Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education最新文献

The associations of microbes with their environment can result in both positive and negative effects on humans. While most people are aware of the existence of microbes, research shows that perceptions of microbes and their effects are often incomplete or include misconceptions. Much like the positive psychology movement, the recently proposed "positive microbiology" movement can help society to see microbes as tools to benefit mankind. The purpose of this study was to examine college students' knowledge and perception of the positive effects of microbes ("good" microbes) and the negative effects of microbes ("bad" microbes). College students in the United States (n = 924) were surveyed about their perceptions of the characteristics, effects, and responses to bacteria and viruses. Students viewed viruses more negatively than bacteria. For both bacteria and viruses, students struggled to provide examples of beneficial effects of microbes. Thus, we see the need for more instruction about the benefits of microbes. To this end, we offer practical suggestions for this instruction, including research about best practices for teaching and suggested plug-and-play resources available for instructors to incorporate the topic of positive microbiology into their courses.

Recent trends in undergraduate biology education include incorporating more inquiry/research-focused experiments into laboratory courses as a way to engage students and promote persistence in science. However, many faculty members face constraints in redesigning curricula, including a lack of time for course development. In addition, some undergraduate students find it difficult or intimidating to identify a first independent research position. We describe our experience working with student curricular interns to redesign a cell biology laboratory to be more inquiry-based. Students enrolled in the redesigned course felt that their course research experience was authentic and self-reported improvement in many fundamental scientific skills. Moreover, participating in the redesign project had positive effects on our curricular interns' experiences by exposing them to independent research, pedagogical design, and near-peer teaching. Thus, we believe that developing ways to introduce inquiry-based learning into curricula as a collaborative effort with undergraduate curricular interns has benefits for enrolled students, curricular interns, and faculty. We encourage other undergraduate science faculty to consider this model as they revise their courses.

A laboratory manual and supporting material have been developed that use 14 different problems to illustrate basic gel electrophoresis concepts and to reinforce the scientific method. This material is appropriate for those interested in science in general or biology in particular and was specifically designed for implementation at the second-year level at a 4-year university or at a technical college. In order to maximize reliability, all labs use an inexpensive size standard, and most use a simple gel preparation protocol. This course has a low consumables cost per student, per term of approximately $20. A PDF of the complete manual and instructor materials is available from the author. Inexpensive, bound color lab manuals (standard and large print) are also available. Instructor materials include a detailed weekly schedule, 31 PowerPoint slides, answers to lab questions, and an assessment bank of 86 questions.

Grant writing is an important skill that scientists must acquire in order to have successful careers as independent researchers. However, despite its importance, many scientists report that they do not enjoy grant writing because it is stressful, lonely, requires a lot of time and effort, and involves the possibility of rejection. As a result, many scientists have more negative associations with grant writing than positive ones. In this article, we offer a novel intervention in the form of a social-emotional learning (SEL)-informed workshop and accompanying handout for emerging scientists to build more positive associations with their writing. The approaches in this workshop intentionally leverage SEL motivators (such as scientific identity, sense of purpose, and community) to help grant writers overcome common challenges that accompany the writing process. A pre-post survey analysis of this workshop showed a shift from negative/challenge-focused attitudes and perceptions toward grant writing toward positive/process-focused ones after the workshop. This 1-hour intervention can be facilitated by research development professionals, lab leaders, or anyone teaching scientific writing for undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) are an effective strategy to teach students about the process of scientific research. Students participating in a CURE also benefit in numerous other ways, such as gaining increased enthusiasm for science and increased retention in a STEM field. Because scientific research is increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, recently developed CUREs have begun to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches and networking components. Interdisciplinary, networked CUREs have, in several cases, expanded learning gains for participating students beyond the benefits of traditional CUREs. Here, we describe a novel interdisciplinary, collaborative CURE. Our CURE was launched with four participating primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) and the broad research goal of characterizing mutagen-sensitive alleles in Drosophila melanogaster. Student surveys suggest that our CURE has successfully contributed to learning gains across a variety of areas, including increased project ownership, increased experience with collaboration, and increased experience with interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, participating faculty have benefitted from increased scholarly productivity. Our CURE could be expanded to include additional institutions, or could serve as a model for PUI faculty interested in developing their own collaborations as a strategy to tackle broad, interdisciplinary projects.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) incorporate authentic research into undergraduate curricula, offering significant benefits in student retention, graduation rates, and pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. However, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) and undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) rarely receive the specific pedagogical training required for CURE instruction. We share an integrated professional development (PD) model for GTAs and ULAs in a large-enrollment CURE that addresses this need. Our model integrates training for both GTAs and ULAs simultaneously into mandatory instructional meetings, providing just-in-time training for upcoming topics and addressing unique CURE facilitation needs. This PD model has been effective in a CURE with a large instructional team and can be scaled up or down as needed. We present results from a post-pre survey asking instructional team members to reflect on their self-efficacy regarding the nine learning outcomes of the implementation. All learning outcomes show an increase in self-efficacy for GTAs and ULAs. By equipping both GTAs and ULAs to navigate the unique challenges of CURE instruction, this PD model may enhance the overall effectiveness of these valuable undergraduate research experiences.

