn" teaching method and process, the paper offers a quick checklist for teachers and simplified specifics for the creation of a customized and illustrative field-study guidebook that motivates students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we show the necessary guidelines to ensure the observation, in the Biology laboratory of compulsory secondary education, of antimicrobial capacity of some compounds, especially antibiotics, and their impact on the strengthening of science education on health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the guidelines to ensure the observation in the Biology laboratory of compulsory secondary education one of the resulting products of the glucose fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast, the partial study of its metabolism and the effect on the Biology discipline on the "Bachillerato" (A-level). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on an oral presentation delivered at the 89th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists in Fairbanks, Alaska on 25 June 2009, where I was honored to receive the Society's Joseph Grinnell Award for excellence in education in mammalogy. The motivation for the topic of my presentation was the many "bad" talks all of us have endured at scientific meetings and in other situations. As I do for undergraduate and graduate classes, rather than providing a list of seminar "dos" and "don'ts," I presented a practical demonstration of many of the "don'ts" I have observed and then attempted to present the same information incorporating as many of the "do's" as I could. In other words, I delivered a bad and then a good version of the same presentation. My goal was to provide the audience with advice that would be useful when presenting information about mammals to scientific colleagues and the general public (e.g., service clubs or school groups). Given that it is impossible to recreate aspects of my performance using the written word, my purpose here is to summarize my opinions about the key elements of good talks. The goal of a talk should be to maximize the likelihood that it will be perceived as interesting, thoughtful, and purposeful and that the key take-home message(s) will be understood and remembered. It is my strongly held belief, especially with the now essentially universal use of computer slideware (e.g., PowerPoint), that an opportunity exists to enhance the usefulness of oral presentations but a real risk of muddling them to the point where the intended message is lost. I also make some recommendations about how to avoid common pitfalls of using this software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I describe three activities that allow students to explore the ideas of evolution, natural selection, extinction, mass extinction, and rates of evolutionary change by engaging a simple model using paper, pens, chalk, and a chalkboard. As a culminating activity that supports expository writing in the sciences, the students write an essay on mass extinction. All activities are geared for high school biology and perhaps introductory college biology classes. With little modification, activities 1 and 2 can be used successfully in middle school and perhaps in the higher elementary grade levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclamen trochopteranthum O.Schwarz has a confusing history, having been identified in the last part of the 19th century and described as Cyclamen alpinum Sprenger. It remained known as C. alpinum until 1975, when it was described as C. trochopteranthum by Otto Schwarz. Cyclamen trochopteranthum is a species distributed in the southwestern part of Turkey, but the C. trochopteranthum described in 1975 is today describe again as Cyclamen alpinum. The seeds of this species were collected from red pine forests in the Gökbel-Dalyan area on May 3-7 and stored with and without capsules in incubators at 20 °C. Among the seeds that were sown 5-6 months later (October-November), the germination rate was 35% at 15 °C and 47% at 20 °C in October. Germination increased to 80% at 15 °C and 87% at 20 °C in November. The highest germination rate was observed in December (95%) and these seeds had been stored for 8 months. Seeds that were stored for 8 months (using different storage methods) were subjected to in vitro and in vivo germination tests at 15 °C and 20 °C. Seed storage method (in capsules and out of capsules) did not have a significant effect on in vitro germination in Murashige-Skoog medium, but storing seeds in capsules had a significant effect on germination on filter paper and in vivo (mixtures of peat, perlite, and sand). In darkness at 15 and 20 °C high germination rates were obtained, both in vitro and in vivo (in vitro at 15 and 20 °C, max. 95%; in vivo at 15 °C, max. 73%; at 20 °C, max. 93%); however, at 15 °C germination was faster (after the first 20 days at 15 °C, max. 95%; at 20 °C, 73%). The highest germination rate was obtained after 8-9 months of storage (in vitro average, 94%; in vivo average, 83%). A mixture of peat + perlite + sand in equal parts was a suitable in vivo germination medium (93% germination) for C. alpinum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers several science experiments to conduct with high school students using the Spider Flower, Cleome hasslerana L as a model species. The experiments focus on reproductive biology, specifically flower anatomy and pollen germination, the inheritance of flower color, separation of leaf and floral pigments by paper chromatography, and seed germination. A list of materials is provided, along with safety considerations, specific procedures, and topics for discussion.

