A practical laboratory experiment is described that illustrates the application of fluorescence resonance energy transfer to the study of protein-ligand binding. The affinities of wild-type and mutant human carbonic anhydrase II for dansylamide were determined by monitoring the increase in ligand fluorescence that occurs due to energy transfer…

This study focuses on the ability of high-school chemistry students, who learn chemistry through the inquiry approach, to ask meaningful and scientifically sound questions. We investigated (a) the ability of students to ask questions related to their observations and findings in an inquiry-type experiment (a practical test) and (b) the ability of…

We report the development of a simplified procedure for restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of mushrooms. We have adapted standard molecular techniques to be amenable to an undergraduate laboratory setting in order to allow students to explore basic questions about fungal diversity and relatedness among mushroom species. The…

A two-session laboratory exercise for advanced undergraduate students in biochemistry and molecular biology is described. The first session introduces students to DNA quantification by ultraviolet absorbance and agarose gel electrophoresis followed by ethidium bromide staining. The second session involves treatment of various topological forms of…

This undergraduate laboratory experiment integrates multiple techniques ("in vitro" synthesis, enzyme assays, Western blotting) to determine the production and detection sensitivity of two common reporter proteins (beta-galactosidase and luciferase) within an "Escherichia coli" S30 transcription/translation extract. Comparison of the data suggests…

Virology is an integral part of introductory biology courses. Research and experience indicate that, although the topic is a difficult one for many students, the effectiveness of instruction is enhanced when assignments actively engage the students in the generation of scientific explanations. These authors have found that the methods and…

In undergraduate engineering labs, lab reports are routinely copied. By ignoring this form of plagiarism, teaching assistants and lab technicians neglect their role responsibility. By designing courses that facilitate it, however inadvertently, professors neglect their causal responsibility. Using the case of one university, we show via interviews…

The Model Science Lab, a constructivist approach to teaching, strengthens urban science teachers' teaching practice. The retention rate of Houston science teachers who took part in the program was found to be very high and the cost of the Model Science Lab has proven less expensive per student than most other professional development options.

A laboratory exercise used in the senior biochemistry course at the University of Winnipeg for three years is discussed. It combines liquid chromatography and absorbance spectroscopy and also allows the students to produce a quantitative result within a single three-hour period.

An exciting laboratory environment is activated by the preparation and novel use of magnetic materials to decontaminate water through adsorption and magnetic removal of metals and organics. This uncomplicated technique is also adaptable to the possible application of adsorbents to numerous other environmental substances.

Galileo's discovery of the properties of pendulum motion depended on his adoption of the novel methodology of idealisation. Galileo's laws of pendulum motion could not be accepted until the empiricist methodological constraints placed on science by Aristotle, and by common sense, were overturned. As long as scientific claims were judged by how the…

As part of a first-year college Introductory Physics course, I have students construct an Excel[R]: spreadsheet based on the differential equation for pendulum motion (we take a pendulum having a light bar rather than a string, so it can go "over the top"). In extensive discussions with the students, I find that forcing them to make the…

The purpose of the present study was to test the hypothesis that student's abductive reasoning skills play an important role in the generation of hypotheses on pendulum motion tasks. To test the hypothesis, a hypothesis-generating test on pendulum motion, and a prior-belief test about pendulum motion were developed and administered to a sample of…

The Kirby-Bauer method is regularly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, and is often employed in the classroom for teaching this concept. In this exercise, additional materials and instructions were given to students for the preparation of garlic extract and loading on blank BBL paper discs. They were further instructed to test…

The objectives of this study are: (1) evaluation of the methodology used in recent search for particles with fractional electrical charge (quarks) and its implications for understanding the scientific research methodology of Millikan; (2) evaluation of 43 general physics textbooks and 11 laboratory manuals, with respect to the oil drop experiment,…