Chemical Engineering Laboratory Projects in Student Teams in Real Life and Transformed Online: Viscose Fiber Spinning and Characterization
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Weißl M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8161680 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Inquiry-based projects promote discovery and retention of key concepts, increase student engagement, and stimulate interest in research. Described here are a series of lab exercises within an undergraduate upper level neuroscience course that train students to design, execute and analyze their own hypothesis-driven research project. Prior to developing their own projects, students learn several research techniques including aseptic cell culture, cell line maintenance, immunocytochemistry and fluorescent microscopy. Working in groups, students choose how to use these techniques to characterize and identify a "mystery" cell line. Each lab group is given a unique cell line with either a neural, astrocyte, or Schwann cell origin. Working together, students plan and execute experiments to determine the cellular origin and other unique characteristics of their mystery cell line. Students generate testable hypotheses, design interpretable experiments, generate and analyze data, and report their findings in both oral and written formats. Students receive instructor and peer feedback throughout the entire project. In summary, these labs train students the process of scientific research. This series of lab exercises received very strong positive feedback from the students. Reflections on student feedback and plans for future improvements are discussed.
| S-EPMC3598092 | biostudies-literature
Project description:By early spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused mandatory campus closures of academic institutions nationwide, prompting the rapid transition to online instruction. While lectures and exams were more straightforwardly administered online using video-chatting software, many hands-on laboratory-based courses were forced to develop creative solutions. In response to online instructional requirements, instructors at the University of California Irvine developed an online electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory to simulate the laboratory experiment for students unable to perform the experiment on campus. The laboratory experiment was performed and video recorded by the instructional team under three different scenarios to provide students with multiple data sets acquired under various experimental conditions often enacted by students. Students were required to complete a pre-lab quiz, analyze the acquired EEG data offline, complete a post-lab quiz, and submit their laboratory report to communicate their findings prior to final exams. Student performances compared to prior student performances, and qualitative survey responses, were examined to assess the effectiveness of and response to the online laboratory format. Based on student feedback and lab report grades, the majority of students responded positively and demonstrated an understanding of the EEG experiment's learning outcomes. In summary, the online EEG laboratory enabled students to achieve the main learning objectives and become familiar with the laboratory experiment, indicating its success as an alternative laboratory experiment.
| S-EPMC7567418 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Bioinformatics is becoming an essential tool for the majority of biological and biomedical researchers. Although bioinformatics data is exploited by academic and industrial researchers, limited focus is on teaching this area to undergraduates, postgraduates and senior scientists. Many scientists are developing their own expertise without formal training and often without appreciating the source of the data they are reliant upon. Some universities do provide courses on a variety of bioinformatics resources and tools, a few also provide biocuration projects, during which students submit data to annotation resources. Methods: To assess the usefulness and enjoyability of annotation projects a survey was sent to University College London (UCL) students who have undertaken Gene Ontology biocuration projects. Results: Analysis of survey responses suggest that these projects provide students with an opportunity not only to learn about bioinformatics resources but also to improve their literature analysis, presentation and writing skills. Conclusion: Biocuration student projects provide valuable annotations as well as enabling students to develop a variety of skills relevant to their future careers. It is also hoped that, as future scientists, these students will critically assess their own manuscripts and ensure that these are written with the biocurators of the future in mind.
| S-EPMC8831850 | biostudies-literature
Project description:One of the challenges in teaching a service-learning course is obtaining student buy-in from all students in the course. To circumvent this problem, I have let students in my undergraduate Neurobiology course design their own service-learning projects at the beginning of the semester. Although this can be chaotic because it requires last-minute planning, I have made it successful through facilitating student communication in the classroom, requiring thorough project proposals, meeting with students regularly, and monitoring group progress through written reflection papers. Most of my students have strong opinions about the types of projects that they want to carry out, and many students have used connections that they have already made with local organizations. Almost all projects that students have designed to this point involve teaching basic concepts of neurobiology to children of various ages while simultaneously sparking their interest in science. Through taking ownership of the project and designing it such that it works well with their strengths, interests, and weekly schedule, students have become more engaged in service learning and view it as a valuable experience. Despite some class time being shifted away from more traditional assignments, students have performed equally well in the course, and they are more eager to talk with others about course concepts. Furthermore, the feedback that I have received from community partners has been excellent, and some students have maintained their work with the organizations.
| S-EPMC4798825 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alcohol abuse continues to be an issue of major concern for the health and well-being of college students. Estimates are that over 80% of college students are involved in the campus "alcohol culture." Annually, close to 2000 students die in the United States due to alcohol-related accidents, with another 600,000 sustaining injury due to alcohol-related incidents (NIAAA, 2013). Students enrolled in a Psychopharmacology course engaged in action projects (community outreach) focused on alcohol abuse on our campus. Research has indicated that these types of projects can increase student engagement in course material and foster important skills, including working with peers and developing involvement in one's community. This paper describes the structure and requirements of five student outreach projects and the final projects designed by the students, summarizes the grading and assessment of the projects, and discusses the rewards and challenges of incorporating such projects into a course.
