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This paper considers the topic of student wellbeing using the lens of a different type of support mechanism -- 'dog borrowing' -- which builds on prior research about emotion work and human-animal interactions but in the context of student transitions and pastoral care in higher education. This novel study was about the experiences of students settling into their university life and how, through a facilitated opportunity for students to connect to a dog and community partners, universities can meet mental health standards for wellbeing support. The findings outlined in this paper provide new insight into; how the university ethos and environment can be viewed as more personalised and emotionally supportive, how different kinds of relationships can support emotion state regulation conducive to wellbeing and effective learning and the ways that a human-animal bond can enhance connection with the community and provide social support for university students who have moved away from home.

An innovative series of dissections of the canine abdomen was created to facilitate social distancing in the dissection room following COVID-19 restrictions imposed in the UK. In groups of six, first-year veterinary students took turns dissecting selected parts of the canine abdomen while maintaining social distancing and documenting their work with video and photographs. Here, students learned about the canine abdominal anatomy by dissecting, recording the dissections of others in their group, and compiling the recorded material into a collaborative electronic media portfolio (Wiki). An online formative multiple-choice test was created to test students' knowledge of the canine abdominal anatomy. The result analysis showed that although students achieved the learning outcomes only by studying the Wiki, they had better performance in the anatomical areas where they learned through the dissection (p < 0.05). Student performance was very similar in the areas in which they were present in the dissection room and participated in recording the dissection compared with the areas that they effectively dissected (p > 0.05). A qualitative thematic analysis was developed to understand students' opinions via their feedback on this dissection approach. Our results showed that student collaboration and the development of practical skills were the most valued aspects of this dissection teaching initiative. Moreover, these results show that developing a group Wiki has a positive impact on student achievement of learning objectives, with a practical hands-on dissection being fundamental for the optimal learning of the canine abdominal anatomy.

A capacity-building programme between a veterinary school in the UK and the veterinary school in Sri Lanka was developed. Scholarships for two distance learning MSc programmes were offered to Sri Lankan veterinarians: 'Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health' and 'Livestock Health and Production'. In addition, scholarships were offered to academic staff members at the veterinary school to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate in Veterinary Education. A blended learning approach was taken, though the majority of learning was by distance. This study used a case-study approach to assess the programmes' impact at different levels: individual, institutional, institution's students, the profession, the public and animals. Previous students were interviewed and current students participated in a focus group. Staff of the Sri Lankan university were interviewed. Data were transcribed and qualitative content analysis conducted. Participants had achieved personal satisfaction, gained new knowledge and skills and progressed professionally. These impacts translated to societal impacts including disseminating understanding of One Health, improving animal welfare laws and assisting the development of the undergraduate veterinary curriculum. The graduates from the blended learning programmes are experts at the centre of a new community of practice and have the ability to inspire future generations of Sri Lankan veterinary surgeons.

Canine-assisted activities in schools can benefit students' educational, emotional, and social needs. Furthermore, they could be an effective form of non-clinical mental health treatment for children and adolescents. In the United Kingdom, school dogs are growing in popularity, however, little is known about how parents perceive canine-assisted activities as a treatment option. This is important as parental perceptions can influence engagement, whilst lack of awareness can become a barrier to treatment. This study uses a cross-sectional design to quantitatively explore the acceptability of canine-assisted activities amongst UK-based parents (n = 318) of children aged six to 16 (M = 10.12, SD = 3.22). An online survey used a treatment evaluation to determine acceptability across three use-cases. These included a child reading to dogs to improve literacy skills, a child interacting one-to-one to foster greater self-esteem and social skills, and a classroom dog to improve student behaviour and motivation. Additionally, the scale for generalised anxiety disorder was used to rank child anxiety as high or low, where high was a score equal to or above the UK clinical borderline threshold. The results found canine-assisted activities were less acceptable for the behavioural than the reading and social use-cases. Furthermore, parents of children with high anxiety had higher acceptability scores than parents of children with low anxiety for the reading and social use-cases but not for the behavioural use case. These findings suggest that UK parents' acceptability of canine-assisted activities in schools is mediated by child anxiety score. Furthermore, that parents may be less aware of the benefits of classroom dogs than other types of school-based canine-assisted activities.

