How Can We Improve Problem Solving in Undergraduate Biology? Applying Lessons from 30 Years of Physics Education Research

If students are to successfully grapple with authentic, complex biological problems as scientists and citizens, they need practice solving such problems during their undergraduate years. Physics education researchers have investigated student problem solving for the past three decades. Although physics and biology problems differ in structure and content, the instructional purposes align closely: explaining patterns and processes in the natural world and making predictions about physical and biological systems. In this paper, we discuss how research-supported approaches developed by physics education researchers can be adopted by biologists to enhance student problem-solving skills. First, we compare the problems that biology students are typically asked to solve with authentic, complex problems. We then describe the development of research-validated physics curricula emphasizing process skills in problem solving. We show that solving authentic, complex biology problems requires many of the same skills that practicing physicists and biologists use in representing problems, seeking relationships, making predictions, and verifying or checking solutions. We assert that acquiring these skills can help biology students become competent problem solvers. Finally, we propose how biology scholars can apply lessons from physics education in their classrooms and inspire new studies in biology education research.     

A Historical Reinterpretation of the Forces Underlying the First State Legislation for Physical Education in the Public Schools of the U.S.

Abstract

During the twentieth century state legislative action has provided a broad base for the positive development of physical education programs in the nation's public schools. State legislation for physical education, extremely limited and often abortive in its infancy during the second half of the nineteenth century, has now reached almost avalanche-like proportions. Prior to the twentieth century few attempts were made by any of the United States to instrument governmental action on the subject of physical education — a subject which, even then, was becoming of increasing concern to educators and certain factions of the lay public. In an investigation of the country's first state laws for physical education, California emerges as the “founding father.” Further, three rather distinct factors underlying the state's pioneer efforts must be considered as having been instrumental in the evolutionary process. They are: (1) John Swett; (2) the early California Turners; and (3) Adele Parot. All three forces combined to lay a foundation and erect a framework for legislation leading to physical education in the nation's public schools.     

Teaching Machines: General Purpose and Special Purpose

The main purpose of this paper is to present and clarify the subdivision of teaching machines into the General Purpose and Special Purpose categories. Initial defining of: Teaching Machines, General Purpose Teaching Machines, Special Purpose Teaching Machines, and Teaching Machine Technology will establish a frame of reference within which this paper will be presented. The distinctions between the general purpose and special purpose teaching machines will be in the areas of the motivations of each type, the differences in the-basic functional block diagrams, if any, and the applications of each type to technical training and engineering education. A prediction is also given.     

‘They shall grow not old’: An analysis of trends in memorialisation based on information held by the UK national inventory of war memorials

This chapter of Cultural Trends discusses ways in which war memorials demonstrate changing cultural or societal trends in the UK through their various forms and functions, and through the evolution of memorialisation itself.

It introduces the UK National Inventory of War Memorials, an archive which was established in 1989 and which records details of memorials throughout the UK. The chapter is based on data and detailed examples taken from the 47,000 records currently input on the archive's database and it explores those records to examine memorials commemorating the Boer Wars, First and Second World Wars and the Korean War, in particular.

The first section considers general issues regarding war memorials in the UK ‐ the ways in which memorial styles have changed, and how these reflect changing attitudes towards those who served in the armed forces in the late 19th and 20th centuries.

The second section is about the pragmatics of memorialisation, and focuses on the significance of where memorials are positioned, whether inside or out and within public or private spaces; the increase in secularisation; the geographical spread of memorials; and issues related to urban and rural memorialisation.

The third section considers the evolution of memorials from being a focus for grief for those whose friends and relations’ bodies were not returned, to manifesting veterans groups’ assertions of their identity many years after a conflict. The physical movement of memorials is also covered, ranging from memorials which have been lost or neglected, through to memorials being moved in order to preserve them so that remembrance services can continue. Peaks and troughs of memorialisation through the 20th century are also considered.

To conclude, the fourth section pulls together various threads drawn throughout the chapter, analysing memorials chronologically, geographically, stylistically and in terms of their relative ‘popularity’.     

Practical criticism examined

Compare the following two poems in whatever ways seem to you to be interesting. (Oxford and Cambridge, 1980)
Compare and contrast the following poems, paying regard to such matters as subject, form, style and total impression, and showing what you like or dislike about them. (London, 1980)
Comment on one of the following (i.e. a poem or prose passage). Consider such things as subject matter, meaning, and the features of style which contribute to its full effect. (Oxford, 1981)
Write a critical evaluation of the following poem, referring to such matters as theme, feeling and tone, verse form and imagery. UMB, 1980)