All Resources

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Using Calcium and Calcium Binding Proteins To Teach Signal Transduction in Cell Physiology—Demonstrating Conformational Changes of Proteins Using the Simple yet Powerful Technique of PAGE

This exercise teaches students science by demonstrating the ability of calmodulin to bind and lose calcium with attendant alterations in protein conformation. To visualize conformation changes using the simple yet powerful technique PAGE provides stu...

Journal Article

How to Make Nonscience Majors More Receptive to Organic Chemistry: Building Student Intrigue in Chemistry—Brooklyn College’s “Stories-Behind-the-Story” Strategy

Stories of crime and punishment serve as the impetus for engaging students in science topics as part of a unique approach to teaching chemistry at Brooklyn College. This article describes a successful approach used to help students appreciate the maj...

Journal Article

The Case Study: Return to Mars—How Not to Teach a Case Study

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. This month's issue considers some of the common mistakes case study instrutors make....

Journal Article

SCST: Distance Learning—Meeting Our Educational Responsibilities with Technology

In this column the leadership of the Society for College Science Teaching (SCST) shares its views with JCST readers. This month’s issue focuses on the concerns of meeting our educational responsibilities with technology....

Journal Article

A Running Inquiry—Nature Asked the Questions During This Jog: Discovering in a Maine Forest a “Call of the Wild”

This column shares reflections or thoughtful opinions on issues of broad interest to the community. In this month’s issue, during a morning jog, the author vowed to interact with nature along the jogging path of the Maine forest in the context of d...

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Small Group Instruction in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology—A Discipline Status Report and a Teaching Agenda for the Future

This paper is an attempt to place the recent flurry of activity into context for SMET faculty. It contains nearly 100 resources which may be useful to researchers, theorists, and practitioners in this area. The resources will be particularly helpful ...

Journal Article

A Curriculum for Recitation Sections in Introductory Biology: Designing Lesson Plans for TAs that Emphasize Open Communication and Spirited Interaction with Students

Recitation sections are led by a graduate teaching assistant (TA). Introductory biology is often the TAs' first recitation teaching experience, and the TA receives little guidance on how to direct the section. In this article, the author developed a ...

Journal Article

Editorial: Undergraduate Education in Science: The Message

The Journal of College Science Teaching’s editor shares thoughts regarding the current issue....

Journal Article

Research and Teaching: Tracking the Modern Geoscience Undergraduate—A University of North Carolina Case Study

Continued decreases in government funding, increasing enrollments, and the demand for accountability and assessment characterize the new landscape of higher education. One facet of the demand for accountability is a belief that undergraduate students...

Journal Article

The Case Study: Is There Life on Mars? Debating the Existence of Extraterrestrial Life in a Classroom Dilemma Case

In this case study, the word has leaked that evidence of life on Mars has been discovered. These findings were publicized in advance of Science magazine's report. This conflict sets the stage for this case study....

Journal Article

Favorite Demonstration: Teaching Chemistry Through Observation—The Exploding Can Demonstration: A Dramatic Demonstration of an Exothermic Reaction

Chemistry teachers are often encountered with the problem of how to introduce students to various subjects in a thought-provoking and insightful manner. One method is to modify teaching styles by presenting students with real world, attention-catchin...

Journal Article

Facilitating Research Between the Library and the Science Writing Classroom: Introducing Students to the Intricacies of Library Research

The idea that research is a process of continuing exploration and investigation is often a difficult one to instill in college students. Introducing the library and its resources as a part of that process in a scientific writing course has proven to ...

Journal Article

An Interactive Lecture Notebook—Twelve Ways to Improve Students’ Grades: Drawing Students’ Attention to What They need to Know in Lecture

Much research supports the conclusion that most students do not take accurate and thorough notes. The interactive lecture notebook is prepared on a computer so changes and corrections can be made easily, and students can purchase the booklet at the ...

Journal Article

A Cooperative Learning Approach to Teaching Introductory Biology: Experimenting with an Innovative Teaching Style at the University of California, Davis

Why are students unable to make the transition from understanding concepts to applying them? It seems that the standard lecture format does not provide students with an opportunity to test comprehension of a subject. This failure argues strongly for ...

Journal Article

Improving Precollege Science Education—The Involvement of Scientists and Engineers: Enlisting the Support of Scientists and Engineers to Translate Science Education Standards into Effective Science Programs

This article focuses on the importance of science education and of the need to support the implementation of the Standards by improving science education in local school districts, colleges, and universities. Scientists and engineers have indispensab...

Journal Article

Using <i>Star Trek: The Next Generation</i> Television Episodes to Teach Science—Investigating Scientific Topics through the Medium of Television

For over a decade, we have used science fiction films to build interest in and awareness of real science at both the college and precollege levels. Star Trek: The Next Generation series discusses many scientific topics, making it an effective tool in...

Journal Article

Applied Coastal Oceanography—A Course that Integrates Science and Business: Teaching the Role of Science in the World of Business—Rhode Island's Bryant College Curriculum initiative

A challenging aspect of teaching science at a business specialty school is helping students to understand the role that science plays in everyday lives and will play in professional lives. To address this lack of connection and to incorporate more sc...

Journal Article

SCST: Resource Management, Coexistence, and Balance—The Fundamentals of Teaching Waste Management: A Primer on Recommended Teaching Perspectives Currently Lacking in Environmental Studies Education

In this column the leadership of the Society for College Science Teaching (SCST) shares its views with JCST readers. This month’s issue features information on the fundamentals of teaching waste management, which is currently lacking in the environ...

Journal Article

Introducing Freshmen to Investigative Research—A Course for Biology Majors at Minnesota's University of St. Thomas: How "Investigative Labs" Change the Student from Passive Direction-Follower to Analytically Critical Thinker

Emphasis in "investigative labs" is on the process of science—design, development, analysis, and conclusions based on evidence gathered. These labs bring a whole suite of benefits to courses that were once dominated by cookbook instructions. Studen...

Journal Article

Society for College Science Teachers: Stepping Back from the Picture to See More than the Dots—Making Critical Thinking an Examination Requirement

In this column the leadership of SCST shares its views with JCST readers. This month’s issue focues on teaching critical thinking—not just memorized statements. As soon as students see your test questions and realize that more than memory is requ...