Biology Textbooks Research Articles

Dermatomal Organization of SI Leg Representation in Humans: Revising the Somatosensory Homunculus.

Penfield and Rasmussen's homunculus is the valid map of the neural body representation of nearly each textbook of biology, physiology, and neuroscience. The somatosensory homunculus places the foot representation on the mesial surface of the postcentral gyrus followed by the representations of the lower leg and the thigh in superio-lateral direction. However, this strong homuncular organization contradicts the "dermatomal" organization of spinal nerves. We used somatosensory-evoked magnetic fields and source analysis to study the leg's neural representation in the primary somatosensory cortex(SI). We show that the representation of the back of the thigh is located inferior to the foot's representation in SI whereas the front of the thigh is located laterally to the foot's representation. This observation indicates that the localization of the leg in SI rather follows the dermatomal organization of spinal nerves than the typical map of neighboring body parts as depicted in Penfield and Rasmussen's illustration of the somatosensory homunculus.

Analysis of undergraduate cell biology contents in Brazilian public universities

The enormous amount of information available in cell biology has created a challenge in selecting the core concepts we should be teaching our undergraduates. One way to define a set of essential core ideas in cell biology is to analyze what a specific cell biology community is teaching their students. Our main objective was to analyze the cell biology content currently being taught in Brazilian universities. We collected the syllabi of cell biology courses from public universities in Brazil and analyzed the frequency of cell biology topics in each course. We also compared the Brazilian data with the contents of a major cell biology textbook. Our analysis showed that while some cell biology topics such as plasma membrane and cytoskeleton was present in ∼100% of the Brazilian curricula analyzed others such as cell signaling and cell differentiation were present in only ∼35%. The average cell biology content taught in the Brazilian universities is quite different from what is presented in the textbook. We discuss several possible explanations for these observations. We also suggest a list with essential cell biology topics for any biological or biomedical undergraduate course. The comparative discussion of cell biology topics presented here could be valuable in other educational contexts.

Analysis of DNA Paper Model in Biology Textbook and Development of a Revised DNA Paper Model

Analysis of DNA Paper Model in Biology Textbook and Development of a Revised DNA Paper Model

Comparative Analysis of Inquiry Activities in Sino-US High School Biology Textbooks

The arrangement of inquiry activities in the textbooks, to a certain degree, affects the quality of inquiry learning activities. The research made a comparative analysis of the inquiry activities in Chinese high school biology compulsory textbooks (PEP edition) and American high school biology textbooks (Biology: the Dynamics of Life) from the inquiry types, equipments, arrangements of teacher-students interactions and etc. The research suggests that in order to improve the quality of inquiry learning activities, China could enrich the content of textbooks, develop the equipments of activities and optimize the detail of teaching activities.

Writing biology, assessing biology

There has been substantial research into terminology as an issue in learning science, especially against the backdrop of concerns over school literacy in science and as sometimes reflected in the poor performance of high school students in assessment tasks. Relevant research has emphasized issues such as lexical load, complexity and metaphor. Variation in the use of terminology has, however, been relatively under researched, although there is evidence that terminology use does vary within and across high school textbooks of science. Drawing on an eclectic theoretical framework comprising transitivity analysis (Halliday 1994), legitimation code theory semantics (Maton 2013a), and the context-specific term model (Gerzymisch-Arbogast 2008), this article identifies and classifies variations in the terminology employed in three high school textbooks of biology in Nigeria. It then determines what impact assessment tasks which use terms that differ from those employed in students’ study materials have on students. Examples are found of variant terminology impeding science literacy and task performance, even though there is reason to suspect such variation might in fact have been leveraged to enhance cognition.

