ERIC Number: EJ759185
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Nov
Pages: 6
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1470-8175
EISSN: N/A
Growth of Microbial Populations. Mathematical Modeling, Laboratory Exercises, and Model-Based Data Analysis
Juska, Alfonsas; Gedminiene, Genovaite; Ivanec, Ruta
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education, v34 n6 p417-422 Nov 2006
This paper has arisen as a result of teaching Models in Biology to undergraduates of Bioengineering at the Gediminas Technical University of Vilnius. The aim is to teach the students to use a fresh approach to the problems they are familiar with, to come up with an articulate verbal model after a mental effort, to express it in rigorous mathematical terms, to solve (with the aid of computers) corresponding equations, and finally, to analyze and interpret experimental data in terms of their (mathematical) models. Investigation of microbial growth provides excellent possibilities to combine laboratory exercises, mathematical modeling, and model-based data analysis. Application of mathematics in this field proved to be very fruitful in getting deeper insight into the processes of microbial growth. The step-by-step modeling resulted in an extended model of the growth covering conventional "lag," "exponential," and "stationary" phases. In contrast to known models (differential equations that can be solved only numerically), the present model is expressed symbolically as a finite combination of elementary functions. The approach can be applied in other areas of modern biology, such as dynamics of various cellular processes, enzyme and receptor kinetics, and others.
Descriptors: Equations (Mathematics), Teaching Models, Laboratories, Data Analysis, Biology, Mathematics Instruction, Undergraduate Students, Problem Solving, Computer Uses in Education, Foreign Countries, Molecular Biology, Science Instruction, Thinking Skills
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Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher; Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Lithuania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A