This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K) to analyze competencies that children need to master by the end of elementary school, the extent to which they are doing so, what might be done to improve their performance, and how this might affect their ultimate ability to earn a living…

An extremely simple, inexpensive, and safe method is presented, which emulates nucleic acids isolation and electrophoretic analysis as performed in a research environment, in the context of a secondary school hands-on activity. The protocol is amenable to an interdisciplinary approach, taking into consideration the electrical and chemical…

Community colleges have encountered many factors that may reshape their future. Environmental imperatives weigh heavily on community colleges, as does the new integration of the sciences, such as breakthroughs in the biochemical sciences, such as the human genome project. It is also important to pay attention to the forms in which knowledge is…

Students who experience research as undergraduates tend to remain in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Since course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are often expensive to implement, we developed a relatively inexpensive first-semester research course for majors entitled "Freshman Research in…

This article undertakes a close rhetorical reading of the speeches given by Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Francis Collins, and Craig Venter on June 26, 2000, at the White House ceremony announcing the completion of the Human Genome Project. Specifically, it looks at the metaphors used by each speaker to describe the activity of genomic scientists.…

Since the work of Watson and Crick in the mid-1950s, the science of genetics has become increasingly molecular. The development of recombinant DNA technologies by the agricultural and pharmaceutical industries led to the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). By the end of the twentieth century, reports of animal cloning and recent…

The papers contained in this proceedings from the 1995 Society for Literature and Science Conference are organized into sections with the following themes: (1) Metaphor and Science; (2) The Technological Invasion of the Living Space; (3) Autobiographies and Biographies of Scientists; (4) Science and 19th Century Literature; (5) Visions of the…

When the human genome project was conceived, its leaders wanted all researchers to have equal access to the data and associated research tools. Their vision of equal access provides an unprecedented teaching opportunity. Teachers and students have free access to the same databases that researchers are using. Furthermore, the recent movement to…

This paper reviews the case of Carrie Buck, who was the first person sterilized (in 1927) under a Virginia law allowing sterilization of persons identified as incompetent and likely to genetically transmit physical, psychological, or social deficiencies to their offspring. This law was later upheld by the Supreme Court in Buck v. Bell, which…

Genetic engineering is now an integral part of many high school textbooks but little work has been done to assess whether it is being properly addressed. A checklist with 19 items was used to analyze how genetic engineering is presented in biology textbooks commonly used in Spanish high schools, including the content, its relationship with…

In this research, we have demonstrated that a new subdiscipline in the field of Medical Sociology is urgently needed to integrate, interpret, and synthesize the interrelationships and implications of genetic discoveries, treatments, and prognoses upon societal behavior. That subdiscipline in our view is "Genetic Sociology."We applied the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate The Student Genome Project, an experiment in web-based genetics education. Over a two-year period, a team from New York University worked with a biology teacher and 33 high school students (N=33), and a middle school science teacher and a class of students (N=21) to develop a World Wide Web site intended…

In providing its program for education reform, this book uses, as an analogy, the genetic model taken from the Human Genome project. In the first part, "Theoretical Underpinnings," the book explains why a genetic model can be used to improve school systems; describes the critical components of a world-class school system; and details the…

Poor children in the United States start school at a disadvantage in terms of their early skills, behaviors, and health. Fewer than half (48 percent) of poor children are ready for school at age five, compared to 75 percent of children from families with moderate and high income, a 27 percentage point gap. This paper examines the reasons why poor…

Career development for the next wave of competent leaders and technically trained workers during e-globalization is one of the most difficult challenges advanced nations face. Career development programs that begin in elementary education and have e-paradigms as a logical choice as the preferred scenario are needed by e-commerce in all its…