REALIDADES COLATERAIS E A PRODUÇÃO DA IGNORÂNCIA EM LIVROS DIDÁTICOS DE BIOLOGIA: UM ESTUDO SOBRE OS HORMÔNIOS E A QUESTÃO DE GÊNERO

O artigo defende o estudo da ignorância como um tema legítimo de pesquisa em educação em ciências. Esta defesa é feita com base nas premissas da Epistemologia da Ignorância ou Agnotologia, segundo a qual a ignorância é ativamente produzida e pode servir a projetos de dominação. Em nosso estudo, escolhemos os hormônios "sexuais" como objeto de análise. Para evidenciar a construção da ignorância acerca dessas substâncias e seus efeitos nos organismos, procuramos dialogar com as contribuições das epistemologias pós-positivas, principalmente, as que se originam de estudos sobre as realidades colaterais. De posse desses referenciais, procuramos demonstrar como, ao longo da história, as pesquisas acerca dos hormônios sexuais produziram realidades colaterais que engendram uma concepção de mundo de base essencialista, segundo a qual existe uma natureza biológica que determina os papéis sexuais de machos e fêmeas humanos. Esse discurso está presente nos textos dos livros didáticos de biologia que nós analisamos, o que revela a necessidade de sinalizar, principalmente em cursos de formação de professores, como esses materiais porta-vozes da biologia podem atualizar o sexismo e a discriminação de gênero.

Development and validation of an instrument for evaluating inquiry-based tasks in science textbooks

ABSTRACTThis article describes the development and validation of an instrument that can be used for content analysis of inquiry-based tasks. According to the theories of educational evaluation and qualities of inquiry, four essential functions that inquiry-based tasks should serve are defined: (1) assisting in the construction of understandings about scientific concepts, (2) providing students opportunities to use inquiry process skills, (3) being conducive to establishing understandings about scientific inquiry, and (4) giving students opportunities to develop higher order thinking skills. An instrument – the Inquiry-Based Tasks Analysis Inventory (ITAI) – was developed to judge whether inquiry-based tasks perform these functions well. To test the reliability and validity of the ITAI, 4 faculty members were invited to use the ITAI to collect data from 53 inquiry-based tasks in the 3 most widely adopted senior secondary biology textbooks in Mainland China. The results indicate that (1) the inter-rater reliability reached 87.7%, (2) the grading criteria have high discriminant validity, (3) the items possess high convergent validity, and (4) the Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient reached 0.792. The study concludes that the ITAI is valid and reliable. Because of its solid foundations in theoretical and empirical argumentation, the ITAI is trustworthy.

Systems Biology for 21st-Century Quantitative Scientists

This is a review of a unique biology textbook recently published by a renowned scientist, Philip Nelson. In our view, this excellent book will appeal to both students and professional scientists in the field of quantitative biology.

Learned inequality: Racial labels in the biology curriculum can affect the development of racial prejudice

AbstractFor over a century, genetic arguments for the existence of racial inequality have been used to oppose policies that promote social equality. And, over that same time period, American biology textbooks have repeatedly discussed genetic differences between races. This experiment tests whether racial terminology in the biology curriculum causes adolescents to develop genetic beliefs about racial difference, thereby affecting prejudice. Individual students (N = 135, grades 7–9) were randomly assigned within their classrooms to learn either from: (i) four text‐based lessons discussing racial differences in skeletal structure and the prevalence of genetic disease (racial condition); or (ii) an identical curriculum lacking racial terminology (nonracial condition). Over 3‐months that coincided with this learning, students in the racial condition grew significantly more in their perception of the amount of genetic variation between races relative to students in the nonracial condition. Furthermore, those in the racial condition grew in their belief that races differ in intelligence for genetic reasons significantly more than those in the nonracial condition. And, compared to the nonracial condition, students in the racial condition became significantly less interested in socializing across racial lines and less supportive of policies that reduce racial inequality in education. These findings show how biology education sustains racial inequality, and conversely, how human genetic variation education could be designed to reduce genetically based racism. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54: 379–411, 2017

Upper secondary and first-year university students’ explanations of animal behaviour: to what extent are Tinbergen’s four questions about causation, ontogeny, function and evolution, represented?

