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The article discusses the available resources to assist junior faculty in the preparation of manuscripts. According to the author the art of writing a manuscript for publication can be learned through an apprenticeship in research. However, junior faculty may lack the confidence to establish a scholarship and pass a document intended for the field of science education. Also included is a dialog discussing created by a junior and senior instructors to explore the causes of inertia in developing and publishing science education documents.

To promote understanding of the authority of the primary literature in students taking our biochemistry laboratory courses, a biochemistry laboratory exercise on the determination of an acceptable molar absorptivity value of 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) was developed. This made the laboratory course much more relevant by linking to a thematic thread, β-galactosidase, that scaffolds concepts in one exercise with those in later exercises. The substrate for the continuous assay of β-galactosidase is the chromogenic 2-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside that produces 2-NP. In an early laboratory exercise, students deter- mine the wavelength of maximum absorption for the protonated and deprotonated form of 2-NP at various pH values and then determine the molar absorptivity of 2-NP. Students were encouraged to discuss apparent discrepancies not only in their own determinations of molar absorptivity values for 2-NP, but also in the published molar absorptivity values for 2-NP (2,150-21,300 M-1 cm-1) at almost the same pH and at 420 nm. Finally, the students were led to a publication that serves as an authentic source for molar absorptivity of 2-NP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' reactions to classroom learning and the mastery of science vary along a wide spectrum of attitudes and emotions. In particular, we argue here that how learners encounter and learn subject matter is a function of their level of cognitive development. We describe the stages of cognitive development based on the work of William Perry and demonstrate their relevance to the undergraduate science classroom. With examples drawn from biochemistry, we attempt to show that, depending on the student's developmental level, there will be different abilities to handle the range of assignments and activities s/he can expect to experience in the average classroom. The college science instructor can benefit from knowledge of these stages and can work through their implications to develop strategies and techniques to regulate collective student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion board feature that is included with most course management software packages is a potentially valuable tool to augment instructor-student interactions in science lecture courses and increase student motivation. However, many teachers seem to have been frustrated that students do not readily make use of this feature when it is added to the course resources. The author has been using a discussion board in undergraduate biochemistry lecture courses for six years and has learned to use it to evolve a system that students use and that seems to increase interaction with students while requiring less time than traditional face-to-face meetings outside of the lecture. The aspects that the author emphasizes for efficient discussion board use are timing, creating a safe virtual environment for the students, "seeding" with simulated questions, setting boundaries, and being self-conscious about the attitude that the instructor projects to the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a simple undergraduate exercise involving the titration of a weak acid by a strong base using a pH meter and a micropipette. Students then use their data and carry out graphical analyses with a spreadsheet. The analyses involve using mathematical concepts such as first-derivative and semi-log plots and provide am opportunity for collaboration between biochemistry and mathematics instructors. By focusing on titration data, rather than the titration process, and using a variety of graphical transformations, we believe that students achieve a deeper understanding of the concept of buffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student motivation is correlated with learning. Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y as a basis for understanding and improving motivation in the business world can be directly applied to the science classroom. Teachers with a Theory Y perspective (students naturally want to learn) provide increased motivation for students and promote more active learning than Theory X-style teachers who do not view students as active learners. Many teachers are not aware of their Theory X/Theory Y orientation and how this bias may be impacting their interaction with students. This article explores the benefits of moving from a Theory X to a more Theory Y style of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the suggestion of Graham Parslow that science education is pedagogy. According to the author, the word pedagogy was used to refer to the Greek household slave that escorted the family children to and from school. Thus, in his view, the word is quite appropriately used with primary and secondary education and not in adult science education. The author contends that mystagogy would be more appropriate to associate higher science education as it relates to the initiation process called undergraduate education.

The author presents his comments about what Graham Parslow's response to his commentary proposing that education of undergraduate science students was a separate niche that existed between pedagogy and androgogy. As Parlow is rather concerned on the use of "mystagogy" for tertiary science education, the author asserts that the word be considered. Not only mystagogy, but also the present use of pedagog, where the author cited to be a description of a slave that took Greek children to school.