Laboratory Assignments Research Articles

Hepatitis C subtyping assay failure in UK patients born in sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for global treatment and elimination.

HCV serum derived from 146 individuals, whose likely source of infection was from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was investigated with a novel panel of single round polymerase chain reaction(PCR) assays targeting NS5B and NS5A genomic regions. Virus subtype assignments were determined by pairwise-distance analysis and compared to both diagnostic laboratory assignments and free-to-use online typing tools. Partial NS5A and NS5B sequences were respectively obtained from 131 to 135 HCV-positive patients born in 19 different countries from SSA but attending clinics in the UK. We determined that routine clinical diagnostic methods incorrectly subtyped 59.0% of samples, with a further 6.8% incorrectly genotyped. Of five commonly used online tools, Geno2Pheno performed most effectively in determining a subtype in agreement with pairwise distance analysis. This study provides a simple low-cost pathway to accurately subtype in SSA, guide regional therapeutic choice and assist global surveillance and elimination initiatives.

Professional Development Strategies and Recommendations for High School Teachers to Teach Computer Science Online

Based on a current Research to Practice Partnership (RPP) between a southeastern public university and a state virtual public school in the United States, ten high school teachers from a virtual school who teach Computer Science (CS) online participated in a summer workshop to collaborate through a participatory action research project regarding design, facilitation, and evaluation strategies to be included in effective professional development. The questions were posed through an online collaborative Jamboard during the summer workshop. The teacher posts were qualitatively analyzed to identify common themes. Recommendations for professional development on design included CS content, how to teach CS, and CS tools and activities. For facilitation, they recommended resources for supplemental instruction and feedback tools for providing feedback in various modalities and a tool repository. For assessment, they recommended content knowledge assessments, including lab assignments, single and pair programming, and coding assessments. Overall recommendations for a professional development course to teach CS online were also offered.

Remote labs in higher engineering education: engaging students with active learning pedagogy

In engineering education laboratories serve as experiential learning aimed at engaging students. The past decades saw an increased use of online laboratories, including virtual and remote labs. Remote labs, providing online interfaces to physical labs, allow students to conduct experiments with real-world equipment anywhere and at any time. However, this advantage challenges active student engagement. Little evidence is available on effective pedagogies for student engagement in remote labs. This paper aims to identify how a remote lab assignment based on active learning pedagogy in higher engineering education supports student engagement, with the overarching aim to promote students’ transfer skills from theory to practice. Our research question, “What impact does an active learning pedagogy have on students’ engagement with a remote lab?“, was answered with a case study of two courses on systems and control in higher engineering education. Data included digital traces, course evaluations, interviews, and observations. Students reported how remote labs, to be used anywhere at any time, require self-regulation and scheduling of experiments. However, accompanying open-ended lab assignments encouraged students to engage with the lab and the theoretical content of the course by creating a ‘need-to-know.’ Our results furthermore suggest the need for a structured arrangement of open-ended lab assignment, lab preparation, teamwork supporting peer learning and discussion, progress meetings focused on feedback and formative assessment, and reports focused on reflection. Engagement can be strengthened by support for students before and during the experiments, clear signposting about the experiment and lab set-up, and pre-structuring of lab activities.

Visualizing Groundwater Dispersion: Laboratory Exercise on Dispersivity with Hands-on and Online Students

Longitudinal groundwater dispersion is measured by calculating the spreading of a solute in the direction of groundwater flow as a function of time, with dispersivity being the plume dispersion divided by the groundwater velocity. Two-dimensional physical groundwater flow models were used in a laboratory exercise to illustrate groundwater dispersion to hands-on and online students. Learning assessment of the pedagogical value of the laboratory exercise was based on a student survey and an independent laboratory assignment graded by the course instructor. Both tools indicated that student learning was effectively enhanced by the dispersivity laboratory exercise; however, it was more effective for the hands-on students.

Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic: How a Master's in Clinical Laboratory Sciences Program Adapted Through the Modification of Existing Resources.

ObjectiveOur aim was to describe the rapid adaption of a Master of Clinical Laboratory Sciences (MCLS) program to the abrupt suspension of classroom instruction and laboratory training at affiliated hospitals in compliance with the New York governor’s executive order in March 2020.MethodsTeaching modifications included greater emphasis on Zoom video conferencing, Media Lab assignments, independent self-study, and online testing.ResultsInstruction of academic coursework continued uninterrupted using previously established teaching modalities. Clinical training presented 2-fold concerns, credit hours needed for the master’s degree and clinical hours required for New York State licensing. The latter was delayed.ConclusionThe real-time need to deliver laboratory science education during a time of statewide closure was fulfilled using available teaching modalities. The resulting uninterrupted academic and clinical training ensured the education of the incoming workforce of our clinical laboratories. This teaching strategy may be considered during new curricula development in preparation for times of future crises.

