Perceived stress activates the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, resulting in the release of glucocorticoids into the systemic circulation. Glucocorticoids cause the elevation of blood glucose, providing the necessary energy for the organism to cope with stress. Here, we outline a laboratory exercise that uses a competitive ELISA kit to…

A laboratory experiment that provides students a hands-on introduction to the specific techniques of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and electrospray ionization is presented. The students can thus practice the analytical principles of sample extraction, detection, quantification, and quality control using a fresh fish…

A group of five graduate students and a faculty mentor used the cultural popularity of forensics to develop a first-year undergraduate seminar. This course fulfilled two main objectives: First, the graduate student instructors developed professionally through a two-year process of creating, instructing, and revising a course. Second, a variety of…

Ethnic minority students traditionally pursue degrees and careers in the food and agricultural sciences at rates lower than their non-minority counterparts. To help improve upon this situation, the Food and Agricultural Sciences Institute (FASI) was created to expose academically talented high school students to opportunities within the food and…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the errors made by high school students in practical biology and the extent to which boys and girls differ in terms of the frequency of errors committed. The subjects included 317 students from the twelfth grade sampled from five different schools in Nigeria. A criterion level of 0.05 was set to test the…

Describes procedures for extracting nematodes from soil and culturing them for study and experimentation. (PB)

States the procedure for isolating actinomycetes from soil and testing for antibiotic growth. (LS)

Describes an experiment developed to study the velocity components of thermionic electrons, temperature-limited emission, cathode and anode work functions, and the contact difference in potential between cathode and anode. (Author/GS)

Ping-Pong vacuum cannons, potato guns, and compressed air cannons are popular and dramatic demonstrations for lecture and lab. Students enjoy them for the spectacle, but they can also be used effectively to teach physics. Recently we have used a student-built compressed air cannon as a laboratory activity to investigate impulse, conservation of…

Presents directions for an activity designed to illustrate the function of plant nutrients. (PEB)