| S-EPMC4917345 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Plastics' long degradation time and their role in adding millions of metric tons of plastic waste to our oceans annually present an acute environmental challenge. Handling end-of-life waste from wind turbine blades (WTBs) is equally pressing. Currently, WTB waste often finds its way into landfills, emphasizing the need for recycling and sustainable solutions. Mechanical recycling of composite WTB presents an avenue for the recovery of glass fibers (GF) for repurposing as fillers or reinforcements. The resulting composite materials exhibit improved properties compared to the pure PAN polymer. Through the employment of the dry-jet wet spinning technique, we have successfully manufactured PAN/GF coaxial-layered fibers with a 0.1 wt % GF content in the middle layer. These fibers demonstrate enhanced mechanical properties and a lightweight nature. Most notably, the composite fiber demonstrates a significant 24.4% increase in strength and a 17.7% increase in modulus. These fibers hold vast potential for various industrial applications, particularly in the production of structural components (e.g., electric vehicles), contributing to enhanced performance and energy efficiency.
| S-EPMC10900510 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This article compares the learning outcomes and student perceptions of a one semester undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course that was taught using either a fully online or a fully in-person teaching modality. The semester long biochemistry laboratory mimicked the work sequence a researcher would encounter when transforming a plasmid containing a gene for a recombinant protein (superfolder green fluorescent protein, sf-GFP) and then purifying, identifying, and characterizing that protein. The two modalities of the course were completed in the same semester, by the same instructor, in which students self-selected into which modality they preferred at the beginning of the semester. Students in the in-person section reported enjoying the laboratory course more than the online cohort of students and found it to be less time-consuming. Additionally, a survey of biochemistry laboratory instructors from across the United States, who had experience teaching both online and in-person biochemistry laboratories, indicated that the majority of instructors that responded to the survey preferred the in-person modality: believing them to be more effective and engaging for the students, more enjoyable, and less time-consuming for the instructor. Statistical analysis of formative and summative assessments indicated no significant difference in non-hands-on student learning objective and learning goal scores between the two groups, but the small number of students and instructors in this study limits the generalizability of these results.
| S-EPMC10938634 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) provide the same benefits as individual, mentored faculty research while expanding the availability of research opportunities. One important aspect of CUREs is students' engagement in collaboration. The shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic created an immediate need for meaningful, collaborative experiences in CUREs. We developed a partnership with the Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) database, WormBase, in which students submitted annotations of published manuscripts to the website. Due to the stress on students during this time of crisis, qualitative data were collected in lieu of quantitative pre- and postanalyses. Most students reported on cognitive processes that represent mid-level Bloom's categories. By partnering with WormBase, students gained insight into the scientific community and contributed as community members. We describe possible modifications for future courses, potential expansion of the WormBase collaboration, and future directions for quantitative analysis.
| S-EPMC8012049 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Centrifugal fiber spinning has recently emerged as a highly promising alternative technique for the production of nonwoven, ultrafine fiber mats. Due to its high production rate, it could provide a more technologically relevant fiber spinning technique than electrospinning. In this contribution, we examine the influence of polymer concentration and nozzle material on the centrifugal spinning process and the fiber morphology. We find that increasing the polymer concentration transforms the process from a beaded-fiber regime to a continuous-fiber regime. Furthermore, we find that not only fiber diameter is strongly concentration-dependent, but also the nozzle material plays a significant role, especially in the continuous-fiber regime. This was evaluated by the use of a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and an aluminum nozzle. We discuss the influence of polymer concentration on fiber morphology and show that the choice of nozzle material has a significant influence on the fiber diameter.
| S-EPMC7182933 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundInterprofessional education opportunities are commonly university-based and require further development during clinical practice. Many clinical contexts offer the potential for meaningful learning of both collaborative and discipline-specific practice. The emergency department (ED) demands efficient teamwork, so presents a logical location for interprofessional learning.MethodsAn interprofessional clinical placement program was implemented with the aim to enhance students' capacity and self-efficacy for collaborative practice. Fifty-five medical and nursing students participated as interdisciplinary pairs in a two-week clinical placement in the ED. Students' perceptions of the learning environment were measured pre- and post-placement with the Self-efficacy for Interprofessional Experiential Learning Scale and the Interprofessional Clinical Placement Learning Inventory was completed post-placement. Non-parametric tests were used to establish change differences.ResultsThe Placement Learning Inventory revealed positive outcomes; the majority (16/19) agreed/agreed strongly that the placement provided sufficient learning opportunities, was interesting, and made them feel as if they belonged and most (14/19) reported they achieved the discipline specific learning objectives set by the university. Self-efficacy improved significantly (p = 0.017), showing promise for future use of the placement model Challenges were identified in the organisation and supervision of students. In the absence of additional dedicated student supervision, this model of interprofessional student pairs in the ED was challenging.ConclusionsInterprofessional clinical placements in ED are an effective clinical learning approach for final year undergraduate medicine and nursing students. Recommendations for improvements for students' clinical supervision are proposed for the placement model.
| S-EPMC9764718 | biostudies-literature