The author relates their involvement in the process of testing a picture storybook to teach science concepts. The project asked: If children were learning through a story where the science content was explicit, would children be able to explain the science in the context of the story and then in real-world contexts? Would the learning become embedded? In this article, the author helps to develop a picture storybook to teach science concepts and compares it with a non-fiction text. To compare learning from the picture book with non-fiction texts, the author compared the effect of reading a non-fiction text with reading the story.

Biodiversity-monitoring citizen science schemes provide valuable long-term monitoring data and benefit participants. There is increasing interest in engaging young people with nature. The British Trust for Ornithology's 'What's Under Your Feet?' project shows how schoolchildren can monitor soil invertebrates. Although individual projects like this are often funding- and time-limited, more generic long-term biodiversity-monitoring citizen science schemes may be equally suitable for school participation. Exemplar schemes from the UK are reviewed, and the potential advantages in school participation for teachers and students are highlighted in order to raise awareness of this potential opportunity

Background: Adopting a vegetarian diet is becoming increasingly popular within the UK, for reasons such as perceived health benefits and concerns over animal welfare. The study explores attitudes towards vegetarianism/veganism among adults with learning disabilities. Materials and Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight people with learning disabilities who did not eat meat across the UK. Results: Participants who adopted a meat-free diet did so predominantly for animal welfare. Participants cared passionately about the welfare of animals but were reluctant to advocate their lifestyle to other people with learning disabilities, where they are in the minority for their dietary choices. Participants felt most people with learning disabilities were not made aware of the reality that animals are killed for food and that they should have accessible information to make an informed choice about whether to eat meat. Conclusions: Holding the identity as a vegetarian could potentially facilitate integration into mainstream organisations where people hold similar ethical beliefs; however, this is unlikely unless organisations increase their inclusivity such as providing accessible information.

Background: Reading to Dogs (RTD) interventions have become increasingly prevalent in UK primary schools. However, there is a need for research examining teachers' perspectives on RTD, as this could be key in influencing the uptake and adherence to school RTD interventions. Purpose: This study sought to examine primary school teachers' views of RTD in schools, exploring perceived benefits and challenges, in addition to their experience of RTD interventions. Methods: The sample was gathered through voluntary/self-selecting participation in an open questionnaire-based survey shared through UK online teaching forums. In total, 253 UK primary school teachers (with varying knowledge and experience of RTD) completed the questionnaire, which focused on benefits and challenges associated with RTD identified in existing literature. More specifically, teachers' perspectives of reading, social, emotional and behavioural benefits, and challenges (e.g. paperwork, time commitment, allergies, child/staff/dog welfare) were examined. Also, 59 teachers provided additional written comments regarding benefits and challenges associated with RTD. Results: Teachers' perspectives on RTD were generally very positive; perceptions of benefits to social, emotional and behavioural outcomes were more positive than those associated with reading outcomes. Furthermore, teachers perceived greater benefits to children's reading affect (e.g. motivation, confidence) than their reading frequency or skill. In general, teachers reported low concerns about the challenges associated with RTD; qualitative responses suggested that, while these challenges were real, they were not seen as insurmountable. Finally, teachers with greater knowledge and/or experience of RTD were more positive about its benefits and had fewer concerns about the challenges, although there were some exceptions. Additional written responses provided qualitative insights into teachers' experiences of RTD. Implications and conclusion: Overall, UK primary school teachers in our sample were very positive about RTD; while they acknowledged challenges, these were not regarded as barriers to implementation. Furthermore, teachers could provide useful insights into the benefits and challenges associated with RTD from a practical and pedagogical perspective. Indeed, this study highlights the importance of gaining teachers' perspectives of interventions that affect them and their pupils. Understanding teachers' varied perspectives, and experiences, of educational interventions is essential to ensure that their professional and pedagogical knowledge feeds into future intervention design and implementation, in addition to future research and evaluation.

The psychological well-being of university students is a growing concern, both in the UK and globally. In light of emerging research on the benefits of therapy dogs for student well-being, this study compared the use of therapy dogs to more conventional methods for improving students' well-being. Ninety-four university students were randomly assigned to one of three 30-minute treatment sessions: dog therapy, mindfulness, or the control group (the university's standard treatment -- a session with a student well-being advisor). All participants completed an anxiety and mood scale, both immediately before and after their allocated session. The results found that whilst all three groups showed a significant decrease in anxiety after their treatment, only the dog therapy and mindfulness groups' showed anxiety levels that were at or below normal levels. Both groups also reported post-treatment anxiety levels which were significantly lower than those of the controls. Both groups also showed a significant improvement in mood after treatment, whereas the control group did not. The findings of this study therefore suggest that the use of therapy dogs is as effective as mindfulness in reducing students' anxiety and improving their well-being. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed further below.

