Briefly describes the problem of graduate teaching assistants having little if any experience in inquiry teaching. Proposes solutions to this problem so it can be avoided in the future. (SAH)

Presents an inquiry activity with a learning cycle approach to engage students in testing their own hypotheses about how molecules move through cell membranes. Offers student materials and teacher materials, including teaching tips for each phase of the learning cycle. (Contains 11 references.) (ASK)

Presents examples using hypothetico-deductive thinking to better teach and understand biology, geology, physics, and chemistry. The examples show that hypothetico-deductive thinking is not new to science as it can be found in research from the Middle Ages. (SAH)

Tests the hypothesis that a fifth stage of intellectual development characterized by the ability to test alternative explanations involving unseen theoretical entities exists. This hypothesis is tested in the context of a nonmajor college-level biology course in which the assumption is made that some students have acquired Stage 5 reasoning…

Presents a lesson that addresses the scientific aspects of the evolution versus special creation controversy by having students gather evidence from the fossil record and analyze that evidence using critical-thinking skills. Contains 13 references. (WRM)

Presents activities that use the learning cycle to engage students in meaningful inquiries in the study of Mendelian genetics. Includes content-related background and teaching tips for each phase of the learning cycle. (JRH)

Discussed and questioned is the credibility of the widely-held view concerning the role of impartiality and crucial experiments in science as exemplified by the 18th century controversy between Spallanzani and Needham. Science teachers are cautioned to remember that performing investigations and conducting experiments are tasks not entirely devoid…

Discusses how biology teachers can design or adapt existing laboratory and field experiences to promote reflective thinking and self-regulation of students. (HM)

Suggests that students who reason with only concrete thinking patterns may become formal thinkers through the use of the following instructional pattern: (1) the introduction of an undifferentiated whole, (2) differentiation of the whole through concrete experiences, (3) invention of symbolic notation, (4) application of concepts which lead to…

Clarifies the difference between the Piagetian Conservation of Liquid Quantity task and the Conservation of Volume task and provides an alternative test for the presence of formal operational thought. (JR)

Introduces biology teachers to the central ideas of Piaget's theory of intellectual development. Also presents a scheme of biology instruction and classroom procedures based on a Piaget-related theory of learning. (PEB)

Discussed is learning theory as it is related to the teaching of biology. This article proposes that extension of the original cycle model into three types of learning cycles can form the basis of a satisfactory and educationally practical model of instruction. Includes 30 references. (CW)

Psychological equilibration (internal mental process by which individuals develop intellectually) is discussed in terms of its origin in the biological theory of evolution and in the thinking of Jean Piaget. The importance of equilibration theory for biology instruction is then considered. (Author/JN)

Presents a learning cycle lesson plan in which students investigate the question of how cells divide. Students use microscopes to explore actual plant root and stem tissues to generate and test hypotheses to answer the question. Includes teacher material, student material, and teaching tips. (MDH)

A sample of 14 college and 8 high school biology textbooks were evaluated to determine whether they provided accurate and adequate descriptions and examples of scientific thinking. The authors contrast their views of the nature of scientific thinking with those of the textbook authors on the concepts of hypothesis, theory, law, and principle. (MDH)