ABSTRACTIn 1963, the Nobel Prize-winning ethologist Niko Tinbergen proposed a framework for the scientific study of animal behaviour by outlining four questions that should be answered to have a complete understanding: causation, ontogeny, function and evolution. At present, Tinbergen’s framework is still considered the best way to guide animal behavioural research. Given the importance in science instruction of demonstrating how scientists work and ask questions, we investigated to what extent Tinbergen’s questions are addressed in biology textbooks in secondary education in Flanders, Belgium, and represented in upper-secondary and first-year university students’ explanations of behaviour in general and of specific animal behaviours. Our results revealed that teaching of animal behaviour mainly addresses ontogeny and causation, and that Tinbergen’s framework is not explicitly referred to. Students typically addressed only one or two questions, with the majority addressing causation or both causation and ontogeny when explaining behaviour in general, but function or causation and function when explaining specific animal behaviours. This high prevalence of function may be due to teleological thinking. Evolution was completely neglected, even in university students who had recently completed an evolution course. Our results revealed that transfer of the concepts of ontogeny and evolution was (almost) absent. We argue why Tinbergen’s framework should be an integral part of any biology curriculum.

Using M&M's to Model Sanger's Dideoxy DNA Sequencing Method

This lesson is designed to facilitate student understanding of the molecular structure of DNA, the cellular processes involved in DNA replication, and how these principles were applied to develop a method to determine the nucleotide sequence of DNA. The lesson employs an active and cooperative learning approach accomplished via a modified jigsaw exercise. The specific replication/sequencing process in this lesson is Sanger's dideoxy method of DNA sequencing. In conjunction with related lessons in lecture and lab, students read the relevant section of an appropriate introductory biology textbook and/or view videos explaining how Sanger's dideoxy chain-termination sequencing method works. Students working in four teams (A, C, G, and T) then use green, blue, brown, and red M&M's as nucleotides to build a model of the process. Plain M&M's represent deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs), while peanut M&M's represent the “terminator” dideoxynucleotide triphosphates (ddNTPs). The lesson addresses Next Generation Science Standards and learning goals typically found in college biology courses at introductory and advanced levels.

Deletion of Indian hedgehog gene causes dominant semi-lethal Creeper trait in chicken.

The Creeper trait, a classical monogenic phenotype of chicken, is controlled by a dominant semi-lethal gene. This trait has been widely cited in the genetics and molecular biology textbooks for illustrating autosomal dominant semi-lethal inheritance over decades. However, the genetic basis of the Creeper trait remains unknown. Here we have utilized ultra-deep sequencing and extensive analysis for targeting causative mutation controlling the Creeper trait. Our results indicated that the deletion of Indian hedgehog (IHH) gene was only found in the whole-genome sequencing data of lethal embryos and Creeper chickens. Large scale segregation analysis demonstrated that the deletion of IHH was fully linked with early embryonic death and the Creeper trait. Expression analysis showed a much lower expression of IHH in Creeper than wild-type chickens. We therefore suggest the deletion of IHH to be the causative mutation for the Creeper trait in chicken. Our findings unravel the genetic basis of the longstanding Creeper phenotype mystery in chicken as the same gene also underlies bone dysplasia in human and mouse, and thus highlight the significance of IHH in animal development and human haploinsufficiency disorders.

Os Aminoácidos nos Livros Didáticos de Biologia do Ensino Médio e de Bioquímica do Ensino Superior

O tema “aminoácidos” foi analisado em onze livros didáticos de Biologia do ensino médio aprovados no Plano Nacional do Livro Didático de 2012 e de 2015 e em seis livros textos de Bioquímica utilizados no nível superior. O tema foi escolhido por permitir a exemplificação do conceito de pKa e sistema tampão, importante no estudo de estrutura e função de proteínas e enzimas, apesar de considerado árido pelos alunos de graduação da área da Saúde. Em todos os livros de ensino médio foi identificado ao menos um problema que leva à formação de concepções alternativas. Ao contrário, nos livros de ensino superior, o assunto é abordado de forma clara apesar de terem sido identificados alguns vícios de linguagem na descrição da estrutura dos aminoácidos. Ao final, apresentamos uma sugestão de abordagem colaborativa que tem sido bastante eficaz no ensino desse e de assuntos correlatos.

Analyzing the Vocabulary Demands of Introductory College Textbooks

This article describes a study designed to compare the vocabulary demands of introductory college textbooks in several disciplines. The results suggest that the new-vocabulary load in biology textbooks is not as high as that in foreign-language textbooks – as has often been reported – but is higher than in other disciplines. The article concludes with suggestions for helping students manage the vocabulary demands of introductory courses across the curriculum.