Live animal shows, which combine animal facts with trained behaviours, are commonly used to engage zoo visitors globally. However, such shows have been criticised for portraying a potentially unhelpful image of 'performing animals' and have raised issues of animal welfare ethics. Little is known about the educational effectiveness of these shows. Furthermore, the impact of 'tricks', used as attention-grabbing hooks, has received limited research attention. We evaluated the impact of a sea lion and a mixed species bird show on audience knowledge of animal facts. Over a quarter of zoo visitors attended some form of live animal show, demonstrating quantitatively that they are a major potential source of knowledge transfer. Show audiences were questioned immediately before (n = 299) or after (n = 265) each performance about relevant show content knowledge. Additionally, a general zoo visitor survey (n = 160) investigated post-visit knowledge recall. Audiences demonstrated significantly higher animal knowledge post-show compared to pre-show. Conservation action awareness showed weak positive change post-show. Audience education levels and weather conditions also had a weak positive effect on correct responses. However, animals performing trick-type behaviours were found to cause confusion regarding natural adaptations. We conclude that live animal shows should prioritise natural behaviours with a focus on conservation action.

Despite the uncontested importance of anatomy as one of the foundational aspects of undergraduate veterinary programs, there is still limited information available as to what anatomy knowledge is most important for the graduate veterinarian in their daily clinical work. The aim of this study was therefore to gain a deeper understanding of the role that anatomy plays in first opinion small animal veterinary practice. Using ethnographic methodologies, the authors aimed to collect rich qualitative data to answer the question "How do first opinion veterinarians use anatomy knowledge in their day-to-day clinical practice?" Detailed observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five veterinarians working within a single small animal first opinion practice in the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis was undertaken, identifying five main themes: Importance; Uncertainty; Continuous learning; Comparative and dynamic anatomy; and Communication and language. Anatomy was found to be interwoven within all aspects of clinical practice; however, veterinarians were uncertain in their anatomy knowledge. This impacted their confidence and how they carried out their work. Veterinarians described continually learning and refreshing their anatomy knowledge in order to effectively undertake their role, highlighting the importance of teaching information literacy skills within anatomy curricula. An interrelationship between anatomy use, psychomotor, and professional skills was also highlighted. Based on these findings, recommendations were made for veterinary anatomy curriculum development. This study provides an in-depth view within a single site small animal general practice setting: further work is required to assess the transferability of these findings to other areas of veterinary practice.

Carol Bostrom describes how she used frogs as a starting point for learning to leap forward as curiosity spread beyond the classroom. She believed that this would take the children's engagement with learning a step further, arouse their curiosity and enable them to appreciate the need to be respectful and considerate of other living things. She also believed that it would help with behaviour and self-esteem of the students by studying real animals in the science class. She and the students found this was a great opportunity to widen their scientific enquiry and explore more of the non-statutory science. It brought them together as a class and she is sure the children will remember this scientific experience for a long time.

The experience of visiting a zoo as a child can be remembered decades later and potentially influences future environmental attitudes. In light of steadily growing criticism of the ethics and value of live animal shows, some zoos are seeking alternative means of delivering 'edutainment' to a broad audience. One such alternative is through theatre. We examine whether a family-orientated zoo theatre performance achieved animal knowledge and conservation awareness impacts. Impact was demonstrated if individuals correctly stated more animal and conservation facts post-performance compared to pre-performance. The theatre production was seen to have a very strong positive effect on both children's (pre-performance s.d.=1.69, post-performance s.d.=1.79 effect size (d)=0.70, w = 4403.5, p = 0.001) and adults' (pre-performance s.d.=1.88, post-performance s.d.=2.14, effect size (d)=0.71, w = 1931.5, p = 0.001) learning. Significantly more correct answers were given post-performance compared to pre-performance. We conclude that educational, family theatre can effectively deliver animal information and raise awareness of conservation efforts within a leisure setting. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact of theatre on conservation actions. Comparative studies between live animal shows and theatre could establish the best methods for conveying conservation information to zoo visitors.

