Teaching Bioinformatics and Neuroinformatics by Using Free Web-based Tools

This completely computer-based module''s purpose is to introduce students to bioinformatics resources. We present an easy-to-adopt module that weaves together several important bioinformatic tools so students can grasp how these tools are used in answering research questions. Students integrate information gathered from websites dealing with anatomy (Mouse Brain Library), quantitative trait locus analysis (WebQTL from GeneNetwork), bioinformatics and gene expression analyses (University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser, National Center for Biotechnology Information''s Entrez Gene, and the Allen Brain Atlas), and information resources (PubMed). Instructors can use these various websites in concert to teach genetics from the phenotypic level to the molecular level, aspects of neuroanatomy and histology, statistics, quantitative trait locus analysis, and molecular biology (including in situ hybridization and microarray analysis), and to introduce bioinformatic resources. Students use these resources to discover 1) the region(s) of chromosome(s) influencing the phenotypic trait, 2) a list of candidate genes—narrowed by expression data, 3) the in situ pattern of a given gene in the region of interest, 4) the nucleotide sequence of the candidate gene, and 5) articles describing the gene. Teaching materials such as a detailed student/instructor''s manual, PowerPoints, sample exams, and links to free Web resources can be found at http://mdcune.psych.ucla.edu/modules/bioinformatics.     

Advancing the Boundaries of Higher Education in Arizona Using the World Wide Web

Northern Arizona University (NAU) sought to incorporate the new distance delivery system, the World Wide Web, and the Internet into its distance-learning program in order both to accomplish a mandate from its governing board and to fulfill its distance education mission. To accomplish this change and enlarge the scope of distance education delivery throughout the state, NAU proceeded through a series of strategic steps including (a) a Web course-design initiative; (b) a university-wide grant to promote departmental-level programmatic Web-course curriculum development; (c) a faculty development initiative to train, support and inspire faculty to create high-quality coursework via the World Wide Web; and (d) development of an on-line infrastructure to deliver courses and provide students with all of the services they require to be successful on-line students. Please view NAU Online at http://www.nau.edu/nauonline.     

The Humanities vs. Careerism

ABSTRACT

Integrating research in the classroom experience is recognized as potentially important in enhancing student learning (Price 2001 Price, J. N.. 2001. “Action Research, Pedagogy and Change: The Transformative Potential of Action Research in Pre-Service Teacher Education.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 33 (1): 43–74.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Schmid 1992 Schmid, T. J. 1992. “Classroom-Based Ethnography: A Research Pedagogy.” Teaching Sociology 20 (1): 28–35.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This article asks if student integration as research subjects augments their learning about political science. A quasi-experimental project focused on media usage, construction, and influences on the political context of election competition finds that participation as research subjects fostered increased awareness among students of their own media usage, of media effects on politics and of politics in general. Findings also suggest that this process of learning happens within the context of students' pre-existing ideological frameworks despite experimental controls over ideological exposure.     

The Virtual Classroom Experience: Viewpoints from Computing and Humanities

In this article we first describe the past and current status of educational technology at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) (http://www.njit.edu). We then discuss the main points of deliberation for students, faculty and administrators involving learning via the World Wide Web and other information technologies, such as the Virtual Classroom TM (http://www.vc.njit.edu). Implementation and expansion of Web-based instructional activities at NJIT is occurring in all colleges of the university. In the Computer and Information Science (CIS) and Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) departments, there is an ongoing and concerted effort to find practical applications of technology that meet educational ends. Such productive mergers highlight the complex issues that exist among instructional staff, administrative concerns and distance learning technologies. We conclude with a suggestion as to how such activity, in concert with a more developed communications tec hnology infrastructure, can serve to enhance the educational experience and outcomes of NJIT students.     

The GLOBE Visualization Project: Using WWW in the Classroom

Though commercial interest in the World Wide Web is growing, the potential uses of the medium as a learning tool are numerous. The GLOBE Visualization Project is one such educational application. We have designed and implemented a WWW-based, user-friendly, language-independent, graphical user interface providing access to visualizations created for GLOBE, a multinational program of education and science. The target users of the system are K–12 students and their teachers from over 1100 schools in 39 countries; other clients include the GLOBE scientific investigators and members of the public internationally. Navigation is intuitive, and employs the metaphors of a Control Panel which changes the image appearing in a Viewscreen. The interface can be learned empirically by persons of all ages regardless of technical expertise or native language; context-sensitive help is provided for users who prefer documentation. The GLOBE Visualization server is on the World Wide Web at URL http://globe.gsfc.nasa.gov/globe/.     

