Teaching Experimental Design Using an Exercise in Protein Fractionation

Loke, Joan P.; Hancock, Dale; Johnston, Jennifer; Dimauro, J.; Denyer, Gareth

doi:10.1021/ed078p1528

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Size exclusion chromatography (SEC), the premier method for characterizing macromolecules in terms of molecular mass and molecular mass distribution, gives educators another approach for introducing polymer science into undergraduate chemistry programs. ,, A literature search of this Journal on SEC as a pedagogical approach for studying macromolecules has revealed a number of papers on the use of this technique in the undergraduate curriculum; − however, there are none that address SEC theory from a thermodynamic perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size Exclusion Chromatography: A Teaching Aid for Physical Chemistry

Barth¹

2018

J. Chem. Educ.

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All analytical techniques are governed by the principles of physical chemistry, and chromatography is certainly no exception. By examining the underlying concepts of size exclusion chromatography (SEC), students can gain greater appreciation of and insight into the science and utility of thermodynamics, as well as solution properties of macromolecules. In this paper we will show how the separation mechanism that governs SEC, an unusual form of chromatography, can be explained using the tenets of thermodynamics. This paper gives educators access to an HPLC technique usually not included in undergraduate chemistry curriculum.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size Exclusion Chromatography: A Teaching Aid for Physical Chemistry

Barth¹

2018

J. Chem. Educ.

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“…In chemistry education, statistical experimental design has been used in graduate and upper-division undergraduate groups in several disciplines such as analytical quantitative chemistry, − organic and organometallic chemistry, and biology. , To the best of my knowledge, there is no literature on the application of statistical experimental design in the high school chemistry laboratory. The herein reported lemon cake project is in line with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) learning requirements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Tasty Approach to Statistical Experimental Design in High School Chemistry: The Best Lemon Cake

Liguori¹

2017

J. Chem. Educ.

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High school students in a chemistry course were challenged to prepare an improved lemon cake by means of statistical experimental design. They were introduced to basic statistical experimental design theory, calculation of effects, empirical mathematical models, response surfaces and their isocontour projections, as well as descriptive statistics. Geogebra, a digital program for teaching and learning mathematics, was used to produce the mathematical models and response surface plots. Assessment of the lemon cakes with regard to fluffiness (texture), lemon taste, and an overall rating required efficient planning of sensory panels. A slight extrapolation, that is, selection of the experimental setting outside the investigated domain, and assessment of the predicted procedure to check the reproducibility of the lemon cake recipe were also included in this project, which complements the Next Generation Science Standard.

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“…1 Unless the curriculum requires an independent research project, students who do not elect undergraduate research do not have the opportunity to hone such skills in traditional, "cookbook" laboratories. Problem-based laboratories have recently been implemented in introductory through advanced biochemistry courses [2][3][4][5] and have involved experiments that include exploration of the Beer-Lambert law [2], protein purification [3,6], mapping uncharacterized mutations of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans [4], and studying various properties of a single enzyme [5]. These mini-projects occupy from one laboratory session [2] to the entire semester [3][4][5].…”

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confidence: 99%

An undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course with an emphasis on a research experience

Caspers

Roberts-Kirchhoff

2003

Biochem Molecular Bio Educ

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In their junior or senior year, biochemistry majors at the University of Detroit Mercy are required to take a two-credit biochemistry laboratory course. Five years ago, the format of this course was changed from structured experiments to a more project-based approach. Several structured experiments were included at the beginning of the course because not all students were familiar with computer-based statistics and graphics programs or fundamental biochemical techniques. Finally, students were given an enzyme purification assignment and a test/control project. In the latter project, students were provided with tissue from test and control animals and were expected to propose and test a parameter that they hypothesized might be different between the two tissues. For both projects, student teams were required to search the literature, submit and orally defend their proposals, perform the experiments, and submit a report. For all experiments except the test/control project, students submitted a written report in the style of a journal paper. A poster presentation was required for the test/control project. In course evaluations, the students cited a high degree of satisfaction with the project-based approach.Keywords: Problem-based experiments, independent projects, experimental design, poster presentations, research reports.Problem-solving abilities and experimental design are important skills for any scientist, but they are not taught in laboratory courses where students simply follow an explicit set of instructions to obtain results. Problem-based learning is a method in which students are presented with a goal that can be reached through different paths.1 As students work toward the goal, they acquire problemsolving, self-directed learning and team skills.1 Unless the curriculum requires an independent research project, students who do not elect undergraduate research do not have the opportunity to hone such skills in traditional, "cookbook" laboratories. Problem-based laboratories have recently been implemented in introductory through advanced biochemistry courses [2-5] and have involved experiments that include exploration of the Beer-Lambert law [2], protein purification [3,6], mapping uncharacterized mutations of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans [4], and studying various properties of a single enzyme [5]. These mini-projects occupy from one laboratory session [2] to the entire semester [3][4][5].In the mid-1990s, the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Detroit Mercy implemented project-based laboratories across the curriculum with the goal of incorporating one or more open-ended assignments of increasing difficulty into each laboratory course. In this way, even students who do not elect to undertake independent research are exposed to a wide variety of protocols and instrumentation in a professional, research-like environment. In their junior or senior year, biochemistry majors are required to take a twocredit, one-semester biochemistry laboratory course, which is conc...

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Teaching Experimental Design Using an Exercise in Protein Fractionation

Cited by 3 publications

References 4 publications

Size Exclusion Chromatography: A Teaching Aid for Physical Chemistry

Size Exclusion Chromatography: A Teaching Aid for Physical Chemistry

A Tasty Approach to Statistical Experimental Design in High School Chemistry: The Best Lemon Cake

An undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course with an emphasis on a research experience

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