Metacognition is often described as the awareness and regulation of learning. It uses strategies which include monitoring one's own thinking, engaging in active planning and self-evaluating one's study habits. Bloom's taxonomy can be used as a metacognitive tool to guide students' study strategies and thus improve their academic performance by…

Many science educators have been incorporating the use of case studies into their teaching. An advantage of using minicase studies is that they can be used at any time throughout the semester to reinforce important topics covered without having to sacrifice a large amount of class time. In this article, the authors present a series of 10 mini-case…

In this case study, the subject for discussion is the need to use teaching notes in order to add personality to case studies. Personality, it is said, is more important than policy, than demographics, than finances, or amorous peccadillos. Personality is essential. It is the interaction of people that capture our interest, yet, the question is…

For over 4 decades, educational researchers have been studying best practices for introducing writing into the curriculum. One successful strategy, a low-stakes writing exercise called "writing to learn" (WTL), has been implemented across several disciplines within higher education. In light of a growing interest in the use of technology…

Students often struggle in introductory health sciences courses; some students have difficulty in upper level classes. To address this, we converted three lecture/lab courses, traditional first-year Anatomy and Physiology (A&P I), upper level Biomechanics, and upper level Microbiology to an integrated studio model. We used the Student…

One of the concepts taught to science students is the use of hemocytometer. Students in microbiology, genetics, and anatomy and physiology (A&P) classes use the hemocytometer in a variety of activities. In microbiology and genetics classes, it is used to quantify yeast cells, while in A&P classes; students learn how to count blood cells. This…

The 5E model of inquiry-based learning was incorporated into a sophomore-level microbiology laboratory to increase student understanding of serial dilutions, a concept that is often difficult for most students to comprehend. Quantitative and qualitative assessments were conducted during the semester to determine the value of this approach for…

Describes the use of case studies in allied health microbiology classes and presents four case studies. Discusses advantages of the case study approach and sources for case studies. Contains 71 references. (JRH)

Describes a project using a multidisciplinary approach for the simultaneous integration of a theme into several disciplines in which participating students apply techniques they learned during the semester and report their findings with a poster presentation. (YDS)

Describes the use of entomopathogenic bacteria for use in teaching general microbiology. (PR)

Describes an inexpensive, reproducible alternative assay that requires minimal preparation and equipment for water testing. It provides students with a direct method of detecting potentially biohazardous material in water by observing the reduction in bacterial luminescence. (PR)

Describes a lysozyme assay for use in the biology classroom to teach enzymology. Provides background information, materials and methods, sources of lysozyme, and evaluation of the assay. (DS)