scholarly journals Affordable C. elegans tracking system for classroom use

Author(s):  
Nicholas Leonard ◽  
Andrés G. Vidal-Gadea

AbstractFor decades the nematode C. elegans has served as an outstanding research organism owing to its unsurpassed experimental amenability. This advantage has also made this tiny worm an attractive vehicle for science instruction across higher learning institutions. However, the prohibitive cost associated with the automated behavioral assessment of these animals remains an obstacle preventing their full adoption in undergraduate and high school settings. To improve this situation, we developed an inexpensive worm tracking system for use by high school interns and undergraduate students. Over the past two years this tracker has been successfully used by undergraduate students in our introductory Cell and Molecular lab (BSC220) at Illinois State University. Here we describe and demonstrate the use of our inexpensive worm tracking system.

Author(s):  
Dean Kashiwagi ◽  
Alfredo Rivera ◽  
Jake Gunnoe ◽  
Jacob Kashiwagi

Arizona State University has been involved in identifying the future Facility Manager (FM) paradigm which results in a sustainable FM profession. The $16M, 20-year international research program has identified, created and tested out a solution to the almost impossible task of replacing the aging FM professionals. The research has identified the future FM as one who is leadership based and leads the entire supply chain from inside the organization. This paper will cover the three year results of finding the future FM by accessing the top 10% of ASU’s 85,000 students through Barrett’s Honors Program, 7th – 10th graders through the Barrett’s Summer Honors Program, and culminating this year in placing the education in one of the top private schools in the state of Hawaii for high school students, testing the approach on 116 Brazilian engineering undergraduate students and getting approval for testing a 14 week program in the Tempe High School. The model is proposed as a prototype for future FM professionals and how the FM professional can become sustainable.


2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Campbell Bradley ◽  
Tammy Kohlleppel ◽  
Tina M. Waliczek ◽  
Jayne M. Zajicek

Researchers at the University of Florida and Texas A&M University developed a survey to gain insight into demographic and educational influences on undergraduate students who major in horticulture. Five universities participated in the study of undergraduate horticulture programs. These included the University of Florida, Texas A&M University, Oklahoma State University, University of Tennessee, and Kansas State University. About 600 surveys were sent to schools during the 1997 fall semester. The questionnaires were completed by horticulture majors and nonmajors taking classes in horticulture departments. The survey consisted of two main sections. The first section, which was completed by all students, explored student demographic information, high school history, university history, and horticulture background. Only horticulture majors completed the second section, which examined factors influencing choice of horticulture as a major. Statistically significant differences were found between horticulture majors and nonmajors when comparing the two groups on the variables of transfer status, gardening experiences, and the importance of gardening. There was a significantly higher percentage of transfer students among horticulture majors. The decision to major in horticulture occurred somewhat early in academic programs, with the largest representations in high school or early in college. Overall, majors had more gardening experience than nonmajors and considered the hobby of gardening as a strong influence in choosing their major. This information should be considered in recruitment efforts since students reported that this interest fostered in them a desire to pursue horticulture as a major. School garden programs at the primary level and horticulture classes at the high school level could possibly influence more students to choose horticulture as a major at the college level. Currently, trends in recruiting efforts in academic programs at the university level are intense and competitive, as students are given more and more career option information. Consequently, data from this study may be useful for horticulture departments developing targeted recruiting programs.


Author(s):  
Suziana Hanini Sulaiman ◽  
Suhana Mohamed Lip ◽  
Shazarina Zdainal Abidin ◽  
Norshilawani Shahidan ◽  
Natasha Ariffin ◽  
...  

The implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) to curb the spread of Covid-19 has various effects on the community, regardless of the field they are involved in. Enforcement order to stay at home has resulted  to the closure and restriction of all types of operations including the education sector. Due to the implementation of MCO, the teaching and learning activities that used to be conducted face-to-face have been completely replaced by online learning. This situation eventually has given some stressful impact and has caused difficulties to students of higher learning institutions to continue their studies virtually. Various factors have been found as stressors among undergraduate students. It is hoped that this study would help to find effective ways to reduce stress among undergraduate students. 


Author(s):  
NUR THARA ATIKAH ZAINAL ◽  
KELVIN YONG

The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Acculturation Course is one of the curriculum of higher learning institutions in Malaysia to enhance the soft skills of undergraduates required for the job market. The emergence of digital technologies has led to the integration of the digital entrepreneurship module into the existing entrepreneurship course. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of recent literature relevant to the effectiveness of digital entrepreneurship education and its impact on students’ soft skills. The main purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the impact of digital entrepreneurship education on soft skills of undergraduates at public higher learning institution in East Malaysia. The study collected secondary data which included course feedback forms of 2,454 second year undergraduate students from two different academic years. Overall, the findings show that the digital entrepreneurship education enhanced the students’ soft skills. However, leadership skills were the lowest that students gained in both academic years. The findings provide practical implications for higher learning institutions on the importance of digital entrepreneurship education to the soft skills of undergraduates, and on the need to improve teaching and learning methods to equally enhance the soft skills.


Author(s):  
Ellen Chung ◽  
Hamish B Coates

Community engagement is a phenomenon that has received increasing attention among institutions of higher learning in recent years, and students engaging with communities are generally seen as beneficial. Given this, surprisingly little is known about this form of engagement in Australian higher education, let alone methods to measure its benefits on students. This study discussed the development of the Student Community Engagement Benefits Questionnaire (SCEBS), a questionnaire that measures the perceptions of community engagement benefits among undergraduate students in Australia. The final questionnaire has 32 items allocated to four benefit scales: (1) Career skills, (2) Diversity skills, (3) Interpersonal skills, (4) Civic skills. Most benefit items had a factor loading of atleast 0.40 with its own scale. The results of the factor analysis revealed that the four scales accounted for 53% of the total variance. The alpha reliability coefficient for the four scales ranged from 0.79 to 0.91. Based on these findings, the Student Community Engagement Benefits Scale (SCEBS) is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used in the field of education. Undergraduate students also reported statistically significant changes in the four dimensions after participating in community engagement activities.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
john andraos

We present a spreadsheet-assisted exercise using Microsoft Excel software for the<br>determination of the universal gas constant, R, in 35,712 different units. This large<br>number of units arises from a simple enumeration of possible pressure-volume unit<br>combinations and energy unit combinations covering SI (metric), Imperial (British), and<br>American units. In turn, various units for force and area used for defining pressure, and<br>various units for force and distance used for defining energy are explored. This<br>presentation serves as an excellent exercise for high school and undergraduate students to<br>master the skill of dimensional analysis, unit conversions, and basic combinatorics in<br>general chemistry and physical chemistry courses. Instructors can also use the described<br>exercise of constructing conversion matrices to train students in how to efficiently use the<br>Microsoft Excel spreadsheet program.


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