A Note on the Validity and Difficulty of Items in form a of the Otis Self-Administering Tests of Mental Ability

Rewards are frequently used in classrooms and recommended as a key component of well-researched methods of cooperative learning (e.g., Slavin, 1995 Slavin, R. E. 1995. Cooperative learning: Theory, research, and practice (, 2nd ed., Needham Heights, MA: Allyn &; Bacon.  [Google Scholar]). While many studies of cooperative learning find beneficial effects of rewards, many studies of individuals find negative effects (e.g., Deci, Koestner, &; Ryan, 1999 Deci, E. L., Koestner, R. and Ryan, R. M. 1999. A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 125: 627–668. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Lepper, 1988 Lepper, M. R. 1988. Motivational considerations in the study of instruction. Cognition and Instruction, 5: 289–309. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This may be because the effects of reward-removal are not typically assessed in studies of cooperative learning whereas they typically are in studies of individuals. Alternatively, rewards and their removal might function differently for groups than individuals. The present study tested the hypothesis that groups would show less detrimental effects of reward-removal than individuals. Results showed a significant interaction where dyads increased their performance after reward-removal, while individuals showed a decrease on difficult transfer questions.     

An online, interactive approach to teaching neuroscience to adolescents

Most of today's students are skilled in instant messaging, Web browsing, online games, and blogs. These have become part of the social landscape and have changed how we learn and where we learn. The question becomes how to harness the attractiveness and ubiquity of electronic venues toward the goal of teaching neuroscience. At the Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, a central focus is the creation of innovative materials that appeal to middle school students. A recent project was undertaken through a Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award (R25 DA15063) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to inform adolescents about the neurobiology of substance abuse and the current research dealing with a class of drugs known as club drugs. Problem-based learning, multimedia pedagogy, and the National Science Content Standards were integrated to produce The Reconstructors, an episodic series available via the World Wide Web at http://reconstructors.rice.edu. A field test of students from five schools assessed the retention of content after "playing" The Reconstructors series titled Nothing to Rave About. Gain scores indicated that middle school students' knowledge about club drugs and the basic neuroscience concepts that explain their effects improved significantly.     

MicroObservatory Net: A Network of Automated Remote Telescopes Dedicated to Educational Use

Many students have a deep interest in astronomy, but a limited opportunity to use telescopes to explore the heavens. The MicroObservatory Network of automated telescopes is designed to provide access to classroom teachers who wish their students to conduct projects over the World Wide Web. The intuitive interface makes it easy for even 10-year-olds to take pictures. Telescopes can be remotely pointed and focused: filters, field of view, and exposure times can be changed easily. Images are archived at the website, along with sample challenges and a user bulletin board, all of which encourage collaboration among schools. Wide geographic separation of instruments provides access to distant night skies during local daytime. Since first light in 1995, we have learned much about remote troubleshooting, designing for unattended use, and for acquiring the kinds of images that students desire. This network can be scaled up from its present capability of 240,000 images each year to provide telescope access for all US students with an interest in astronomy. Our WWW address is http://mo-www.harvard.edu/MicroObservatory/     

Learning environments on the World Wide Web: experiences from Astronomy On-Line

In this article the Astronomy On-Line (AOL) learning experiment on World Wide Web (WWW) is described. As a part of AOL, educational research was carried out. The purpose of this study was to measure how students experience the new medium in their learning and how students utilize the communication facilities (group e-mail, real-time discussion) available through the WWW site. This study also describes the computational facilities available among AOL participants all around Europe     

Active Learning Strategies for the Mathematics Classroom

Active learning involves students engaging with course content beyond lecture: through writing, applets, simulations, games, and more (Prince, 2004 Prince, M. 2004. “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research.” Journal of Engineering Education 93: 223–232.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). As mathematics is often viewed as a subject area that is taught using more traditional methods (Goldsmith &; Mark, 1999 Goldsmith, L. T., &; J. Mark. 1999. “What is a Standards-Based Mathematics Curriculum?”. Educational Leadership 57: 40—44.[Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), there are actually many simple ways to make undergraduate mathematics courses more active, starting with the discussion of the syllabus. This article describes simple ways to turn course introductions, review of prior knowledge, and formative assessment into active learning experiences for students.     