In this paper we discuss the development and running of a residential animal behaviour field trip. The trip has a number of elements that challenge and develop the students. First, this trip is open to students at levels two, three and M. This allows us to engineer a certain amount of peer assisted learning. Second, the students live together and have to cook and maintain the property. This leads to teamwork and sensible methods of dealing with disagreement. Third, the academic work is curiosity led. We expose the students to a number of field sites and allow questions to naturally emerge. From these questions we can develop project hypotheses. Fourth, the students develop appropriate methods for observation and analysis. Fifth, theory is gradually introduced through discussion in the field, the accommodation and at a drop in surgery at the tavern where they can talk one-to-one with a staff member. Finally, when back at university, they can engage in more formal supervision to complete their project. The benefits of this approach are many but include developing a sense of the scientific process, which is lacking in the more prescriptive class-based assessments that typically form research methods teaching. Finally, all of the students report feeling better prepared for future scientific project work.

This paper addresses the issue of how we might be able to assess productive vocabulary size in second language learners. It discusses some previous attempts to develop measures of this sort, and argues that a fresh approach is needed in order to overcome some persistent problems that dog research in this area. The paper argues that there might be some similarities between assessing productive vocabularies--where many of the words known by learners do not actually appear in the material we can extract them from--and counting animals in the natural environment. If this is so, then there might be a case for adapting the capture-recapture methods developed by ecologists to measure animal populations. The paper reports a preliminary attempt to develop this analogy. (Contains 4 tables.)

As well as providing a valuable and enjoyable experience for pupils, outdoor learning also enhances and contextualises learning in science by helping pupils understand science concepts. Teachers' lack of confidence in which aspects of the science curriculum they can actually teach outdoors deters them from venturing outside the classroom for science lessons. This article provides some tried-and-tested strategies that were developed as part of a whole-school project to develop the teaching of science beyond the classroom boundaries. The following sections are included to assist teachers in planning for outdoor science lessons: (1) Planning for outdoor lessons; (2) What aspects of the science curriculum can be taken outdoors?; (3) Outdoor science project learning goals; and (4) What resources are required for an outdoor science curriculum?

"BioBlitz" events are popular local wildlife surveys often engaging public audiences in a race against time to find, identify, and record as many different species as possible in a given timeframe. This study provides baseline assessment of the value of BioBlitz as a tool for public engagement and collection of environmental data in the United Kingdom. We conclude that, collectively, BioBlitz events provide participants with an enjoyable learning experience, engage new audiences in biodiversity issues, and inspire positive action. Challenges of verification and consolidation of BioBlitz records make the value of these data to the wider environmental sector difficult to quantify.

This study describes the impact of pet dogs on stress of primary carers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stress levels of 38 primary carers acquiring a dog and 24 controls not acquiring a dog were sampled at: Pre-intervention (17 weeks before acquiring a dog), post-intervention (3-10 weeks after acquisition) and follow-up (25-40 weeks after acquisition), using the Parenting Stress Index. Analysis revealed significant improvements in the intervention compared to the control group for Total Stress, Parental Distress and Difficult Child. A significant number of parents in the intervention group moved from clinically high to normal levels of Parental Distress. The results highlight the potential of pet dogs to reduce stress in primary carers of children with an ASD.

The short view of inheritance is that it is about what every organism gets from its parents, one generation to the next. Young children appreciate that offspring have strong similarities with their parents. A longer perspective embraces the similarities and diversity in relatives' features; it includes the characteristics of predecessors within and beyond the extended family, to include members of a species going back thousands of generations. In this longer view, the slow but significant changes we call "evolution" make sense. Evolution connects ideas of inheritance from the pool of variation over "deep time" that give rise to evolutionary change as a response to shifting environmental circumstances. From this explanation emerges an elegant and complex way of understanding the world. This article is about the authors sharing some of their insight and research into teaching evolution and inheritance to younger students.

Safety signals provide "relief" through predicting the absence of an aversive event. At issue is whether these signals also act as instrumental reinforcers. Four experiments were conducted using a free-operant lever-press avoidance paradigm in which each press avoided shock and was followed by the presentation of a 5-sec auditory safety signal. When given a choice between two levers in Experiment 1, both avoiding shock, rats preferentially responded on the lever that produced the safety signal as feedback, even when footshock was omitted. Following avoidance training with a single lever in Experiment 2, removal of the signal led to a decrease in avoidance responses and an increase in responses during the safety period normally denoted by the signal. These behavioral changes demonstrate the dual conditioned reinforcing and fear inhibiting properties of the safety signal. The associative processes that support the reinforcing properties of a safety signal were tested using a novel revaluation procedure. Prior experience of systemic morphine during safety signal presentations resulted in an increased rate of avoidance responses to produce the safety signal during a drug-free extinction test, a finding not seen with d-amphetamine in Experiment 3. Morphine revaluation of the safety signal was repeated in Experiment 4 followed by a drug-free extinction test in which responses did not produce the signal for the first 10 min of the session. Instrumental avoidance in the absence of the signal was shown to be insensitive to prior signal revaluation, suggesting that the signal reinforces free-operant avoidance behavior through a habit-like mechanism.

