Global university rankings have become increasingly important "calculative devices" for assessing the "quality" of higher education and research. Their ability to make characteristics of universities "calculable" is here exemplified by the first proper university ranking ever, produced as early as 1910 by the American…

Research in genetics and genomics is advancing at a fast pace, and thus keeping up with the most recent findings and conclusions can be very challenging. At the same time these recent findings and conclusions have made necessary a reconceptualization of genes and heredity, both in science and in science education, beyond the mostly gene-centred…

Using the life sciences, this article first reviews essential features of the "NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education" that provided a foundation for the new standards. Second, the article describes the important features of life science standards for elementary, middle, and high school levels. Special attention is paid to the teaching…

Before beginning a series of presentations on evolution, it would be prudent to survey the general level of students' understanding of prerequisite basic concepts of reproduction, heredity, ontology, and phenotypic diversity so that teachers can avoid devoting time to well-known subjects of general knowledge and can spend more time on subjects…

This study assessed and compared results from evidence-based screening tools to be filled out by caregivers to identify preschool children at risk of language impairment (LI) and dyslexia. Three different tools were used: one assessing children's communicative abilities, one assessing risk of developmental dyslexia, and one assessing early…

This study explores upper-elementary and early-middle-school students' ideas about cells and inheritance and describes patterns of understanding for these topics. Data came from students' responses to embedded assessments included in a technology-enhanced curriculum designed to help students learn about cells and heredity. Our findings suggest…

The present study examined (1) whether children notice different causes for contagious illnesses, non-contagious illnesses, and injuries and (2) what information adults provide to children and to what extent this information is related to children's causal awareness. Studies 1 and 2 explored preschool teachers' and mothers' explanations of…

The roots of ecology prolong profoundly within earlier phases of history, when the naturalistic fabric was first evinced. Bringing out his "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, Darwin not merely engendered a biological culmination but also heralded the revolutionary critical canon of naturalism that was virtually a stone thrown in the vast…

We now understand that human intelligence, once thought to be determined almost solely by heredity, is malleable. In developed countries, average intelligence test scores have increased substantially since the tests began to be administered 100 years ago. In school settings, however, intelligence is often still treated as a fixed attribute that…

"The Kallikak Family" was, along with "The Jukes: A Study in Crime, Pauperism, Disease, and Heredity", one of the most visible eugenic family narratives published in the early 20th century. Published in 1912 and authored by psychologist Henry Herbert Goddard, director of the psychological laboratory at the Vineland Training School for Feebleminded…

Twenty-first century and global skills are generally described as competencies for communication and problem solving. Additionally, these skills involve developing the ability to view content-specific issues through a multicultural perspective. Preparing K-12 students for STEM careers in an ever-changing workplace means they must have…

Students may wonder why they look the way they do. The answer lies in genetics, the branch of biology that deals with heredity and the variation of inherited traits. However, understanding how an organism's genetic code (i.e., genotype) affects its characteristics (i.e., phenotype) is more than a matter of idle curiosity: It's essential for…

In this review, we evaluate developmental and personality research with the aim of determining whether the personality trait of conscientiousness can be identified in children and adolescents. After concluding that conscientiousness does emerge in childhood, we discuss the developmental origins of conscientiousness with a specific focus on…

Genetics is an increasingly important topic in today's society, and one that permeates people's lives on many levels. Students, teachers, and the general public alike are constantly exposed to this topic through popular television shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," political issues like voting on stem-cell research, and the…

Oscar Riddle, born in Indiana in 1877, was an ardent evolutionist and a key player in the founding of the National Association of Biology Teachers in 1938. He studied heredity and behavior in domestic pigeons and doves with Charles O. Whitman of the University of Chicago, received his Ph.D. in zoology in 1907, and in 1912 began a long career at…