Young Children's Symbol‐Making Tools and Factors Influencing Their Availability,Selection and Use: An International Survey

Families and schools play essential roles introducing children to the tools of their culture, including pencils and other symbol‐making instruments. Child development and education specialists from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America confirm these roles and reveal that symbol‐making tools, as cultural artifacts, reflect countries’ levels of human development, including life expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power.

In countries of low and moderate levels of human development children are more likely to use commercial symbol‐making tools first in schools, not homes. The symbol‐making tools most widely available to young children are pencils and crayons. Yet, when commercial tools are unavailable, children create their own, using objects from the natural environment.

The pencils used by most young children are standard adult‐sized while crayons, brushes, and markers are more varied in size. In most countries children use symbol‐making tools freely and with adult direction. Nonetheless, adult‐directed tool use decreases and free use increases as human development levels rise.

Place of residence, socio‐economic status, teacher and parent educational levels, and commercial availability account for often wide within‐country variations in child access to and use of symbol‐making tools. Finally, symbol‐making tool design and use appear to be based on tradition rather than research.

     

The EUCLIDES methodology and portal An on-line learning environment utilizing PBL and ICT

This paper presents the EUCLIDES （Enhancing the Use of Cooperative Learning to Increase Development of Science Studies） project （134246-LLP-1-2007-1-IT-1-COMENIUS-CMP）, which aims at introducing and pilot-testing an innovative teaching and training methodology, based on the constructivist approach and on problem-based learning （PBL）, through the use of information communication technology （ICT） instruments. This methodology has been developed for the study of science subjects and, is currently used in some European schools of secondary education, involving teachers and students. A moodle platform has been developed to enforce the application and use of the methodology. Through this platform, teachers can monitor the progress of the work of the students and intervene as facilitators when it is necessary to provide further co-ordination, pose questions and suggest problem-based approaches. The use of the platform secures that the teachers remain distant from the students allowing students to work by themselves and find solutions to the problems posed.     

The Role of Collective Efficacy in Closing Student Achievement Gaps: A Mixed Methods Study of School Leadership for Excellence and Equity

Previous research demonstrates that collective efficacy positively predicts students' academic achievement (e.g., Bandura, 1993 Bandura, A. (1993). Perceived self-efficacy in cognitive development and functioning. Educational Psychologist, 28(2), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2802_3[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Goddard et al., 2000 Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., &; Woolfolk Hoy, A. (2000). Collective teacher efficacy: Its meaning, measure, and effect on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 479–507. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312037002479[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, unaddressed by the current literature is whether collective efficacy also works to reduce inequity by closing achievement gaps. To learn about the operation of collective efficacy, we designed a mixed-methods study, situated in the elementary and middle schools of one large urban district in Texas. Hierarchal linear modeling was employed to model the degree to which collective efficacy explained differences among schools in student mathematics achievement and the Black-White achievement gap. We also drew upon focus group data collected at 6 schools. We found that collective efficacy was associated with an increase in mathematics achievement as well a 50% reduction in the academic disadvantage experienced by Black students. Focus groups revealed the importance of school principals in supporting teacher collaboration and peer observation as well as a sustained focus on instructional improvement.     

Evaluation and impact of a reflective training process for rural extension agents

Purpose: This article assesses a non-traditional training methodology for extension agents, focused on the exchange of experiences among peers and the reflection on practice, with the aim of exploring its potential as a training strategy.

Design/Methodology/approach: A quali-quantitative investigation was conducted, which included interviews with extension agents, the use of different questionnaires, and recordings of the evaluation sessions carried out during each workshop.

Findings: This research allowed us to understand the importance of effective group coordination, a participatory climate, working in small groups, and the feedback loop between theory and practice for processes of experience sharing and reflection on practice. Some of the positive effects of the training observed were that extension agents acquired new knowledge and methodologies, reflected critically upon their practice, and put into question their own extension approach.

Practical Implications: Given its potentialities, implementing training processes focused on experience sharing and reflection on practice for rural extension workers, seems advisable.

Theoretical Implications: This article contributes to the understanding of how experience sharing and reflection on practice can generate transformations in rural extension agents’ approaches and positioning.

Originality/Value: This study systematically assesses the impacts that training has on extension workers, as well as the underlying processes that made it possible to generate them.     