Throughout the United Kingdom's (UK's) primary science curriculum, there are numerous opportunities for teachers to use the farming industry as a rich and engaging real-world context for science learning. Teachers can focus on the animals and plants on the farm as subjects for children to learn about life processes. They can turn attention anywhere along the production chain and will see examples of the application of accessible biology, chemistry and physics. Teachers can use the farmed environment as a context to explore habitats, biodiversity and human impact. In this article, the author explores the key role of the farm in teaching science as well as wider educational benefits and suggests activities to engage and excite.

Task-cuing experiments are usually intended to explore control of task set. But when small stimulus sets are used, they plausibly afford learning of the response associated with a combination of cue and stimulus, without reference to tasks. In 3 experiments we presented the typical trials of a task-cuing experiment: a cue (colored shape) followed, after a short or long interval, by a digit to which 1 of 2 responses was required. In a tasks condition, participants were (as usual) directed to interpret the cue as an instruction to perform either an odd/even or a high/low classification task. In a cue + stimulus ? response (CSR) condition, to induce learning of mappings between cue-stimulus compound and response, participants were, in Experiment 1, given standard task instructions and additionally encouraged to learn the CSR mappings; in Experiment 2, informed of all the CSR mappings and asked to learn them, without standard task instructions; in Experiment 3, required to learn the mappings by trial and error. The effects of a task switch, response congruence, preparation, and transfer to a new set of stimuli differed substantially between the conditions in ways indicative of classification according to task rules in the tasks condition, and retrieval of responses specific to stimulus-cue combinations in the CSR conditions. Qualitative features of the latter could be captured by an associative learning network. Hence associatively based compound retrieval can serve as the basis for performance with a small stimulus set. But when organization by tasks is apparent, control via task set selection is the natural and efficient strategy.

The STEM team at the University of Worcester support STEM activities in schools in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. Part of this help includes suggesting activities for STEM clubs. As the biologist on the team author, Sue Howarth was asked by teachers for ideas to use in biology clubs. This article was prompted by feedback that these ideas might be useful to a wider audience. Some ideas for activities for biology clubs are shown in Figure 1. These ideas are explored in more detail in the following sections. Most of the activities described could be modified to suit students, aged between 11 and 19 years, of different abilities and enthusiasms. A number of the activities could also be amended to suit science clubs that are not specifically focused on biology.

This article draws on insights taken from Lacanian psychoanalysis to rethink and resituate notions of the self and subjectivity within the theory and practice of experiential leadership development. Adopting an autoethnographic approach, it describes the author's own experience as a participant in a program of equine-assisted learning or "horse whispering" and considers the consequences of human-animal interactions as a tool for self-development and improvement. Through an analysis of this human-animal interaction, the article presents and applies three Lacanian concepts of "subjectivity," "desire," and "fantasy" and considers their form and function in determining the often fractured relationship between self and other that characterizes leader-follower relations.

This paper demonstrates that an informal field trip can have a lasting impact upon aspects of learning in a primary school context. Specifically, we consider the longer term impact of an informal trip to a rocky shore upon scores achieved in literacy assessments taking place five months after a relevant five months after a fieldwork. Pupils provided with an opportunity to write about organisms that they had encountered during the field trip and with which they were therefore familiar achieved higher literacy levels than those children writing about less familiar animals that had not been encountered during fieldwork. Specific improvement in the ability of the children to use specialised vocabulary and elaborated descriptive were recorded. Our work adds to the growing body of research evidence that demonstrates the benefits of outdoor learning experiences focused upon ecology/biology across the wider curriculum.