Project-based Laboratory Assignments to Support Digital Transformation of Education in Turkmenistan

Abstract: On 30th of November, 2018, by the Decree of the Esteemed President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, there was accepted a Conception of developing digital economy in Turkmenistan in between 2019-2025. Moreover, on 15th of September, 2017, the Conception of developing digital education in Turkmenistan was approved as well. That is why, new, innovative methodologies and digital solutions are continuously being introduced to the educational system of Turkmenistan. Teaching and training undergraduate students, studying in the field of automation and control engineering, is a tough issue. Because, nowadays, for automation engineer, knowing physics, mathematics, theory of automation and electronics is not enough, moreover, they should also know basics of smart systems, if necessary, programming a microcontroller and methods of using necessary sensors when designing smart systems. In this regards, this paper provides useful information about the steps and key points of integrating digital solutions a n d mi c r o c o n t r o l l e r - b a s e d e d u c a t i o n a l methodologies into the undergraduate educational system of Turkmenistan. Moreover, the effect of the proposed method of teaching and appropriateness of the laboratory assignments were also analysed at the end of the course. As a microcontroller board, “Ardunio UNO” was selected as it is easy-to-learn. Keywords: smart systems, engineering courses, “Arduino UNO” board, methodology of achieving course objectives, Bloom's taxonomy

The effectiveness of distance and traditional teaching natural sciences: A comparative analysis

Introduction. The article focuses on the problem of the effectiveness of distance learning. The most recent pandemic has led to the widespread use of distance learning as an alternative to the traditional classroom instruction. However, there is no consensus on whether distance education is superior to the traditional teaching in terms of learning outcomes and perception. The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of teaching natural sciences in distance and traditional modes. Materials and Methods. The data were collected via the following general research methods: synthesis and generalization of scholarly literature on the problem, empirical methods including surveys and interviews, and comparative analysis of research findings. A comparative analysis of the effectiveness of distance learning and traditional classroom instruction was conducted relying on the results of teaching natural science disciplines at Gorno-Altaisk State University in the period of 2020-2022, synthesis and analysis of international and Russian studies on the problem. Results. The authors identified the disadvantages and advantages of distance learning with the main focus on natural science disciplines. It has been found that laboratory assignments performed in a distance mode changed the student’s role from being a researcher to the role of an observer. Moreover, there was a decrease in the development of practical skills. Within the framework of traditional learning, the teacher acts as a mentor responsible for enhancing students’ knowledge, for nurturing the culture of behavior while the teacher’s role in distance education is that of a mediator facilitating students’ independent learning. It should also be noted that within distance learning environment teachers cannot perform a range of professional functions beyond educational. As far as final assessment is concerned, it must be emphasized that it can be extremely difficult to conduct objective assessment of students’ knowledge and competencies in a distance learning environment. On the other hand, the advantages of assessment via electronic and online media include flexibility and convenience. Conclusions. The authors conclude that nowadays the effectiveness of teaching natural sciences in the distance learning environment is lower than in the traditional one. In order to increase its efficiency, it is necessary to improve digital technologies and develop new teaching methods suitable for the distance learning environment. The limitations of distance learning include decrease in students’ learning outcomes, objectivity of final assessment, and partial implementation of moral education activities.

A virtual laboratory for conducting “hands-on” experiments on water wave mechanics

Water wave mechanics are an important topic for scientist and practitioners of civil engineering due to the key role in coastal structure design and the understanding of beach erosion and coastal flooding. Different water wave theories have been proposed over the past two centuries to describe wave transformation, being the so-called linear water wave theory; the most fundamental but still widely used despite its limitations. The use of laboratory facilities in water wave courses, at both undergraduate and graduate levels, is fundamental to provide hands on experience and training on the experimental design and data analysis. Furthermore, it allows to evaluate the validity and limitations of linear wave theory. Unfortunately, such facilities are scarce and their use was further complicated owing to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 outbreak. On the other hand, the advent of computer technology and Computation Fluid Dynamics codes have allowed the development of virtual laboratories for science, technology, and engineering. Here, a widely validated numerical model, which solves the Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations, is employed to develop a virtual wave flume for educational purposes. The virtual laboratory consists of three components: 1) An educational component consisting of lab assignments including background theory, mainly based on the water wave mechanics book by Dean and Dalrymple (1991), and the description of the experiment to be conducted in the virtual wave flume; 2) Synthetic data, corresponding to different RANS simulations, including the spatial-temporal variability of different hydrodynamic variables corresponding to realistic laboratory experiments; and 3) The Graphical User Interface (GUI) allowing the user to select the experiment and download the lab assignment instructions. Within each experiment the user may select different wave conditions and deploy the virtual “sensors” interactively. The experiment and time series corresponding to the virtual sensors can be visualized in real-time. The data acquired with the virtual sensors can be exported as a binary file for further analysis and comparison with theory. The virtual laboratory has been employed as a supporting tool in the Water Wave Mechanics and Nearshore Hydrodynamics graduate courses taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. A preliminary assessment of learning outcomes revealed that students agree on the usefulness of the virtual wave flume to the understanding of wave transformation processes and the enjoyment of the courses. The documentation, pre-run numerical simulations, and GUI are integrated in a self-application program developed in Matlab® available for download from a public repository.

