Diffusion and osmosis are central concepts in biology, both at the cellular and organ levels. They are presented several times throughout most introductory biology textbooks (e.g., Freeman, 2002), yet both processes are often difficult for students to understand (Odom, 1995;Zuckerman, 1994;Sanger et al., 2001; and results herein). Students have deep-rooted misconceptions about how diffusion and osmosis work, especially at the molecular level. We hypothesized that this might be in part due to the inability to see and explore these processes at the molecular level. In order to investigate this, we developed new software, OsmoBeaker, which allows students to perform inquiry-based experiments at the molecular level. Here we show that these simulated laboratories do indeed teach diffusion and osmosis and help overcome some, but not all, student misconceptions.
Shared Governance evolved as a way for hospital nurses to have a role in decision making that affected nursing practice. This article describes how a multidisciplinary shared leadership program can be implemented in a hospital setting in order to empower all staff to participate in decision making and to continue the evolutionary process of continuous quality improvement. Various shared leadership models are described as well as a step-by-step implementation process and one hospital's story of the successful implementation of a council or model.
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