One of the roles of the modern zoo is to provide environmental education. Zoo visitation comprises primarily family groups seeking to spend time together. There is potential for tension between message and audience expectation as zoos seek to raise awareness of the effects of irresponsible human behavior on the environment. This may unsettle family visitors. This study explored levels of tolerance of the zoo audience to a disturbing exhibition covering broad environmental themes. Results showed that participants were prepared to reflect on the content and at times feelings were sufficiently strong for zoo visitors to challenge one another's beliefs. The delicate positioning of zoos as environmental education providers is discussed. (Contains 6 figures and 1 table.)

In this article, the authors describe St Peter's Primary School's and Honiton Primary School's experiences of keeping chickens. The authors also describe the benefits they bring and the reactions of the children. (Contains 5 figures.)

A problem that is still unexplored in the field of socioscientific issues (SSI) and that was explored in this study is how different students decide upon a SSI they are discussing, how their justifications change during the instruction and how they use (or not) the evidence from the learning environment to support their justifications. For the purposes of this study, two classes (12-13-year-old students) with diverse characteristics were selected from two different schools in the UK. Class A students, considered high achievers come from a white-British background. Class B students considered average achievers come from an Asian British background. The students engaged in discussions regarding a SSI (Should we kill the grey squirrel to save the red?), supported by an online learning environment. Students' written arguments, classroom discussions, and classroom observations were collected and analysed. The findings suggest that even though the two classes engaged with the same learning environment, the decisions and justifications provided by the pairs in the two classes were quite distinct. The students used the evidence from the learning environment in ways which supported their decision, and tended to ignore evidence if these contradicted their decision. Furthermore, students' justifications support the hypothesis that their decision was based on whether they identified with the actors of the issue. Implications for research include exploring how students identify with the actors of a SSI to enable us to support them overcoming their personal narratives and becoming critical evaluators of scientific knowledge. (Contains 11 tables and 2 figures.)

Invertebrate model organisms are powerful systems for uncovering conserved principles of animal biology. Despite widespread use in scientific communities, invertebrate research is often severely undervalued by laypeople. Here, we present a set of simple, inexpensive public outreach exercises aimed at explaining to the public why basic research on one particular invertebrate, the insect "Drosophila melanogaster", is valuable. First, we designed seven teaching modules that highlight cutting-edge research in "Drosophila" genetics, metabolism, physiology, and behavior. We then implemented these exercises in a public outreach event that included both children and adults. Quantitative evaluation of participant feedback suggests that these exercises (1) teach principles of animal biology, (2) help laypeople better understand why researchers study fruit flies, and (3) are effective over a wide range of age groups. Overall, this work provides a blueprint for how to use "Drosophila" as a vehicle for increasing public awareness and appreciation of basic research on genetically tractable insects in particular and invertebrates in general. (Contains 4 figures and 1 footnote.)

Psychiatric disorders such as drug addiction represent one of the biggest challenges to society. This article reviews clinical and basic science research to illustrate how developments in research methodology have enabled neuroscientists to understand more about the brain mechanisms involved in addiction biology. Treating addiction represents a major challenge and current therapies are limited. Although short-term reductions in drug-taking are achieved, a significant proportion of patients relapse after several months; understanding why this occurs and finding treatments to prevent relapse to drug-taking are major challenges for the 21st century. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)

This study investigated the effects of experimentally modifying interpretation biases for children's cognitions, avoidance behavior, anxiety vulnerability, and physiological responding. Sixty-seven children (6-11 years) were randomly assigned to receive a positive or negative interpretation bias modification procedure to induce interpretation biases toward or away from threat about ambiguous situations involving Australian marsupials. Children rapidly learned to select outcomes of ambiguous situations, which were congruent with their assigned condition. Furthermore, following positive modification, children's threat biases about novel ambiguous situations significantly decreased, whereas threat biases significantly increased after negative modification. In response to a stress-evoking behavioral avoidance test, positive modification attenuated behavioral avoidance compared to negative modification. However, no significant effects of bias modification on anxiety vulnerability or physiological responses to this stress-evoking Behavioral Avoidance Task were observed. (Contains 1 table and 2 figures.)

The setting: the science classroom. The characters: you and your students. The scene: Your students acting out scientific discoveries, modeling a frog's life cycle, mimicking the transition from liquid to solid. This is "dramatic science", a teaching approach that uses acting techniques to explore and develop young children's ideas about science. This article describes how this creative approach can be used to develop science process skills and a passion for science in your students. (Contains 1 figure.)