Quantification of Learning Gains in a Science CURE: Leveraging Learning Objectives to Substantiate and Validate the Benefits of Experiential Education

Course‐based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURE) aim to provide college students with hands‐on experiences to develop research skills and complex thinking. Development of these abilities is invaluable as students undertake further education and begin critical professions. Regardless of eventual career aspirations, CUREs make it possible for every student to experience the enchantment of science in its authentic form. Performing research serves to galvanize inquiring minds that serve as role models for future generations of scientists. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines as a whole suffer from high rates of student attrition. Notably, students from underrepresented groups enter STEM disciplines at similar rates and with similar interest levels as White students, but do not persist at the same rates. CUREs have proven to be an indispensable model to expose every student, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or family obligations, to the process of science first hand. While many CURE curricula are freely available online, faculty are hesitant to adopt this new style of teaching. Using established anticipated learning outcomes (ALO) designed specifically for the Biochemistry Authentic Student Inquiry Laboratory (BASIL) CURE, this study aims to gauge student learning objective mastery quantitatively. Likert scale‐based analysis is employed to evaluate the level of content mastery student responses demonstrate. Assignment questions were designed to correspond to the most critical learning objectives, as identified by BASIL faculty. Researchers spent significant effort designing and refining laboratory assignment questions that correspond to and can reliability and consistently to gage mastery of the ALOs.Data of student mastery spanning 4 semesters will be discussed. Students showed significant learning gains in all four semesters/modalities. Greater mastery of bioinformatic ALOs during remote learning shows quality education can be enhanced and improved by technology. The student’s mastery of wet‐lab ALOs coincided with our findings that lab courses need enhanced strategies to teach critical STEM lab‐research skills in an online setting. Novel assessment and instruction strategies targeted to learning mastery gaps identified as part of this work will pave the way for wider CURE adoption. Ultimately, serving as a platform to expose every undergraduate student to vital STEM research experiences.

A Qualitative Study of Experienced Course Coordinators’ Perspectives on Assessment in Introductory Programming Courses for Non-CS Majors

Assessment plays an important role in education and can both guide and motivate learning. Assessment can, however, be carried out with different aims: providing the students with feedback that supports the learning (formative assessment) and judging to which degree the students have fulfilled the intended learning outcomes (summative assessment). In this study, we explore the instructors’ perspective on assessment within the context of introductory programming courses offered to non-computer-science majors at a public tuition-free state-funded university in a Nordic country. These courses are given to a large number of students and also employ several teaching assistants (TAs). We used constructivism as a basis for our study and investigated how instructors implement formative and summative assessments, how they view their role, and what expectations they have of their TAs in these assessments. We interviewed seven course coordinators (main instructors for introductory programming courses with additional administrative duties but without formal responsibility of the grading) and analyzed 205 course artifacts, such as syllabi, lab assignment instructions, and course material from the cross-department TA training course. The results showed that course coordinators use formative and summative assessments both separately and within the same activity. They view themselves as responsible for the assessments, as the planners and material developers, as the organizers and administrators, and as monitors of the assessments. However, the results also showed that these course coordinators delegate much of the responsibility for the assessments to their TAs and expect TAs to both grade the students and provide them with feedback and guidance. In addition, the TAs are also expected to act as informants about their students’ performance. The course coordinators’ role entails many different aspects, where communicating through instructions to both students and TAs is essential. We see that this implementation of assessment, with lots of responsibility distributed to the TAs, could be difficult to manage for a single faculty member who is not necessarily responsible for the grading. Based on the results, we outline some recommendations, such as offering TA training.

