Undergraduate Biotechnology Students Research Articles

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN READING STRATEGIES AND READING ACTIVITIES IN EFL CLASSROOM IN HIGHER EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

The study explores the university undergraduate biotechnology students’ perceived use of foreign language reading strategies, their perception of EFL classroom reading activities, and their potential relationships. For this purpose, a total of 91 university biotechnology students, learning English as a foreign language at the Faculty of Agronomy, University of Kragujevac, participated in this quantitative research. Two instruments were used in the study – the Inventory of Reading Strategies in a Foreign Language and Students’ Foreign Language Reading Activities Evaluation Scale. The measures of internal consistency, descriptive statistics, and Pearson correlation analysis were used for data processing. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical software. The study demonstrates that the students used EFL reading strategies at a moderate level when reading texts in English and that their attitude toward EFL classroom reading activities was positive. The perceived use of reading strategies showed positive correlations with the students’ perceptions of EFL classroom reading activities. The students considered EFL classroom reading activities and reading comprehension testing as effective practices in developing foreign language reading skills.

Theme-Based Mini Project Implementation for Basic Skill-Set Development in Biotechnology

Biotechnology being an inter-disciplinary domain, demands an adequate theoretical knowledge of allied subjects along with good hands-on skill-sets for the graduates to be industry-ready. In this context, theme-based mini project for V semester was designed and implemented for under-graduate students of Biotechnology. The objectives of the mini project were 1)To equip the students with basic skill sets and impart the culture of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP)& Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and 2) To impart basic microbiological and biochemical skill-sets. The mini project was undertaken with the theme of Isolation, Screening and Preliminary Characterization of Microorganisms Producing Selected Industrially Important Metabolites. A multi-level rubrics-based assessment was followed to measure the learning. The project addressed eight Program Outcomes (PO) whose attainment on a scale of 10 was calculated. It is concluded that the theme-based project was effective in experiential learning for the students which plays a key role in bridging the gap between industry and academia.

Theme-Based Minor Project Implementation for Basic Skill Enhancement in Biotechnology

Biotechnology being an inter-disciplinary domain, demands an adequate theoretical knowledge of allied subjects, good hands-on skill-sets, along with an ability to integrate biology with engineering for the graduates to be industry-ready. In this context, theme based mini and minor academic projects for V and VI semester respectively were designed and implemented for under-graduate students of Biotechnology. The objectives of the mini project were 1) To equip the students with basic skill-sets and impart the culture of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) & Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)and 2) to impart basic microbiological and biochemical skillsets. In continuation of mini project, students have to harness the capabilities of skills learnt in mini project to translate in to an industrially viable product, hence fermentation skills play an important role. In this perspective, the objectives of minor project were developed to impart the students with 1) basic fermentation skills at laboratory level 2) SOP of analytical instruments and 3) statistical analysis of the results. The minor project was implemented with the theme Submerged Fermentation and Optimization of Process Parameters for Production of Industrially important Biomolecules. A multi-level rubrics-based assessment was followed to measure the stated learning outcomes.The attainment was highest (9.5) for PI 9.1.2, which indicated good team work and show lowest (7.0) for PI 13.2.1, which shows scope for improvement for improvement in area of verification and calibration of equipment. It was concluded that the theme-based projects were effective in experiential learning for the students which plays a key role in bridging the gap between industry and academia.

Molecular Skit-Role-Play as a Pedagogical Tool for Teaching Molecular Biology as an Under-Graduate Engineering Course

Role-play is an exercise in which the participants assume certain roles of characters, collaboratively create stories and act-out the roles in character on stage. Role-Play is being practiced as a pedagogical approach since years and has been found to be effective in teaching history, economics, social sciences and engineering subjects as well. The present study discusses a similar effort of group role play practiced for teaching Molecular Biology course for under-graduate students of Biotechnology. The purpose of the Role-Play-Molecular Skit was to enhance the temporal and spatial learning of some selected concepts of Molecular Biology course. The topics chosen were relevant to learning and formed the corner-stones of the course. The exercise comprised two phases-technical script writing and acting-out. The concept of story-building model related to the topic along-with the technical aspects was adopted for script writing. The contents of the scripts were reviewed for essential technical features, effectiveness and feasibility for acting-out. This was followed by assigning the roles amongst the group members and acting-out the concepts on stage. Assessment for the activity was based on appropriate rubrics which were mapped to Graduate Attributes, Global outcomes and Performance indicators. A formal written feedback collected from the participants showed that the activity was a new experience, enhanced the understanding of the concept, sensitized their creativity by story building, honed their writing skills and reinforced their confidence of acting on stage. The activity was thus instrumental in enhancing the learning, improving the communication skills and bringing-in a concerted team effort on stage.

