A PLEA FOR MORE EFFECTIVE SCIENCE TEACHING

Open Ended Group Projects a 'Tool' for More Effective Teaching

Open Ended Group Projects [OEGP] offer an educational 'model', or tool, that has many benefits in terms of how and what students learn. This paper contains an explanation of the ideas that underlie OEGP and relates them to the concepts of problem based learning and educational constructivism. It shows how OEGPs can be used to encourage reflection on and application of the fundamental, subject s...

Herniated intervertebral disk: a plea for a more uniform terminology.

In the original description of herniated intervertebral disk by Mixter and Barr [1), the term used was rupture of the inter-vertebral disk. However, with the passage of time, this term, although used frequently by surgeons, has become meaningless. A rupture of the disk is a common finding at autopsy when the disks are examined, but ruptures are not necessarily associated with herniation of the ...

Elementary teachers' ideas about effective science teaching: a longitudinal study

Beginning elementary teachers face numerous challenges in engaging in effective science teaching, and the expectations for elementary science teaching are becoming even more demanding. Since teachers' beliefs mediate their practice, characterizing their beliefs about effective science teaching can yield insights about ways to support beginning elementary teachers as they learn to teach science....

A Plea for the More Common Use of Lumbar Puncture

A plea for more theory in molecular biology.

The integrationist principles of systems theory have proven hugely successful in the physical sciences and engineering. It is an underlying assumption made in the systems approach to biology that they can also be used to understand biological phenomena at the level of an entire organism or organ. Within this holistic vision, the vast majority of systems biology research projects investigate phe...