As ideas about effective conservation of biodiversity develop, zoos are adapting their roles to meet the new challenges. This article considers these changes, using the work of Bristol and other UK zoos as a case study. The significance of zoos in both global and local conservation of biodiversity, their role in promoting public engagement and mass action, and their increasingly important role in formal education are discussed, all in terms of driving the changes urgently needed to ensure a sustainable future. (Contains 15 figures.)

We explored the amount and timing of temporal synchrony necessary to facilitate prenatal perceptual learning using an animal model, the bobwhite quail. Quail embryos were exposed to various audiovisual combinations of a bobwhite maternal call paired with patterned light during the late stages of prenatal development and were tested postnatally for evidence of prenatal auditory learning of the familiarized call. Results revealed that a maternal call paired with a single pulse of light synchronized with one note of the five note call was sufficient to facilitate embryos' prenatal perceptual learning of the entire call. A synchronous note occurring at the onset of the call burst was most effective at facilitating learning. These findings highlight quail embryos' remarkable sensitivity to temporal synchrony and indicate its role in promoting learning of redundantly specified stimulus properties during prenatal development. (Contains 3 tables and 4 figures.)

Biodiversity means the variety of life in all its forms. It includes the variety of species and ecosystems in the world, and genetic variation. Invertebrates are one of the largest and most accessible groups of animals for primary children to study. In this article, the author explains why and how children should engage with the idea of biodiversity. She stresses the study of invertebrates, such as earthworms and ants, which offers an important window on biodiversity in a significant habitat--soil. Revealing the biological diversity of these animals and their myriad roles in the web of life engages children with a concept that is crucial to life on Earth.

This article shares the story of Lucy Bryson, who was hooked on crack cocaine and heroin when she was 17, and was working the streets to fund her addiction. Her future looked bleak when she was imprisoned four years ago but a project that builds trust and responsibility in young people by teaching them to work with animals has transformed her life. When she went to the prison chapel, Lucy met a group of young women from Victory Outreach UK, an organisation which provides "Christian homes" for vulnerable young people, including ex-offenders, drug addicts, alcoholics and the homeless. She joined a project run by one of the organisation's homes, based near Usk in South Wales, which helps young people break down barriers in their lives through caring for animals. Working at the project, she saw the difference working with animals could make to damaged young people and wanted to be a part of it. Four years on, Lucy is Animal Manager at the centre, helping "broken" young people, many with backgrounds as difficult as her own, rebuild their lives. Today, Lucy is a different person. She is now considered as a role model to the young people she works with.

This experiment examined the relationship between reinforcer magnitude and quantitative measures of performance on progressive-ratio schedules. Fifteen rats were trained under a progressive-ratio schedule in seven phases of the experiment in which the volume of a 0.6-M sucrose solution reinforcer was varied within the range 6-300 microliters. Overall response rates in successive ratios conformed to a bitonic equation derived from Killeen's (1994) Mathematical Principles of Reinforcement. The "specific activation" parameter, "a," which is presumed to reflect the incentive value of the reinforcer, was a monotonically increasing function of reinforcer volume; the "response time" parameter,delta, which defines the minimum response time, increased as a function of reinforcer volume; the "currency" parameter, beta, which is presumed to reflect the coupling of responses to the reinforcer, declined as a function of volume. Running response rate (response rate calculated after exclusion of the postreinforcement pause) decayed monotonically as a function of ratio size; the index of curvature of this function increased as a function of reinforcer volume. Postreinforcement pause increased as a function of ratio size. Estimates of "a" derived from overall response rates and postreinforcement pauses showed a modest positive correlation across conditions and between animals. Implications of the results for the quantification of reinforcer value and for the use of progressive-ratio schedules in behavioral neuroscience are discussed. (Contains 1 table and 7 figures.)

The attentional blink (AB) is a robust phenomenon that has been consistently reported in the cognitive literature. The AB is found when two target images (T1, T2) are presented within 500 ms of each other and errors are induced on the perceptual report of T2. The AB may increase when T1 has some salience to the viewer. This study examined the effects of using pictures of children as T1 on the AB in a sample of child molesters. A larger AB emerged in this sample when T1 was a picture of a child compared with when T1 was a picture of an animal. It is argued that this task may be potentially useful to assess child molesters' level of interest in children. (Contains 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)

A combination of factors including longer working hours, emphasis on professional development, and increased access to the Internet have fuelled the current high demand for distance learning options in tertiary biology. Distance learner students come from a heterogeneous pool of ages, backgrounds and abilities and they require choice in how they learn. Many students still prefer to have their learning materials provided in hard copy as opposed to online. These materials are often edited and produced in-house by module tutors who must learn a wide range of new skills. This paper provides suggestions on how to create distance learning module texts based on the experience(s) of the author.