Leveraging an App to Support Students with Color-Vision Deficiency and Color-Blindness in Online General Chemistry Laboratories

Assistive technologies remain important in supporting student learning in both in-person laboratories and the online laboratory environment. In this article, we describe an adaptation of a smartphone technology called the Color Blind Pal app to aid students in complementing online laboratory assignments in a general chemistry course. The app was integrated into three online laboratory experiments to help students collect data from simulated flame tests, atomic emission spectra, precipitation reactions, and colorimetric titrations. We share how incorporating the app has influenced our perspective on inclusive practices in the online lab curriculum as the app allows both users with color-vision deficiencies or color-blindness to make color observations and for instructors to simulate color-vision deficiencies when designing curricula. Given our use of the app as an assistive technology, we discuss implications for a shift toward universal design for learning (UDL) to proactively design inclusive online laboratory curricula.

Training Teaching Assistants in Assessment of Lab Assignments in Computer Science at a Swedish University

Teaching assistants (TAs), students who assist the faculty, are widely used in computer science (CS) courses. Previous studies have, however, shown that TAs could be poorly prepared and need training. Particularly, an interview study has shown that one of the areas where the TAs experience uncertainty is when assessing students’ oral presentations of their lab assignments. Based on that result and by interviewing course coordinators, we have developed and offered training workshops about assessment in CS. We invited our TAs in the introductory CS courses to participate on a voluntary basis. By distributing pre-workshop surveys at the beginning of each semester, and post-workshop surveys at the end of the semesters, to both workshop attendees (50) and non-attendees (44), we studied how the TAs conducted the assessments and what impact the training workshop had on their self-reported practice. Both surveys had 11 identical statements that the TAs were asked to rate on a 7-point Likert scale. We also conducted interviews with four workshop attendees and three non-attendees. The results showed a significant difference between the two groups in the post-workshop survey: workshop attendees disagreed more with the statement “I try to assess students' understanding rather than the program”, which is more in line with the instructions given. In addition, when comparing pre- and post-workshop answers, the workshop attendees stated that they were less inclined to ask for help, experienced that the lab instructions were not detailed enough, and were more inclined to ask questions that convinced them that the students had written the program themselves. In the control group, no significant differences between pre- and post-tests were found.

Understanding Students’ Failure to use Functions as a Tool for Abstraction – An Analysis of Questionnaire Responses and Lab Assignments in a CS1 Python Course

Controlling complexity through the use of abstractions is a critical part of problem solving in programming. Thus, becoming proficient with procedural and data abstraction through the use of user-defined functions is important. Properly using functions for abstraction involves a number of other core concepts, such as parameter passing, scope and references, which are known to be difficult. Therefore, this paper aims to study students’ proficiency with these core concepts, and students’ ability to apply procedural and data abstraction to solve problems. We collected data from two years of an introductory Python course, both from a questionnaire and from two lab assignments. The data shows that students had difficulties with the core concepts, and a number of issues solving problems with abstraction. We also investigate the impact of using a visualization tool when teaching the core concepts.

The Action Research Journey of Designing Persuasive Object-Oriented Programming Lab Assignments Framework Using Persuasive Technology

The aspire of this action research is to design a persuasive object-oriented programming (OOP) lab assignments framework which benefit and appeal to students. The framework presented in this paper serves as a blue print for an action research activity to inspect how principles of persuasive technology can be adopted into undergraduate OOP lab assignments. To complete the development of the proposed framework, this research comprises of four action research cycles. The current situation analysis cycle included a theoretical study, the improvement implementation cycle included framework development and OOP lab assignment development, the review changes cycle included evaluation, and the continued action for improvement cycle included the development of E-Worksheets. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 202 students participated in this study. Data was gathered via questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and observation. Overall, each persuasive technology principle adopted in this study received an 80 percent or higher score, and students agreed that each element of the lab assignment is beneficial and appealing to them. In conclusion, this action study has shown the effectiveness of the persuasive technology principles with the integration of incremental, iterative and guided approaches to improve OOP lab assignments which benefit and appeal to students.

Teaching speech acoustics concepts in an undergraduate speech science course: Are distributed or massed practice lab assignments more effective?

Educational research holds that individuals learn concepts more effectively when practice applying these concepts is distributed rather than massed. However, few studies have investigated distributed versus massed practice for student learning of a set of related concepts. This study investigated student learning and retention of speech acoustics concepts in an undergraduate speech science course. In one class design, students completed several short speech acoustics labs spaced throughout the semester to practice applying learned concepts as the semester progressed. In another class design, students completed one extensive speech acoustics lab at the end of the semester to apply concepts learned throughout the semester. Students in all courses completed a comprehensive examination at the end of the semester. An analysis of summative assessment data indicates that distributed practice may be more effective in facilitating student learning and recall of individual concepts. However, massed practice may promote broader conceptual learning of related concepts, possibly by facilitating discovery of connections across concepts.