Educational management in transitionalized world of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning in Thammasat University

Education reforms in transitionalized world arose first against neo-classical education or ＂humanistic education＂ which resembled classical education in many respects, with the most concern being in both majority and minority of students. Besides, they resembled in that their effects force the instructors teach for the tests, to make the curriculums change to standard, to push the students to become the academic entrepreneurs, etc. Necessarily, the academic of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning in Thammasat University has been adjusted. Then, this quantitative in research approach focuses on educational management guidelines. The open-ended questionnaire and structural interview are main instruments. Percentage, mean, mode, standard deviation, F-test and Pearson-correlation were used for analyzing the data. The research finding reveals that the mainstream and the alternative aspects in the educational management guidelines concern with external factors such as the entrepreneurs＇ satisfaction, the standardization and the students＇ voices. The entrepreneurs＇ satisfaction relates to the general qualifications, identifications and abilities of the graduates under the trend of selecting between government universities and private universities in rate of 3：1. The standardization means new curriculum structure： 25% of general basic courses, 10%-I 5% of elective courses and 60%-65% of architectural program courses. The students＇ voice indicates the reduction on central control and standardized testing.     

Plant Behavior

Plants are a huge and diverse group of organisms ranging from microscopic marine phytoplankton to enormous terrestrial trees. Stunning, and yet some of us take plants for granted. In this plant issue of LSE, WWW.Life Sciences Education focuses on a botanical topic that most people, even biologists, do not think about—plant behavior.Plants are a huge and diverse group of organisms (Figure 1), ranging from microscopic marine phytoplankton (see http://oceandatacenter.ucsc.edu/PhytoGallery/phytolist.html for beautiful images of many species) to enormous terrestrial trees epitomized by the giant sequoia: 300 feet tall, living 3000 years, and weighing as much as 3000 tons (visit the Arkive website, www.arkive.org/giant-sequoia/sequoiadendron-giganteum, for photos and basic information). Stunning, and yet some of us take plants for granted, like a side salad. We may see plants as a focal point during the blooming season or as a nice backdrop for all the interesting things animals do. For this plant issue of CBE—Life Sciences Education, I am going to focus on a botanical topic that most people, even biologists, do not think about—plant behavior.Open in a separate windowFigure 1.Plants are very diverse, ranging in size from microscopic plankton (left, courtesy of University of California–Santa Cruz Ocean Data Center) to the biggest organisms on our planet (right, courtesy Arkive.org).Before digging into plant behavior, let us define what a plant is. All plants evolved from the eukaryotic cell that acquired a photosynthetic cyanobacterium as an endosymbiont ∼1.6 billion years ago. This event gave the lineage its defining trait of being a eukaryote that can directly harvest sunlight for energy. The cyanobacteria had been photosynthesizing on their own for a long time already, but this new “plant cell” gave rise to a huge and diverse line of unicellular and multicellular species. Genome sequences have shed light on the birth and evolution of plants, and John Bowman and colleagues published an excellent review titled “Green Genes” several years ago in Cell (www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867407004618#; Bowman et al., 2007 ). The article has concise information on the origin and evolution of plant groups, including helpful graphics (Figure 2). Of course, plants were classified and subdivided long before DNA analysis was possible. The Encyclopedia of Earth (EOE) is a good website for exploring biological diversity and has an article on plants (www.eoearth.org/view/article/155261) that lays out the major plant groups and their characteristics. It states that there are more than 400,000 described species, a fraction of the estimated total number.Open in a separate windowFigure 2.Genomic analysis has illuminated the relationship among the many species of plants, as illustrated in this phylogeny of three major plant groups from Bowman et al. (2007 , p. 129).The venerable Kew Gardens has an excellent website (Figure 3) that includes extensive pages under the tab Science and Conservation (www.kew.org/science-conservation). It is a beautifully organized website for exploring plant diversity and burrowing into the science of plants, and includes an excellent blog. Ever wonder how many different kinds of flowers there are? You can find out by visiting their feature titled, “How Many Flowering Plants Are There in the World?” There is an interesting video feature on coffee, which describes how only two species out of more than a hundred have come to dominate coffee production for drinking. As the monoculture in Ireland led to the potato blight, a lack of genetic diversity in today''s coffee plants is threatening the world''s coffee supply with the onset of climate change. The possibility of life without coffee is a call to action if ever I have heard one.Open in a separate windowFigure 3.Kew Gardens has a large and informative website that should appeal to gardeners and flower lovers, as well as more serious botanists and ecologists.Classification of plants is challenging for students and teachers alike. Perhaps understandable, given that plants constitute an entire kingdom of life. For