Journal of College Science Teaching articles from March 2008

Journal of College Science Teaching archives from March 2008

Totaling the damage.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
March 1, 2008... From climate change to overfishing to damaging the ozone layer, the environmental challenges from the past 40 years have not only been daunting, but expensive. Now, a group of scientists are starting to give us a rough idea of just how...

Gecko feet.(HEADLINE SCIENCE)
March 1, 2008... Building upon several years of research into the gecko's uncanny ability to climb sheer walls, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed an adhesive that is the first to master the easy attach and easy release of the...

Research only matters if you do research that matters.(POINT OF VIEW)(Viewpoint essay)
March 1, 2008... Research is about getting good answers to questions that really matter. Several years ago, I was visiting my uncle in the hospital. In the bed next to his was a man who looked ancient. He must have been well over 90. The staff addressed...

Demonstrating indigo carmine oxidation-reduction reactions: a choreography for chemical reactions.(FAVORITE DEMONSTRATION)
March 1, 2008... Identifying the characteristics of a chemical reaction is not a task restricted to only chemists (AAAS 1993; NRC 1996; Siebert and McIntosh 2001). Labeled as the central science, the field of chemistry plays a pivotal role in the other sciences...

Promoting student learning through the integration of lab and lecture: the seamless biology curriculum.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] We engaged in an education experiment to determine if the integration of lab and lecture activities in zoology and botany proved beneficial to student learning of and motivation toward biology. Our results showed...

Problem solving in biology a methodology: a methodology is described that teaches science process by combining informal logic and a heuristic for rating factual reliability. This system facilitates student hypothesis formation, testing, and evaluation of results, and in conjunction with the logic path of the theory of natural selection is used to interpret new data.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While teaching methods have changed over the years, the products of a biological education have remained the same--knowledge, translation, and interpretation--items at the low end of Bloom's Taxonomy scale. In...

A novel lecture series and associated outreach program in the environmental and Natural Sciences: we describe the creation and development of a multidisciplinary outreach effort from the university science community to the general public and K-12 teacher and student audiences.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most university scientists recognize the importance of reaching out to explain their science to the public and the K-12 community. They enjoy explaining their discoveries to the public, and understand the importance...

Independent research projects in general chemistry classes as an introduction to peer-reviewed literature: an independent research project is used in a general chemistry course to expose students to peer-reviewed literature and to develop their oral and written communication skills.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Numerous studies have been carried out to determine the best practices in facilitating student learning of chemistry, including the use of undergraduate research (McIntosh 2001), the benefits of collaborative...

Reading questions in large-lecture courses: limitations and unexpected outcomes.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In an effort to encourage students to read prior coming to class, instructors experiment with new instructional strategies. It is sometimes difficult to anticipate limitations of a strategy within particular...

Scratch this! The IF-AT as a technique for stimulating group discussion and exposing misconceptions.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This study (a) documents the use of the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) as a group-centered activity in a large-lecture environment; and (b) evaluates student perceptions of IF-AT utility. The IF-AT...

A faculty-librarian partnership for investigative learning in the introductory biology laboratory: in this article, we describe our distinct program that connects information literacy to laboratory work, facilitates scientific writing in stages, and continues faculty-librarian partnership throughout a two-course introductory biology sequence.
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Critical thinking and information literacy are essential learning outcomes of a liberal arts education (AAC&U 2007). At Oxford College, first- and second-year students learn to apply critical-thinking and...

High-achieving postbaccalaureate-student teaching assistants: effective instruction in introductory laboratory classrooms.
March 1, 2008... This three-year study demonstrates that high-achieving postbaccalaureate students skillfully serve as introductory laboratory teaching assistants when instructor demand exceeds the available graduate-student pool. Under the postbaccalaureate...

An analysis of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) in a science lecture classroom.(RESEARCH and TEACHING)
March 1, 2008... Note: Dr. Ann Cutler served as guest editor for this issue's Research and Teaching columns. Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is an online tool being used to integrate a writing component in classrooms. In an introductory zoology lecture class,...

Research and teaching column.(Editorial)
March 1, 2008... JCST welcomes Dr. Marcy Towns as column editor for Research and Teaching. Here, Dr. Towns discusses her vision for the R&T column. It is a pleasure to be appointed as new editor for the Research and Teaching column. I am currently an...

Students' perceptions of reflective writing as a tool for exploring an introductory textbook.(RESEARCH and TEACHING)(Report)
March 1, 2008... This study explores how a specific academic activity, reflective writing, was perceived and accomplished by students in a gateway physics course. A survey, semi-structured interviews at the beginning, middle, and end of the course, and...

Does the color-coding of examination versions affect college science students' test performance? (Research and Teaching, January/February 2008).(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... Clary, Wandersee, and Elias (2007) provide strong evidence that exam color does not report affect student performance and also report that grades go up on later exams. As they note in the Discussion, the second effect could be due to students...

Without a net (Editorial, January/February 2008).(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2008... Whether the articles listed in your table of contents attract my attention or not, I always know that I will enjoy your editorial so I'm writing you a fan letter to thank you for your thoughts and comments. Perspective is probably more...

Ah-choo! Increased risk of pollen allergies in the Northern Hemisphere.(CASE STUDY)
March 1, 2008... Ah, spring. Blue skies, singing birds, and ah... ah... choo! Pollen! Pollen is a major risk factor for respiratory allergies and asthma, which together affect 10%-50% of people worldwide (Bousquet, Dahl, and Khaltaev 2007; ARIA n.d.). The...

If you go down to the woods today ...(SCST: SOCIETY for COLLEGE SCIENCE TEACHERS)
March 1, 2008... The Society of College Science Teachers is an affiliate organization of NSTA with a long history of support for the Journal of College Science Teaching. The journal is proud to host the SCST column in which the leadership of SCST can share...

Teacher Research: Stories of Learning and Growing.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Teacher Research: Stories of Learning and Growing Deborah Roberts, Claire Bove, and Emily van Zee. 2007. 161pp. $19.95. NSTA Press, Arlington, VA. ISBN 9781933531137. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Most science teachers do not...

The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance Eric R. Scerri. 2006. 368pp. $35.00. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN: 9780195305739. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This book contains a detailed history of the...

Science 101: Genetics 101.(Brief article)(Book review)
March 1, 2008... Science 101: Genetics 101 Michael Windelspecht. 2007. 195pp. $49.95. Greenwood Press, Westport, CT. ISBN 9780313333811. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Science 101 series is intended to provide readers with an...

Coordination and Control One: Animals; Coordination and Control Two: Plants.(Video recording review)
March 1, 2008... Coordination and Control One: Animals; Coordination and Control Two: Plants VEA Inc. 2006. $89.95. White Plains, NY. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This three-DVD collection clearly illustrates the major concepts of cell-signaling...

What's the Matter? Readings in Physics.(Book review)
March 1, 2008... What's the Matter? Readings in Physics Donald H. Whitfield. 2007. 540pp. $32.95. Great Books Foundation, Chicago. ISBN: 9781880323915. This volume from the Great Books Foundation is much more than a superb anthology of...