scholarly journals A revolution in biochemistry and molecular biology education informed by basic research to meet the demands of 21st century career paths

2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (31) ◽  
pp. 10653-10661
Author(s):  
Paul N. Black

The National Science Foundation estimates that 80% of the jobs available during the next decade will require math and science skills, dictating that programs in biochemistry and molecular biology must be transformative and use new pedagogical approaches and experiential learning for careers in industry, research, education, engineering, health-care professions, and other interdisciplinary fields. These efforts require an environment that values the individual student and integrates recent advances from the primary literature in the discipline, experimentally directed research, data collection and analysis, and scientific writing. Current trends shaping these efforts must include critical thinking, experimental testing, computational modeling, and inferential logic. In essence, modern biochemistry and molecular biology education must be informed by, and integrated with, cutting-edge research. This environment relies on sustained research support, commitment to providing the requisite mentoring, access to instrumentation, and state-of-the-art facilities. The academic environment must establish a culture of excellence and faculty engagement, leading to innovation in the classroom and laboratory. These efforts must not lose sight of the importance of multidimensional programs that enrich science literacy in all facets of the population, students and teachers in K-12 schools, nonbiochemistry and molecular biology students, and other stakeholders. As biochemistry and molecular biology educators, we have an obligation to provide students with the skills that allow them to be innovative and self-reliant. The next generation of biochemistry and molecular biology students must be taught proficiencies in scientific and technological literacy, the importance of the scientific discourse, and skills required for problem solvers of the 21st century.

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 231-236
Author(s):  
Scott W. Snyder ◽  
Brian T. Huber

Introducing Students to microfossils in the K-12 curriculum can be a rewarding and exciting experience for both instructor and student. Students, even those who collect fossils as a hobby, are generally unaware of microfossils. Exposure to microfossils opens up a whole new world of inquiry, and the extent to which that inquiry is developed can be adjusted to the grade-level and interest-level of the individual student.


Author(s):  
Judith Foggett ◽  
Robert Conway ◽  
Kerry Dally

Abstract Student problem behaviour in schools is an issue for teachers, schools, and education jurisdictions. Problem behaviour also has an effect on families, the individual student, and the community. It is one of the principal issues of discussion for teachers, preservice teachers, principals, and policymakers. The purpose of this study was to examine a model that supports schools in managing available resources to promote positive behaviour and address problem behaviour. Interviews were conducted with 12 primary and high school principals to investigate their experiences of working together in 6 local management groups (LMGs) for the management of student behaviour. The findings revealed that the LMG model supported effective collaborative leadership practices between the high school and primary school principals and encouraged collegial networks among primary and high school teachers through joint professional learning opportunities. The benefits of the LMG model highlighted some positive outcomes for principals, teachers, and students with problem behaviour within their local schools.


Complacency potential is an important measure to avoid performance error, such as neglecting to detect a system failure. This study updates and expands upon Singh, Molloy, and Parasuraman’s 1993 Complacency-Potential Rating Scale (CPRS). We updated and expanded the CPRS questions to include technology commonly used today and how frequently the technology is used. The goal of our study was to update the scale, analyze for factor shifts and internal consistency, and to explore correlations between the individual values for each factor and the frequency of use questions. We hypothesized that the factors would not shift from the original and the revised CPRS’s four subscales. Our research found that the revised CPRS consisted of only three subscales with the following Cronbach’s Alpha values: Confidence: 0.599, Safety/Reliability: 0.534, and Trust: 0.201. Correlations between the subscales and the revised complacency-potential and the frequency of use questions are also discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. ar66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura R. Novick ◽  
Kefyn M. Catley

The ability to interpret and reason from Tree of Life (ToL) diagrams has become a vital component of science literacy in the 21st century. This article reports on the effectiveness of a research-based curriculum, including an instructional booklet, laboratory, and lectures, to teach the fundamentals of such tree thinking in an introductory biology class for science majors. We present the results of a study involving 117 undergraduates who received either our new research-based tree-thinking curriculum or business-as-usual instruction. We found greater gains in tree-thinking abilities for the experimental instruction group than for the business-as-usual group, as measured by performance on our novel assessment instrument. This was a medium size effect. These gains were observed on an unannounced test that was administered ∼5–6 weeks after the primary instruction in tree thinking. The nature of students’ postinstruction difficulties with tree thinking suggests that the critical underlying concept for acquiring expert-level competence in this area is understanding that any specific phylogenetic tree is a subset of the complete, unimaginably large ToL.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianwei He ◽  
Jinglin Zhang ◽  
Lirong Teng

Author(s):  
Sharma Shubham ◽  
Lei Shi ◽  
Xun Wu

Bureaucracy is one of the oldest institutions of a government system. Its role and importance have grown immensely in modern government systems. Bureaucrats or public administrators are indispensable in the policy decision making process in the 21st century. From the early conception as a branch of government responsible for the implementation of policy decisions and everyday functioning, bureaucracy has assumed a more active role in the policymaking process. It has gone through many reforms; however, these reforms have been largely incremental and static. While the external environment or the problems faced by bureaucracy is continuously evolving, the change in bureaucracy has not been in the same proportion. In the 21st century, many issues confronting bureaucracy are not only wicked but also global in nature. Moreover, challenges posed by technological disruptions and long-term processes such as climate change put bureaucracy at all levels of a government in a far trickier position than their earlier envisaged basic functions. In dealing with such challenges, the policy capacity of bureaucracy cannot be taken for granted. There are often significant gaps in capacity to anticipate a policy problem, to ensure coordination and preserve legitimacy, to translate global issues at local levels, and to learn from the past. It is crucial to strengthen analytical capacity at the individual and organizational level, operational capacity at the organizational level, and political capacity at the systems level to address these gaps. Tackling capacity gaps systematically would enable bureaucracy to design and implement policy and administrative reforms with a long-term vision of adaptation and evolution instead of merely in reactive mode. The policy capacity framework presented in this article is useful in identifying the capacity gaps that inhibit bureaucracy from evolving and the remedies to address these gaps.


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