Numerous studies suggest that attendance may be one of the key factors which influence student performance. Although there have been many studies in introductory science courses, there have been virtually no studies which analyze and compare students' performance from different types of institutions as well as different level of classes. Our study…

Students commencing studies in biochemistry must transfer and build on concepts they learned in chemistry and biology classes. It is well established, however, that students have difficulties in transferring critical concepts from general chemistry courses; one key concept is "energy." Most previous work on students' conception of energy…

The research focused on three issues in college science students: whether there was empirical support for the two factor (knowledge of cognition and regulation of cognition) view of metacognition, whether the two factors were related to each other, and whether either of the factors was related to empirical measures of cognitive and metacognitive…

The laboratory setting is an exciting and gratifying place to teach because you can actively engage the students in the learning process through hands-on activities; it is a dynamic environment amenable to collaborative work, critical thinking, problem-solving and discovery. The guided inquiry-based approach described here guides the students…

This dissertation is presented in two sections. First, I explore two methods of using stable isotope analysis to trace environmental and biogeochemical processes. Second, I present two related studies investigating student understanding of the biogeochemical concepts that underlie part one. Fe and Hg are each biogeochemically important elements in…

The main object of this work is to present the pedagogical usefulness of the theoretical methods, developed in this laboratory, for the determination of the isoelectric point (pI) and the net electric charge of proteins together with some comments on the naming of the acid-base residues of proteins. (Contains 8 figures and 4 tables.)

We have recently designed a biochemistry laboratory experiment for the purpose of providing students an advanced experience with enzyme kinetics and the kinetics of binding. Bestatin, a well-known and commercially available general protease inhibitor, is a slow-binding inhibitor of aminopeptidase isolated from "Aeromonas proteolytica." The binding…

Signal detection analysis was used to evaluate a combination of sociodemographic, acculturation, mental health, health care, and chronic disease risk factors potentially associated with diabetes in a sample of 4,505 semirural Mexican American adults. Overall, 8.9% of adults had been diagnosed with diabetes. The analysis resulted in 12 mutually…

To help faculty prepare and revise courses in all the disciplines represented in the MCAT[superscript 2015], the American Association of Medical Colleges, through its MedEdPORTAL's iCollaborative, has established the Pre-health Collection, a repository of reviewed web resources that are openly and freely available to faculty, and indirectly…

This article considers a case of local language socialization and accommodation in a multilingual community of practice: the use of English as an additional academic language for specific purposes at a bilingual Swiss university and its implications for teaching. The acronym ELF(A) is used throughout as short for English as a Lingua Franca (in…

In this activity, science education and modern technology are bridged to teach students at the high school and undergraduate levels about protein folding and to strengthen their model building skills. Students are guided from a textbook picture of a protein as a rigid crystal structure to a more realistic view: proteins are highly dynamic…

This study examined parent and youth self-reports to test the hypothesis that perceived insufficient sleep duration, inconsistent sleep habits, reduced quality of life, less frequent blood glucose monitoring, and higher hemoglobin A1c would predict poorer school functioning among 50 youth with type 1 diabetes. The data suggested that a delay in…

Directional translocation by helicases results in duplex separation and displacement of bound proteins which allows for the DNA processing events associated with DNA repair, replication, recombination, and transcription. Unresolved questions regarding DNA helicases include: (1) how is directional translocation determined in SF2 helicases; (2) do…

Behavioral activation that is associated with incentive-reward motivation increases in adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood. This quadratic developmental pattern is generally supported by behavioral and experimental neuroscience findings. It is suggested that a focus on changes in dopamine neurotransmission is informative in…

Kv4.2 channels contribute to the transient, outward K[superscript +] current (A-type current) in hippocampal dendrites, and modulation of this current substantially alters dendritic excitability. Using Kv4.2 knockout (KO) mice, we examined the role of Kv4.2 in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. We found that Kv4.2 KO mice showed a deficit…