an overview, have students read the EOE article as well as the Bowman Cell article to appreciate the enormity and diversity of the organisms we call plants. The EOE article is reproduced on the Encyclopedia of Life website (http://eol.org/info/449), an excellent context for further exploration of diverse plant species. As we probe the topic of plant behavior, the examples will be drawn from the vascular plants that include the many familiar plants commonly called trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables, and weeds.Plants do respond to changes in their environment, but is it fruitful or scientifically valid to say that they have behavior? They lack muscles and nerves, do not have mouths or digestive systems, and are often literally rooted in place. A growing number of plant biologists have embraced the term behavior, as demonstrated by the journal devoted to the subject, Plant Behavior. Their resources page (www.plantbehavior.org/resources.html) is a good place to get oriented to the field.As in so many things, Darwin anticipated important questions concerning the movement of plants, despite the difficulties in observing plant behavior, and in 1880 he published The Power of Movement in Plants. The Darwin Correspondence Project website has a good treatment of Darwin''s work on plants, with interesting anecdotes relating to how he collaborated with his son Francis on this work late in his career (www.darwinproject.ac.uk/power-of-movement-in-plants). You can download Chapter 9 of the book and some of the correspondence between Darwin and his son. The entire book is available at http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1325&viewtype=text&pageseq=1, or in various e-reader formats at the Project Gutenberg website (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5605). The PBS NOVA website, has a feature covering several of Darwin''s “predictions,” including one in which he noted the importance of plant and animal interactions. He famously predicted that a Madagascar orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale), which has a long narrow passage to its nectar stash, must have a long-tongued pollinator. In 1903, biologists identified the giant hawkmoth, with a 12-inch-long proboscis, as the pollinator predicted by Darwin (www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/pred-nf.html).Darwin recognized that plants mostly do things on a timescale that is hard for us to observe, so he devised clever ways to record their movements. Placing a plant behind a pane of glass, he marked the plant''s position on the glass over time using a stationary reference grid placed behind the plant. Darwin transferred the drawing to a sheet of paper before cleaning the glass for the next experiment (Figure 4). By varying the distance between the plant, the reference points, and the glass, he magnified apparent distances to detect even small plant movements over periods as short as minutes. High-definition time-lapse photography and other modern techniques have extended Darwin''s observations in some compelling directions.Open in a separate windowFigure 4.One of Darwin''s drawings that can be found on the Darwin Correspondence Project Web pages devoted to his book The Power of Movement in Plants. For this figure, the position of the cotyledons of a Brassica was marked on a glass plate about every 30 min over a period of more than 10 h.A recent episode of the PBS Nature series, “What Plants Talk About,” epitomizes the increased interest in plant behavior and, unfortunately, some of the hyperbole associated with the field. The time-lapse video sequences and associated science are fascinating, and the entire program can be viewed on the PBS website at http://video.pbs.org/video/2338524490. The home page for the program (Figure 5; www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/what-plants-talk-about/introduction/8228) has two short video clips that are interesting. The video titled “Dodder Vine Sniffs Out Its Prey” is nicely filmed and features some interesting experiments involving plant signaling. It might be instructive to ask students to respond to the vocabulary used in the narration, which unfortunately tries to impart intent and mindfulness to the plant''s activities, and to make sensible experimental results somehow seem shocking. The “Plant Self-Defense” video is a compelling “poison pill” story that needs no narrative embellishment. A plant responds to caterpillars feeding on it by producing a substance that tags them for increased attention from predators. Increased predation reduces the number of caterpillars feeding on the plants. The story offers a remarkable series of complex interactions and evolutionary adaptations. Another documentary, In the Mind of Plants (www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU859ziUoPc), was originally produced in French. Perhaps some experimental interpretations were mangled in translation, but the camera work is consistently excellent.Open in a separate windowFigure 5.The Nature pages of the PBS website have video clips and a short article, as well as the entire hour-long program “What Plants Talk About.” The program features fantastic camera work and solid science, but some questionable narration.Skepticism is part and parcel of scientific thinking, but particular caution may be warranted in the field of plant behavior because of the 1970s book and documentary called The Secret Life of Plants (www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGl4btrsiHk). The Secret Life of Plants was a sensation at the time and was largely responsible for the persistent myths that talking to your plants makes them healthier, that plants have auras, and that plants grow better when played classical music rather than rock. While the program woke people up to the notion that plants indeed do fascinating things, the conclusions based on bad science or no science at all were in the end more destructive than helpful to this aspect of plant science. Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire and other excellent plant books, addresses some of the controversy that dogs the field of plant behavior in an interview on the public radio program Science Friday (http://sciencefriday.com/segment/01/03/2014/can-plants-think.html). His article “The Intelligent Plant” in the New Yorker (www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/23/131223fa_fact_pollan?currentPage=all), covers similar ground.The excellently understated Plants in Motion website (http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion) is a welcome antidote to some of the filmic excesses. The site features dozens of low-definition, time-lapse videos of plants moving, accompanied by straightforward explanations of the experimental conditions and some background on the plants. The lack of narration conveys a refreshing cinema verité quality, and you can choose your own music to play while you watch. Highlights include corn shoots growing toward a light bulb, the rapid response of a mimosa plant to a flame, vines twining, and pumpkins plumping at night. You may have driven past a field of sunflowers and heard the remark that the heads follow the sun, but that is a partial truth. The young buds of the early plants do track the sun, but once they bloom, the tall plants stiffen and every head in the field permanently faces … east! The creators of Plants in Motion curated an exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Gardens called sLowlife (Figure 6). The accompanying video and “essay” (http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/usbg/toc.htm) are excellent, featuring many interesting aspects of plant biology.Open in a separate windowFigure 6.sLowlife is an evocative multimedia essay designed to accompany an exhibit installed at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It features text and video that reveal interesting aspects of plant biology.High-definition time-lapse photography is far from the only tool available to reveal hard-to-observe activities of plants. Greg Asner and colleagues at the Carnegie Airborne Observatory are using informatics to study the dynamic lives of plants at the community ecology level. The Airborne Observatory uses several impressive computer- and laser-enabled techniques (http://cao.stanford.edu/?page=cao_systems) to scan the landscape at the resolution of single leaves on trees and in modalities that can yield information at the molecular level. These techniques can yield insights into how forests respond to heat or water stress or the introduction of a new species. The site has a gallery of projects that are best started at this page: http://cao.stanford.edu/?page=research&pag=5. Here, they are documenting the effect of the Amazon megadrought on the rain forest. The very simple navigation at the top right consists of 15 numbered squares for the different projects. Each project is worth paging through to understand how versatile these aerial-mapping techniques are. They also have six buttons of video pages (http://cao.stanford.edu/?page=videos) that give you a feel for what it might be like to be in the air while collecting the data (Figure 7).Open in a separate windowFigure 7.The Carnegie Airborne Observatory is a flying lab that can collect real-time aerial data on forests at resolutions smaller than a single leaf on a tree.If this Feature seems to have been too conservative about whether plants have behavior, visit the LINV blog (www.linv.org/blog/category/plant-behavior) of the International Laboratory for Plant Neurobiology. The term “plant neurobiology” may be going too far, but the website presents some interesting science. Another fascinating dimension of plant “behavior” is seed dispersal, from seeds that can burrow, to seeds that “fly,” to seeds that are shot like bullets. A couple of websites have some good information and photos of the myriad designs that have evolved to take advantage of air currents for seed dispersal; see http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plfeb99.htm and http://theseedsite.co.uk/sdwind.html. The previously mentioned PBS Nature series also produced a program on seeds, “The Seedy Side of Plants,” which you can view at www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/the-seedy-side-of-plants/introduction/1268. ChloroFilms, a worldwide competition for plant videos, is now in its fourth season, with some really good videos (www.chlorofilms.org). If you love plants, work with plants, or have insights into plant biology, you should consider submitting a video!     

Addressing Science Teacher's Initial Perceptions of the Classroom Uses of Internet and World Wide Web-Based Resource Materials

Teachers are often subject to considerable pressure to utilize the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) in their classrooms. Research suggests, however, that many teachers may not be prepared to make meaningful educational use of the resources available on the Web. This study examines the initial perceptions of educational value of science resource materials available on the WWW, as gathered from a group of science teachers participating in the West Virginia K-12 RuralNet project summer workshop training. The results suggest that while most teachers feel that the WWW does provide a large number of good science resources for educators, few teachers are prepared to make use of these materials in their own classrooms. Possible solutions to this problem include long term training in both technical and curriculum integration, classroom practice during training, and the support of an on-line community of peers.