The broad aim of this symposium and set of associated papers is to motivate the use of inquiry-based, active-learning teaching techniques in undergraduate quantitative biology courses. Practical information, resources, and ready-to-use classroom exercises relevant to physicists, mathematicians, biologists, and engineers are presented. These resources can be used to address the lack of preparation of college students in STEM fields entering the workforce by providing experience working on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary problems in mathematical biology in a group setting. Such approaches can also indirectly help attract and retain under-represented students who benefit the most from ''nontraditional'' learning styles and strategies, including inquiry-based, collaborative, and active learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Studies of developmental biology are often facilitated by diagram “models” that summarize the current understanding of underlying mechanisms. The increasing complexity of our understanding of development necessitates computational models that can extend these representations to include their dynamic behavior. Here we present a prototype model of Caenorhabditis elegans vulval precursor cell fate specification that represents many processes crucial for this developmental event but that are hard to integrate using other modeling methodologies. We demonstrate the integrative capabilities of our methodology by comprehensively incorporating the contents of three seminal papers, showing that this methodology can lead to comprehensive models of developmental biology. The prototype computational model was built and is run using a language (Live Sequence Charts) and tool (the Play-Engine) that facilitate the same conceptual processes biologists use to construct and probe diagram-type models. We demonstrate that this modeling approach permits rigorous tests of mutual consistency between experimental data and mechanistic hypotheses and can identify specific conflicting results, providing a useful approach to probe developmental systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cardiac modelling is the area of physiome modelling where the available simulation software is perhaps most mature, and it therefore provides an excellent starting point for considering the software requirements for the wider physiome community. In this paper, we will begin by introducing some of the most advanced existing software packages for simulating cardiac electrical activity. We consider the software development methods used in producing codes of this type, and discuss their use of numerical algorithms, relative computational efficiency, usability, robustness and extensibility.We then go on to describe a class of software development methodologies known as test-driven agile methods and argue that such methods are more suitable for scientific software development than the traditional academic approaches. A case study is a project of our own, Cancer, Heart and Soft Tissue Environment, which is a library of computational biology software that began as an experiment in the use of agile programming methods. We present our experiences with a review of our progress thus far, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach compared with the development methods used in some existing packages.We conclude by considering whether the likely wider needs of the cardiac modelling community are currently being met and suggest that, in order to respond effectively to changing requirements, it is essential that these codes should be more malleable. Such codes will allow for reliable extensions to include both detailed mathematical models—of the heart and other organs—and more efficient numerical techniques that are currently being developed by many research groups worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the life and works of three biologists including H. Bentley Glass, Maclyn McCarty and Miriam Rothschild. Glass, a distinguished geneticist and a founding member of the U.S. Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), believes that scientists need to move outside their laboratories from time to time to understand the scope of their study. McCarty, one of the discoverers of DNA as the genetic material, has published the paper that gave clear evidence that DNA is responsible for the genetic change in pneumococcus in 1944. Rothschild, a British entomologist and environmental activist, has studied the behavior of fleas, rabbit and butterflies.

Our paper discusses interdisciplinary approaches as opposed to increased disciplinary specialization and underlines their value in dealing with the major issues currently faced by biology and with the challenges posed by the analysis and interpretation of high-throughput experimental data. Yet researchers opting for interdisciplinary collaboration in their daily work encounter numerous difficulties. To stimulate the development of fruitful and long-term interdisciplinary collaborations, we have organized since 2002 a yearly Spring School for researchers on the small island of Berder (south Brittany). The School is supported by CNRS and Inra continuing education departments. We describe its specific features and the ways in which it meets participant expectations as regards training and scientific exchanges. This is ensured by securing a wide range of speakers, a balance between the different disciplines, synthetic pedagogical presentations and by reserving ample time for questions, debates, interactions and activities during an intensive week away from daily concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the activities that happened in 2006 for the American Society of Naturalists. The executive meeting held June 23, 2006 emphasized on the success of the three-editor system and electronic papers of the society's publication. The business meeting of the society focused on the presentation of the anti-wedge document to the Joint Council, which establishes medium-term and long-term goals to defend and promote the teaching of evolutionary biology. The next meeting of the joint committee pointed on the support of the Joint Council to the anti-wedge document.

This paper describes and evaluates a new type of multiple-choice test question that is relatively easy to construct and that challenges students' understandings of biological concepts. The questions involve a small narrative of scientific text that students must evaluate for accuracy. We call these questions "You are the Teacher" questions because the students are role-playing a teacher correcting a short-answer exam. This type of question can place a higher cognitive demand on a student than a basic knowledge question, but it can still be used within a multiple-choice exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and evaluates a new type of multiple-choice test question that is relatively easy to construct and that challenges students' understandings of biological concepts. The questions involve a small narrative of scientific text that students must evaluate for accuracy. We call these questions "You are the Teacher" questions because the students are role-playing a teacher correcting a short-answer exam. This type of question can place a higher cognitive demand on a student than a basic knowledge question, but it can still be used within a multiple-choice exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how information literacy exercises in introductory biology are incorporated into the science curriculum and examines their effectiveness in achieving the goal of becoming better scientific thinkers and writers. The types of exercises described here can be easily incorporated into any introductory biology class. They can be of great help to students as they prepare to delve into a topic for a research paper, a research presentation, or an independent learning exercise. They help students develop skills that will be used in the upper level courses, as students who continue with the biology curriculum will be asked to write laboratory reports with extensive introductions and discussions that incorporate previous research, to write literature reviews and perhaps to write reports that incorporate literature reviews for funded summer research.

Discusses the teaching of the function of DNA as a binary code to college-level biology students. Characteristics of a binary code; Steps involved in the course; Comments made by the students in their final paper in which they were asked to discuss the connections between technology, biology and psychology.