Genomics and proteomics projects have produced a huge amount of raw biological data including DNA and protein sequences. Although these data have been stored in data banks, their evaluation is strictly dependent on bioinformatics tools. These tools have been developed by multidisciplinary experts for fast and robust analysis of biological data.…

This biology investigation on "Pristipomoides filamentosus" larval development, survival, and aquaculture research was developed with three educational objectives: to provide high school students with (1) a scientific background on the biology and science of fisheries as well as overfishing, its consequences, and possible mitigations;…

This study analysed the characteristics that children in the initial stages of schooling attribute to living beings. Interviews were conducted with 138 children aged 3-7 years in a school in the Spanish city of A Coruña, Galicia. Aspects found in pen-and-paper activities dealing with living beings, provided by the teachers (158 in total) at this…

Treating creationism as a controversial topic within the science and religion issue in the science classroom has been widely discussed in the recent literature. Some researchers have proposed that this topic is best addressed by focusing on sociocognitive conflict. To prepare new learning opportunities for this approach, it is necessary to know…

This case study uses the work of Michel Foucault to challenge the normalization of the principal's role and to examine the complex power relations of a rural school and community in the midst of a closure/consolidation and subsequent reopening as a charter school. In so doing, we move beyond analysis of best practices and toward a more…

The purpose of this study was to develop a model for measuring experimental design ability based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during biological inquiry. More specifically, the researchers developed an experimental design task that measures experimental design ability. Using the developed experimental design task, they measured…

Virtual Forest is a web-based, open-access learning environment about forests designed for primary-school pupils between the ages of 10 and 13 years. It is pedagogically designed to develop an understanding of ecology, to enhance conceptual development and to give a holistic view of forest ecosystems. Various learning tools, such as concept maps,…

This paper intends to describe the recent experience of a small, rural, two-year technical college. After four decades of success, the college had found itself in a difficult situation with a substantial loss in enrollment and diminished state and local support, coupled with low campus employee morale. In response, the college team closed ranks…

In this article, the authors summarize their 15 years of research on graduate education in economics in the United States. They examine all stages of the process, from the undergraduate origins of eventual economics PhDs to their attrition and time-to-degree outcomes. For PhD completers, the authors examine job market outcomes, research…

The 2007-10 growth spurt (18 percent over three years) in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees stalled out in 2011. Degrees awarded have been relatively constant over the past three years.

In this article, the authors investigate competitive firm behaviors in a two-firm environment assuming linear cost and demand functions. By introducing conjectural variations, they capture the different market structures as specific configurations of a more general model. Conjectural variations are based on the assumption that each firm believes…

The authors of this article implement a quasi-experimental strategy to estimate peer effects in economic education by exploiting the institutional setting in a large public university in China, where roommates are randomly assigned conditional on a student's major and province of origin. They found significant impacts of peer academic…

For many years, surveys have shown that lecture is the dominant method for teaching principles of economics (Watts and Schaur 2011; Watts and Becker 2008; Becker and Watts 1996, 2001a, b). The authors confirm this and augment it by asking why principles instructors teach the way they do. The respondents, 340 principles instructors at the 2012…

Adam Smith's moral philosophy can be used to introduce economics students to the important idea of transactions costs. The author provides a brief background in this article to Smith's moral philosophy and connects it to the costs of transacting in a way that fits easily into the standard principles of microeconomics classroom. By doing…

In this article, the authors present results from a survey of Masters of Economics program directors to determine the missions, inputs, and outcomes of these degree programs throughout the United States and Canada. They compare results of this survey to those of two previous studies that they conducted 20 and 10 years ago. Respondents were asked…