scholarly journals Bacteria as “ink” for writing the initials of names on agar

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Purple Pigment ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Planar Substrates ◽  
Open Access Article

Mementos encapsulate memories and serve as triggers for their recollections. By using a purple pigment producing bacterium as “ink” for writing on agar, a picture memento depicting the initials of students’ names was created to help them remember the strong friendships they fostered with their fellow course mates during their final year research projects. Besides the fun activity of “Bacterial calligraphy”, the surface patterning technique can also serve as a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates for investigating possible interactions between different microbe species. A synopsis of the work and a structured abstract can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial Calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, is available in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, at http://jmbe.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/414 as an open access article.

scholarly journals Bacteria as “ink” for writing the initials of names on agar

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Purple Pigment ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Planar Substrates ◽  
Open Access Article

Mementos encapsulate memories and serve as triggers for their recollections. By using a purple pigment producing bacterium as “ink” for writing on agar, a picture memento depicting the initials of students’ names was created to help them recollect, in future, the strong friendships that they fostered during their final year research projects. Besides the fun activity of “Bacterial calligraphy”, the surface patterning technique can also serve as a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates may find use in understanding possible interactions between different microorganism species. A synopsis of the work and a structured abstract can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial Calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, is available in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174 as an open access article, URL http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.414 .

scholarly journals Bacteria as “ink” for writing the initials of names on agar

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Purple Pigment ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Planar Substrates ◽  
Open Access Article

Mementos encapsulate memories and serve as triggers for their recollections. By using a purple pigment producing bacterium as “ink” for writing on agar, a picture memento depicting the initials of students’ names was created, to help them remember the strong friendships that they had fostered with their fellow course-mates during their final year research projects. Besides the fun activity of “Bacterial Calligraphy,” the surface patterning technique can also serve as a simple and relatively low-cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates for investigating possible interactions between different microbial species. A synopsis of the work and a structured abstract can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial Calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students,” has been published in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, and is available at http://jmbe.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/414 as an open-access article.

scholarly journals Bacteria as “ink” for writing the initials of names on agar

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Purple Pigment ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Planar Substrates ◽  
Open Access Article

Mementos encapsulate memories and serve as triggers for their recollections. By using a purple pigment producing bacterium as “ink” for writing on agar, a picture memento depicting the initials of students’ names was created to help them remember the strong friendships fostered during their final year research projects. Besides the fun activity of “Bacterial calligraphy”, the surface patterning technique can also serve as a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates for investigating possible interactions between different microorganism species. A synopsis of the work and a structured abstract can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial Calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, is available in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, as an open access article http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.414

scholarly journals Bacteria as “ink” for writing the initials of names on agar

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Coarse Surface ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Agar Surface ◽  
Research Students

Microbes, while living in close proximity in biofilms, may in other cases not be closely localized in the environment. In the latter case, their interactions and communications are dependent on myriad factors such as existence of direct connections (e.g., web of hyphae from fungi) or pools of water where they could migrate. Hence, disparate groups of microbes could subsist on nutrients in their local microhabitat while maintaining weak communication links and metabolic exchanges with groups farther afield. But, how do we probe such distance dependent communications links between groups of microbes of the same or different species in the laboratory? Using a purple pigment producing bacterium as “ink” for writing on agar, a surface patterning technique was demonstrated to be a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates, which may find use in understanding possible interactions between different microbial species.Although a coarse surface patterning technique compared to more refined robot assisted patterning methods, simple spread plate deposition of different microbial species, in defined patterns, on separate areas of the agar surface, constituted a useful way forward in allowing us to delve deeper into the realmof understanding microbial interactions such as those in spatially resolved synthetic microbial community. Taking into account bacterial motility patterns, pigment diffusivity, and contrast of pigment with agar background color, inscription of patterns of bacterial cells through spread plate technique is an affordablemethod for lending a lens to spatially defined microbial interactions for microbial brethren unable to undergo migration on the agar surface. A synopsis of the work can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, isavailable in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, as an open access article. URL: http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.414

scholarly journals Patterning bacteria on agar for understanding distance mediated cell to cell signaling and metabolic exchanges

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Microbial Species ◽  
Coarse Surface ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Agar Surface

Microbes, while living in close proximity in biofilms, may in other cases not be closely localized in the environment. In the latter case, their interactions and communications are dependent on myriad factors such as existence of direct connections (e.g., web of hyphae from fungi) or pools of water where they could migrate. Hence, disparate groups of microbes could subsist on nutrients in their local microhabitat while maintaining weak communication links and metabolic exchanges with groups farther afield. But, how do we probe such distance dependent communications links between groups of microbes of the same or different species in the laboratory? Using a purple pigment producing bacterium for “writing” on agar, a surface patterning technique was demonstrated to be a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates, which may find use in understanding possible interactions between different microbial species. Although a coarse surface patterning technique compared to more refined robot assisted patterning methods, simple spread plate deposition of different microbial species, in defined patterns, on separate areas of the agar surface, constituted a useful way forward in allowing us to delve deeper into understanding microbial interactions such as those in spatially resolved synthetic microbial community. Taking into account bacterial motility patterns, pigment diffusivity, and contrast of pigment with agar background color, deposition of patterns of bacterial cells through spread plate technique is an affordable method for lending a lens to spatially defined microbial interactions for microbial brethren unable to undergo migration on the agar surface. A synopsis of the work can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, is available in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, as an open access article. URL: http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.414

scholarly journals Patterning bacteria on agar for understanding distance mediated cell to cell signaling and metabolic exchanges