Representations of the Nature of Scientific Knowledge in Turkish Biology Textbooks

Considering the impact of textbooks on learning, this study set out to assess representations of the nature of scientific knowledge in Turkish 9 th grade biology textbooks. To this end, the ten most commonly used 9 th grade biology textbooks were analyzed. A qualitative research approach was utilized and the textbooks were analyzed using ethnographic content analysis. Results indicated that the majority of textbooks, despite recent science curriculum reforms in Turkey, failed to cover or present adequate information about the majority of the aspects of scientific knowledge considered in this study. The finding that the majority of​ textbooks reviewed in this study were misleading or had inadequate descriptions of science is worrying and has serious implications for promoting science literacy in Turkey. If the scientific literacy reform efforts of 2007 and 3013 are to be realized, these shortcomings must be addressed.

The lessons of nature in mythology

THE LESSONS OF NATURE IN MYTHOLOGY. Rachel S. McCoppin. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015. 224 p. 978-1476662008. $35.00. AS SOMEONE WHO HAS ALSO LONG LOVED AND TAUGHT the power of (and its relevance to both modern myth--a.k.a. science fiction and fantasy media--and the evolution of science as a discipline), I came to my reading of this book with great interest and enthusiasm. While the latter slightly waned (in direct proportion to the emergence of a certain level of frustration) as the pages were turned, my interest in the overall content of this work did not. McCoppin, Professor of Literature and Humanities in the Department of Liberal Arts and Education at the University of Minnesota Crookston, is the recipient of several teaching awards at her home institution. Some of her previous scholarly works have focused on mythological threads and metaphors in such disparate corners of popular culture as the television series Spartacus, The Grapes of Wrath, and the works of Tim Burton. In the introduction to her book she explains that she has been a student of mythology for over two decades and a teacher of it for half that time. Her self-admitted mantra--and the driving argument behind the work--appears to be that will always be at the forefront of every myth (2). These facts situate McCoppin as someone who is obviously passionate about sharing the beauty, power, and relevance of with both scholarly and pedagogical audiences. The question to be asked is whether or not this work represents a successful attempt to do just that. Normally the cover of any book summarizes the contents in a captivating manner meant to get the potential reader to peer inside and peruse the contents. In this instance the back blurb is rather choppy, appearing to be nothing more than several obvious statements cobbled together. Ironically, this seemingly half-hearted endorsement is a rather honest description of some of the sections of the book itself. It is also noteworthy that the cover does not claim that this work is a fresh or visionary analysis of the subject at hand, using lower level words from Bloom's taxonomy such as identifies and discussed. Again, this is also true of certain segments of the text. In this case, judging a book by its cover does not lead the reader astray. The main body of the work is divided into six chapters, each of which is, in turn, divided into several sections. While the main chapters work as related themes, within each chapter some of the sections are more clearly related to the overall theme of the chapter, and constitute more clearly defined subunits, than some others. The first chapter, Emerging from the Earth, discusses creation myths beginning with Paleolithic evidence. As creation myths deal with not only the birth of the cosmos but of humans as a species, one might be tempted to try and draw connections between ancient and modern evolutionary theory. As this slippery slope can quickly (and unfortunately) descend into pseudoscience, it should be avoided at all cost. McCoppin ignores this warning, and as a result overreaches in her analysis of both creation myths and evolutionary biology. For example, when describing a Zuni wherein all derives from green algae on the surface of the ocean, she makes the assertion that the accuracy of this evolutionary explanation for the beginnings of is astounding (15). However, a simple perusal of the phylogenetic tree of life found in any biology textbook or scientifically correct educational website (e.g. https://naturalhistory.si.edu/ exhibits/darwin/treeoflife.html) clearly demonstrates this assertion to be false. Green algae is not the common ancestor of all extant (or even extinct) forms on our planet. As a whole, this chapter contains an excellent diversity of creation myths, and most of the examples follow a sequential order that enhances her argument that nature is at the root of mythology. …