Production of a Biopolymer at Reactor Scale: A Laboratory Experience

Undergraduate students of biotechnology became familiar with several aspects of bioreactor operation via the production of xanthan gum, an industrially relevant biopolymer, by Xanthomonas campestris bacteria. The xanthan gum was extracted from the fermentation broth and the yield coefficient and productivity were calculated.

Teaching systems biology

Advances in systems biology are increasingly dependent upon the integration of various types of data and different methodologies to reconstruct how cells work at the systemic level. Thus, teams with a varied array of expertise and people with interdisciplinary training are needed. So far this training was thought to be more productive if aimed at the Masters or PhD level. At this level, multiple specialised and in-depth courses on the different subject matters of systems biology are taught to already well-prepared students. This approach is mostly based on the recognition that systems biology requires a wide background that is hard to find in undergraduate students. Nevertheless, and given the importance of the field, the authors argue that exposition of undergraduate students to the methods and paradigms of systems biology would be advantageous. Here they present and discuss a successful experiment in teaching systems biology to third year undergraduate biotechnology students at the University of Lleida in Spain. The authors' experience, together with that from others, argues for the adequateness of teaching systems biology at the undergraduate level. [Includes supplementary material].

Undergraduate Biotechnology Students’ Views of Science Communication

Despite rapid growth of the biotechnology industry worldwide, a number of public concerns about the application of biotechnology and its regulation remain. In response to these concerns, greater emphasis has been placed on promoting biotechnologists’ public engagement. As tertiary science degree programmes form the foundation of the biotechnology sector by providing a pipeline of university graduates entering into the profession, it has been proposed that formal science communication training be introduced at this early stage of career development. The aim of the present study was to examine the views of biotechnology students towards science communication and science communication training. Using an Australian biotechnology degree programme as a case study, 69 undergraduates from all three years of the programme were administered a questionnaire that asked them to rank the importance of 12 components of a biotechnology curriculum, including two science communication items. The results were compared to the responses of 274 students enrolled in other science programmes. Additional questions were provided to the second year biotechnology undergraduates and semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 13 of these students to further examine their views of this area. The results of this study suggest that the biotechnology students surveyed do not value communication with non‐scientists nor science communication training. The implications of these findings for the reform of undergraduate biotechnology courses yet to integrate science communication training into their science curriculum are discussed.

Using biotechnology in the laboratory: Using an immobilized-laccase reactor-system to learn about wastewater treatment

This article includes a practical guide, which was used to teach the phenomenon of immobilization of enzymes and their subsequent use for discoloration of dyes to under-graduate students of Biotechnology at the Rovira i Virgili University (Tarragona, Spain). Alginate was selected as a support for the immobilization of laccase. Remazol Brilliant Blue R (RBBR) was used as a substrate for laccase because it is easy to see the color change from dark blue to light blue or no color depending on the discoloration ability of the enzyme. Colorimetric methods to determine the amount of encapsulated enzyme, the effect of the immobilization, and the rate of the discoloration were also pursued by the students.

Screening of lactic acid bacteria for bacteriocins by microbiological and PCR methods

We describe a practical laboratory designed for third-year undergraduate students of Biotechnology as part of a Microbial Physiology and Genetics course. It comprises a five-session laboratory module to screen foods for lactic acid bacteria (LAB)1 and to test isolated LAB for the presence of bacteriocins. Traditional Thai fermented foods are first screened for bacteriocin-producing LAB using microbiological methods. This is followed by a simple and rapid DNA extraction and by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using three pairs of specific primers to test for the presence or absence of various bacteriocin genes in the isolated LAB. PCR amplicons of 332, 412, and 608 bp indicate the presence of pediocin, enterocin, and nisin genes, respectively, whereas no amplicon band indicates the absence of these bacteriocins. The laboratory provides the students with experience in the use of microbiological and multiplex PCR methods and shows how the molecular biology techniques can be related to their daily lives. The module could easily be adapted to the study of fermented foods from other countries.

Australian Undergraduate Biotechnology Student Attitudes towards the Teaching of Ethics

In recent years, ethics has become part of most tertiary biotechnology curricula. There is, however, considerable variation in the extent and manner of ethics education provided to students in different institutions. In addition, the perceived need that students and employers have regarding ethics education, and the aims and expected outcomes of ethics education, are rarely made clear. This research reports the findings of a questionnaire administered to 375 undergraduate biotechnology students from 19 Australian universities to determine their attitudes towards the teaching of ethics. The results suggest that undergraduate biotechnology students generally regard ethics education to be important and that ethics should be included in undergraduate biotechnology curricula. Students tended, however, to emphasize the professional and industrial side of ethics and not to recognize the personal effects of morals and behaviour. We provide suggestions for rethinking how ethics should be taught.