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenfa Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Surface Patterning ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Bacterial Cells ◽  
Microbial Species ◽  
Coarse Surface ◽  
Patterning Technique ◽  
Agar Surface

Microbes, while living in close proximity in biofilms, may in other cases not be closely localized in the environment. In the latter case, their interactions and communications are dependent on myriad factors such as existence of direct connections (e.g., web of hyphae from fungi) or pools of water where they could migrate. Hence, disparate groups of microbes could subsist on nutrients in their local microhabitat while maintaining weak communication links and metabolic exchanges with groups farther afield. But, how do we probe such distance dependent communications links between groups of microbes of the same or different species in the laboratory? Using a purple pigment producing bacterium for “writing” on agar, a surface patterning technique was demonstrated to be a simple and relatively low cost tool for testing the feasibility of research ideas; for example, depositing cells in both straight and curvilinear lines on planar substrates, which may find use in understanding possible interactions between different microbial species. Although a coarse surface patterning technique compared to more refined robot assisted patterning methods, simple spread plate deposition of different microbial species, in defined patterns, on separate areas of the agar surface, constituted a useful way forward in allowing us to delve deeper into understanding microbial interactions such as those in spatially resolved synthetic microbial community. Taking into account bacterial motility patterns, pigment diffusivity, and contrast of pigment with agar background color, deposition of patterns of bacterial cells through spread plate technique is an affordable method for lending a lens to spatially defined microbial interactions for microbial brethren unable to undergo migration on the agar surface. A synopsis of the work can be found in the accompanying PDF file, while the original article, “Bacterial calligraphy: A Memento for Undergraduate Research Students”, is available in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 172-174, as an open access article. URL: http://www.asmscience.org/content/journal/jmbe/10.1128/jmbe.v13i2.414

scholarly journals Student and faculty outcomes of undergraduate science research projects by geographically dispersed students

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawton Shaw ◽  
Dietmar Kennepohl
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Pass Rates ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
Research Students

<p>Senior undergraduate research projects are important components of most undergraduate science degrees. The delivery of such projects in a distance education format is challenging. Athabasca University (AU) science project courses allow distance education students to complete research project courses by working with research supervisors in their local area, coordinated at a distance by AU faculty. This paper presents demographics and course performance for 155 students over five years. Pass rates were similar to other distance education courses. Research students were surveyed by questionnaire, and external supervisors and AU faculty were interviewed, to examine the outcomes of these project courses for each group. Students reported high levels of satisfaction with the course, local supervisors, and faculty coordinators. Students also reported that the experience increased their interest in research, and the probability that they would pursue graduate or additional certification. Local supervisors and faculty affirmed that the purposes of project courses are to introduce the student to research, provide opportunity for students to use their cumulative knowledge, develop cognitive abilities, and independent thinking. The advantages and challenges associated with this course model are discussed.</p>

Undergraduate Research: A Pedagogical Experiment

1988 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 490-494
Author(s):  
Troy J. Ziegler ◽  
David M. Koch
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Research Students ◽  
Psychology Course

Students cooperatively conducted research experiments in an upper division cognitive psychology course in the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department at the United States Air Force Academy. The pedagogical structure of the course was modified to emphasize teaching cadets how to think versus what to think through the process of conducting research. Students were expected to cooperate in pairs to design and conduct their research. Cooperative research projects were used in the attempt to develop critical thinking skills and intrinsic motivation to excel. This paper presents the authors' views on the rationale and perceived benefits of cooperative research projects in upper division courses to develop critical thinking skills and intrinsic motivation.

scholarly journals Computer-Based and Bench-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences Produce Similar Attitudinal Outcomes

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. ar10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Kirkpatrick ◽  
Anita Schuchardt ◽  
Daniel Baltz ◽  
Sehoya Cotner
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Students Attitudes

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have the potential to improve undergraduate biology education by involving large numbers of students in research. CUREs can take a variety of forms with different affordances and constraints, complicating the evaluation of design features that might contribute to successful outcomes. In this study, we compared students’ responses to three different research experiences offered within the same course. One of the research experiences involved purely computational work, whereas the other two offerings were bench-based research experiences. We found that students who participated in computer-based research reported at least as much interest in their research projects, a higher sense of achievement, and a higher level of satisfaction with the course compared with students who did bench-based research projects. In open-ended comments, similar proportions of students in each research area expressed some sense of project ownership as contributing positively to their course experiences. Their comments also supported the finding that experiencing a sense of achievement was a predictor of course satisfaction. We conclude that both computer-based and bench-based CUREs can have positive impacts on students’ attitudes. Development of more computer-based CUREs might allow larger numbers of students to benefit from participating in a research experience.

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