Analisis Miskonsepsi Pada Buku Ajar Biologi SMA Kelas XII

This research was emerged based on the facts about the presence of many conceptual problems that lead misconceptions in biology textbooks while teachers rely too much on textbooks as learning source in class. This study were aimed to analyze the misconceptions in the high school biology textbook for grade 12 which shall be used by high school students, grade 12 in the city of Binjai, especially for the subjects (growth and development, metabolism, heredity, evolution, and biotechnology) as well as to determine the percentage of misconceptions categories (misidentifications, overgeneralizations, oversimplification, obsolete concept and term, under generalizations). The research method used in this research is descriptive. The concepts contained in the textbook were analyzed by using analysis of documents or textbooks based on the criteria of each misconception categories contained in the instrument for misconceptions identification and then comparedto foreign textbooks. The results of this study showed that: (1) the percentage of misconceptions on the subject of (a) the growth and development (26,09%); (b) metabolism (26,09%); (c) heredity (26,09%); (d) evolution (8,69%); and (e) biotechnology (13,04%); (2) the percentage of misconceptions categories: (a) misidentifications (8,69%); (b) overgeneralizations (17,40%); (c) oversimplifications (69,56%); (d) obsolete concept and term (0,00%); (e) under generalizations (4,35%).

How do machine-generated questions compare to human-generated questions?

Science instructors need questions for use in exams, homework assignments, class discussions, reviews, and other instructional activities. Textbooks never have enough questions, so instructors must find them from other sources or generate their own questions. In order to supply biology instructors with questions for college students in introductory biology classes, two algorithms were developed. One generates questions from a formal representation of photosynthesis knowledge. The other collects biology questions from the web. The questions generated by these two methods were compared to questions from biology textbooks. Human students rated questions for their relevance, fluency, ambiguity, pedagogy, and depth. Questions were also rated by the authors according to the topic of the questions. Although the exact pattern of results depends on analytic assumptions, it appears that there is little difference in the pedagogical benefits of each class, but the questions generated from the knowledge base may be shallower than questions written by professionals. This suggests that all three types of questions may work equally well for helping students to learn.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s41039-016-0031-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Portrayal of Industrial Melanism in American College General Biology Textbooks

The phenomenon of industrial melanism (IM) became widely acknowledged as a well-documented example of natural selection largely as a result of H.B.D. Kettlewell’s pioneering research on the subject in the early 1950s. It was quickly picked up by American biology textbooks starting in the early 1960s and became ubiquitous throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. While recent research on the phenomenon broadly supports Kettlewell’s explanation of IM in the peppered moth, which in turn has strengthened this example of natural selection, textbook IM entries have actually declined in recent years in favor of other examples. In a previous paper, we drew attention to the pivotal role visual aspects played in the introduction of IM into (and its subsequent removal from) textbook accounts. The present article continues this investigation by analyzing textual passages on industrial melanism within a stratified random sample of textbooks from the 1960s to the 2000s. The fact that this example of natural selection was included by multiple publishers independently, in a short period of time, makes it uniquely qualified for a textbook study of this kind. The purpose of the present project was to determine whether these textbooks contain what has come to be known as the standard peppered moth story. Three complete series were also inspected for change across time. Our analysis focused on (1) the amount of text devoted to industrial melanism; (2) what specific science content elements were present; and (3) what, if any, nature of science (NOS) aspects were included. The study documents an increase in the amount of text devoted to industrial melanism over the decades. In spite of this increase, only modest changes in science content and NOS aspects were found.

“A Slavery of Intellect and Morals:” The Scopes Trial, Dean Henry H. Rusby, and University Admission

ABSTRACT“The freedom of a university to make its own judgments as to education includes the selection of its student body,” stated Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1957. During the 1925 Scopes trial, Columbia Pharmacy Dean Henry H. Rusby asserted that colleges should reject the entrance credentials of students taught the Biblical viewpoint on creation. For the next century, college officials worked to make evolution the fundamental basis for postsecondary—and high school—work in biology. A 2006 challenge to University of California entrance requirements established the university’s right to reject the credentials of applicants from schools using creationist biology textbooks, as Rusby desired.