The process of Sanger sequencing can be a challenging and unintuitive concept for students to master. In order to improve student learning, we developed a hands-on Sanger sequencing activity using 3D-printed models to incorporate tactile learning. These 3D models and the accompanying activity demonstrate the differences between gene amplification polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Sanger sequencing, including the purpose and function of dNTPs and ddNTPs, both in terms of building and terminating the chain and in how the DNA sequence is read. After completing the activity, students self-reported high levels of both learning and enjoyment from the activity. Students were also asked to discuss what misconceptions they had prior to this activity that were addressed and provide suggestions for improving this activity. A majority of the misconceptions are related to the function and differences between dNTPs and ddNTPs, with others related to the function of primers, the high-quality region of sequencing, and the purpose of DNA fragment sizes. Overall, student responses indicate that this activity was enjoyable, improved student learning, and addressed specific misconceptions regarding Sanger sequencing. The use of online dice rolling software or additional computational analysis was a common suggestion from students to improve this activity further in future semesters.

RNA medicines have taken the drug development world by storm since the introduction of mRNA vaccines post-pandemic. As this field is rapidly evolving at an unprecedented speed, it is crucial that higher education institutions keep up with this at all levels of teaching, including at the undergraduate level. In parallel, the necessity of embedding the fast-changing artificial intelligence (AI) landscape in undergraduate teaching and learning is also crucial. Here, I have developed a succinct but informative, in silico-based laboratory activity using a generative AI tool called Biomod AI (https://biomodai.com) for designing RNA-based drugs. This activity was designed for undergraduate level students to equip them with a unique AI-driven RNA drug design methodology. To my knowledge, this is the first use of generative AI for designing RNA drugs in undergraduate teaching.

Undergraduate learning assistants (LAs), as near-peer supports and educators who facilitate student-centered pedagogies, have the potential to transform STEM classrooms to be more equitable and just. However, LAs often receive little pedagogical training in equity and justice, especially training that frames racism and anti-racist work through a structural lens. Consequently, as they make sense of racial disparities in their disciplines and classrooms, LAs, like STEM faculty, draw on inaccurate color-evasive explanations instead of recognizing and challenging systemic barriers. This adversely impacts their equitable teaching practices, including their ability to notice and respond to racialized events and practices in their classes. By introducing LAs to frameworks of racial noticing and color-evasive racism, and by centering the experiences of marginalized students, our curriculum aims to provide LAs with tools to identify and challenge dominant narratives and racist events. It empowers LAs to view racialized social interactions not just as isolated events or the result of "a few bad actors," but as shaped by dominant societal narratives within a racially structured system. In doing so, it develops their ability to notice and challenge racialized events, making immediate and long-term changes to their teaching-developing their "racial noticing lens." We find that through this curriculum, LAs develop their critical consciousness, shifting from feeling overwhelmed and disengaged to grappling with tensions between their prior assumptions and new understandings of systemic inequities in STEM, and committing to transformative changes in their perspective and practices of equity. Thus, LAs begin their journeys as anti-racist STEM educators.

The Longevity Games Interview Simulator provides an innovative approach to preparing students for real-world research interactions by leveraging the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI's GPT-4o and Claude-3.7. This paper outlines the development and demonstrates the benefits of the simulator, designed to mimic interviews with older adults to enhance students' interviewing skills, empathy, and cultural competence. Key outcomes included preparing students for real-world interactions with interview subjects, improving their ability to identify and properly document protected health information (PHI), gaining experience in asking relevant follow-up questions, and directing conversations to achieve interview goals. The simulator used generative AI models to create realistic interview scenarios based on demographic data from Rochester, NY. Components of the simulator included a student interview-question selection and creation portion, an interview-guide worksheet, a post-simulation quiz on the materials, and a reflective exercise focusing on information gathering and ethical considerations regarding PHI. This tool was designed for the Science of Aging course's CURE (Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience) to provide students with practical, repeatable interview practice. A small pilot study with senior nursing students indicated that the simulator improved students' confidence, preparedness, and understanding of ethical considerations. This paper also discusses how the simulator has potential for adaptation across educational contexts and encourages educators to develop their own custom interview simulations.