This study explored and documented Taiwanese students' alternative conceptions of animal classification. We examined the understanding of the "animal", "vertebrate" and "invertebrate", "fish", "amphibian", "reptile", "bird", and "mammal" concepts among elementary, junior high school and senior high school, and university students in a sample population of close to 2,000 students. Using clinical interviews, sorting tasks, and a two-tiered diagnostic instrument, we documented the frequencies of a wide range of ideas and compared our findings with those of studies in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. The most important results indicate that for most students, the concept label "animal" refers to vertebrates, especially to common, well-known mammals and birds; the most common attributes used by students to define animals are movement and viability; many students had difficulty in making the distinction between vertebrates and invertebrates, and between reptiles and amphibians; and students tended to use external morphology, habitat, and movement in distinguishing between common, well-known vertebrates and invertebrates, and certain vertebrate animals pose special conceptual problems for students by virtue of their external morphology and habitat (e.g., the penguin and octopus). We contend that insights gained from this study will provide useful suggestions for Taiwanese science curriculum designers, science teachers, and researchers involved in the new 9-year curriculum reform. (Contains 5 tables and 5 figures.)

This study analysed 9 to 11 year old children's drawings of tropical rainforests immediately before and after a visit to the Humid Tropics Biome at the Eden Project, Cornwall, UK. A theoretical framework derived from considerations of informal learning and constructivism was used as a basis to develop a methodology to interpret the children's drawings and to measure the change in children's perceptions and learning after their visit. The children's pre-visit drawings mainly showed tree and plant outlines familiar to an English countryside. Rainforest animals were to the fore in the pictures and there was a general lack of scale, depth and perspective in the drawings. In the post-visit drawings, the animals had mainly disappeared. There was often remarkable accuracy in the shape and detail of the tropical rainforest trees and plants now drawn. The post-visit drawings also demonstrated far greater depth, scale and perspective than the pre-visit drawings. The interpretation and analysis of the drawings gave insights into children's understanding and learning about tropical rainforests and demonstrated that analysis of children's drawings can be an effective method of assessing some aspects of their learning. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

In 2001 foot and mouth disease broke out in the UK and millions of farm animals were slaughtered in order to eradicate it. This affected farmers, town dwellers, adults and children. Based on a small sample of 56 e-mails to a children's BBC (CBBC) message board and using an ethnomethodological approach, this article explores the way in which children in rural and urban areas responded to the effects of this epidemic and how they structured their understandings of one another through the use of rural and urban stereotypes. It shows that the stress felt by some of the children who lived on or near infected farms during the outbreak was exacerbated by the fact that they felt misunderstood by other children living in surroundings not directly affected by foot and mouth disease.

The 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) epidemic effectively closed large parts of the UK countryside for several months. Local firms found their operations disrupted and suffered losses of trade. The individual and collective experiences of affected firms provide vivid insights into how rural businesses and the local economies they constitute operate and react in times of crisis, with important lessons for small business policy and support. Drawing upon survey and case study research the paper presents a critical incident analysis of the impacts of FMD on rural micro-businesses and a review of the resulting adaptive responses. The paper explores the role of variable endowments in influencing the choice of responses available to micro-businesses and identifies those assets which proved to be crucial in enhancing coping capability. The analysis confirms the importance of households in providing resilience to micro-businesses. Households acted as a buffer to many firms, absorbing revenue and employment effects, through adjustments in the wage taken from the business, restrictions in household spend, the deployment of personal savings and the use of household members as a flexible labour reserve.

Children from two primary schools--one a state primary and the other a private school--have been involved for some eight years with planning, making and maintaining a conservation area beside the River Thames in Berkshire. The work is part of the curriculum and involves habitat studies, identification of local species and learning about animal behaviour. The project also involves art, maths and geography. The children gain experience in practical conservation and develop communication skills as they work with children from other schools and local volunteers. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

Presents a characterization of students' comments during observation of meal worms or brine shrimp. Finds that many student comments had to do with sex, reproduction, death, violence, and the life history of the organisms. Significant differences in conversations occurred across age and gender groups. Contains 32 references. (Author/WRM)