Laboratory exercises for undergraduate biochemistry students are described in which changes in sugar content during fermentation of the trendy beverage kombucha are analyzed by three methods: thin layer chromatography, a 3,5-dinitrosalicylic acid assay, and a standard commercial blood glucose meter. Each of the three analyses can be completed in a…

The state of alarm due to COVID-19 pandemic in Spain stopped all educational and most university research activities. The Spanish Anatomical Society (SAE) Consensus Expert Group on Body Donations piloted a study based on a questionnaire to know the status of body donations and dissection activities during the lockdown, as well as the future…

The rhetorical argument that laboratory courses are crucial for training skilled STEM practitioners is ill-evidenced in teaching practice. The arduous task of implementing instructor-led skill assessment in large-cohort courses and persistent student "disengagement" from its educative goals are some obstacles. This study emphasized the…

This laboratory experiment employs an innovative approach to introduce undergraduates to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) by developing a method based on multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). During this qualitative investigation, students operated a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in the MS scan and product ion scan…

This study was conducted to examine the effects of practices based on the Argumentation-Based Enquiry (ABI) approach on the critical thinking of science teacher candidates in a course named the General Chemistry Laboratory course. The General Chemistry Laboratory course was taught through the ABI approach for 12 weeks, and 94 teacher candidates…

Human cadaveric prosections are a traditional, effective, and highly appreciated modality of anatomy learning. Plastic models are an alternative teaching modality, though few studies examine their effectiveness in learning of upper limb musculoskeletal anatomy. The purpose of this study is to investigate which modality is associated with a better…

For centuries, cadaveric dissection has been the touchstone of anatomy education. It offers a medical student intimate access to his or her first patient. In contrast to idealized artisan anatomical models, it presents the natural variation of anatomy in fine detail. However, a new teaching construct has appeared recently in which artificial…

Assessment is a central component of course curriculums and is used to certify student learning, but it can also be used as a tool to improve teaching and learning. Many laboratory courses are structured such that there is only a grade for a particular laboratory, which limits the insights that can be gained in student learning. We developed a…

The study aimed to determine the effects of students teams achievement divisions (STAD) and reading-writing-application (RWA) methods on teacher candidates' academic achievements, laboratory attitudes, cooperative work, laboratory safety and scientific process skills in science teaching laboratory practice-I courses. In the research, a…

The purpose of this action research study is to explore the impact of the cooperative learning technique of the jigsaw method on student engagement in the beginning biology laboratory at Northern Community College (NCC). Professorial observations, a student survey, and interviews were used to investigate whether or not jigsaw methods should be…

Inquiry-style laboratory courses, in which students engage in open-ended projects rather than a prescribed set of experimental steps ("cookbooks"), are becoming increasingly popular at the undergraduate level. Reformed curricula require reforms in training teachers; in the case of large universities, laboratory instructors are typically…

In early 2020, the COVID-19 crisis forced medical institutions worldwide to convert quickly to online platforms for content delivery. Although many components of medical education were adaptable to that format, anatomical dissection laboratory lost substantial content in that conversion, including features of active student participation,…

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, many schools made the decision to cancel face-to-face classes and move instruction online. To better understand how the pandemic affected science educators' plans to conduct classroom animal dissection exercises, we conducted a nationwide survey of biology teachers (n = 2131) and asked about their…

Medical students are expected to perform common procedures such as suturing on patients during their third-year clerkships. However, these experiences are often viewed by medical students as stressors rather than opportunities for learning. The source of this stress is the lack of instruction on common procedures prior to being asked to observe or…

Traditional developmental biology laboratory classes have utilized a number of different model organisms to allow students to be exposed to diverse biological phenomena in developing organisms. This traditional approach has mainly focused on the diverse morphological and anatomical descriptions of the developing organisms. However, modern…