Redesigning Business Calculus into Business Mathematics

ABSTRACT This article describes the revision of a Business Calculus course at a medium-sized, northwestern university. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the need for a redesign of the Business Calculus course, conversations among math and business faculty about the course changes, the development of the new course, and the addition of a one-credit lab using technology. We will provide an example of a typical lab assignment, students’ thoughts about the courses, and the lessons we learned throughout the course revision and implementation process. Suggestions for further development are provided as well.

USING FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE TO TEACH UNIVERSITY GIS COURSES ONLINE: LESSONS LEARNED DURING A PANDEMIC

Abstract. During the remote learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, university GIS students did not always have home access to the kinds of software and hardware that they would ordinarily get in their on-campus lab facilities. In this situation, the free and cross-platform nature of FOSS opened the door for some students to continue their GIS education uninterrupted. In this article, I describe how one university allowed students to choose FOSS such as QGIS, PostGIS, and GeoDa as alternatives to proprietary software in upper-division GIS coursework. These were used to teach techniques such as point pattern analysis, visibility analysis, hydrological modeling, proximity surfaces, LISA analysis, process modeling, open data access, and data summation. I share specific software tools, commands, and plugins used to apply these techniques in lab assignments. I discuss how these approaches can form a lasting part of the GIS curriculum beyond the pandemic, and how students can position these FOSS skills as they prepare for the GIS job market.

EasyPAP: A framework for learning parallel programming

This paper presents EasyPAP, an easy-to-use programming environment designed to help students to learn parallel programming. EasyPAP features a wide range of 2D computation kernels that the students are invited to parallelize using Pthreads, OpenMP, OpenCL or MPI. Execution of kernels can be interactively visualized, and powerful monitoring tools allow students to observe both the scheduling of computations and the assignment of 2D tiles to threads/processes. By focusing on algorithms and data distribution, students can experiment with diverse code variants and tune multiple parameters, resulting in richer problem exploration and faster progress towards efficient solutions. We present selected lab assignments which illustrate how EasyPAP improves the way students explore parallel programming.

A module-based introduction to heterogeneous computing in core courses

Heterogeneous architectures have emerged as a dominant platform, not only in high-performance computing but also in mobile processing, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoTs). Because the undergraduate computer science curriculum includes so many topics, adding a new course as a required part of the curriculum without increasing the number of hours to graduation is difficult. Integration of heterogeneous computing requires a module-driven approach in which coverage of the topics is broken down into smaller units and dispersed throughout the curriculum. The module-driven approach has been successfully implemented in introducing parallel and distributed computing concepts.In this paper, we present a set of four teaching modules that introduce fundamental concepts in heterogeneous computing in lower-division computer science courses. The goal of these modules is not to teach students how to program heterogeneous systems but rather to expose them to this emerging trend and prepare them for material in future classes. Although concepts are covered at a high level, the modules emphasize active learning and include lab assignments that provide students with hands-on experience. We also present initial evaluation results for two of these modules based on their use in undergraduate courses at Texas State University. The results are quite encouraging both in terms of learning outcomes and student engagement and interest.

Benefits of Using the Invertebrate Model Organism C. Elegans in an Inquiry-Based Laboratory Activity

Background: The goals of laboratory experiences include developing knowledge base, research skills, and scientific communication abilities. Objective: The aim was to assess an inquiry-based laboratory activity using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans in relation to learning goals. Method: Students in a Biopsychology laboratory course worked in groups to test the effect of various drugs (e.g., nicotine, ethanol, fluoxetine, and melatonin) on C. elegans behavior. The activity included literature review, experimental design, and a final lab report. A cumulative final exam included a synaptic communication question related to the content of the activity. Results: Students showed better retention of laboratory-related content compared to other topics from the course, as demonstrated through performance on the final exam and were able to replicate previous research demonstrating effects of drug on locomotion. However, students did not improve writing ability compared to performance on a previous American Psychological Association style lab report. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that using a student-designed, multi-week laboratory assignment in an undergraduate Biopsychology course supports the growth of psychology knowledge and the development of research skills. Teaching Implications: Instructors should consider using the described laboratory activity for biopsychology or behavioral neuroscience classes or consider similarly designed laboratory formats for other courses in Psychology.