We present a course-embedded undergraduate research module that involves real-time polymerase chain reaction testing for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental samples. A positive control RNA was constructed and two RNA extraction methods were compared and a range of primers were available to compare. Using a combination of published…

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of students regarding the use of antibiotics in Punjab, Pakistan. Participants: 525 medical and non-medical students from Punjab in Pakistan. Methods: The t-test and ANOVA were used to compare the average response of respondents. Chi-square test was used to…

Humic substances (HS) are the humified portions of totally decomposed soil organic matter that are ubiquitous in nature. Although these substances have been studied for more than 200 years, neither their metabolic capabilities nor a specific chemical structure has yet to be determined. HS have been studied as a carbon source in many environments…

Research and education are two areas often compartmentalised or separated by an abyss, linked in this study by a service-learning methodology, the Small World Initiative project. The programme instruction starts at the university, reaches secondary school and returns to university to complete the research, challenging young students to discover…

The limitations of bacterial visualization media make bacteria consider as abstract and difficult material to study. Furthermore, the implementation of bacteria material and the integration of Islamic values are difficult to teach. This research aimed at developing and validating the BSB (Bacterial Set Box) media containing "fiqh al…

Presents a singular alternative to the Indole Methyl-red Voges-Proskauer Citrate (IMViC) test that uses bile-esculin agar to distinguish between the Escherichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes bacteria. Includes materials and methods, results, and conclusions for the test. (MDH)

A main goal of academic courses is to help students acquire knowledge and skills that they can transfer to multiple contexts. In this article, we (i) examine students' responses to test question templates (TQTs), a framework intended to facilitate transfer, and (ii) determine whether similar transfer-promoting strategies are commonly embedded in…

Learning to read primary scientific literature (PSL) is an important part of developing scientific literacy skills. First-year students entering college often have little previous exposure to PSL and therefore face initial barriers in learning how to engage with PSL. Annotations have been shown to be a useful tool in undergraduate education and…

Previous research only focuses on the difficulties and factors causing learning difficulties without any solution. This study aimed to identify learning difficulties, factors, and alternative solutions overcoming the problems of learning difficulties about viruses and bacteria. Data collection was carried out through the provision of a concept…

Developing and communicating evidence-based explanations are regarded as essential skills in 21st-century learning. These skills are central to the process of scientific argumentation. Hence, teachers must adhere to a student-centered pedagogy that cultivates students' understanding and argumentation skills. This study investigated the effects of…

The biology education literature includes compelling assertions that unfamiliar problems are especially useful for revealing students' true understanding of biology. However, there is only limited evidence that such novel problems have different cognitive requirements than more familiar problems. Here, we sought additional evidence by using…

Specifications grading is a relatively recent approach to assessing student learning. In this approach, students make progress toward completion of a course by demonstrating mastery of specific skills or material. The assessment tools are short, frequent exercises that can be attempted multiple times until mastered. This contrasts with the…

Targeted as a highly desired skill for contemporary work and life, problem solving is central to game-based learning research. In this study, middle grade students achieved significant learning gains from gameplay interactions that required solving a science mystery based on microbiology content. Student trace data results indicated that effective…

This study aims to investigate the pre-service science teachers' perceptions of protists. Within this scope, case study design was conducted. The data was collected from purposively chosen 60 third-grade pre-service science teachers from a university in Kayseri, Turkey during the spring semester of 2018-2019. The drawing-writing technique was used…

The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic and distrust for popular media have highlighted the need for effective methods of direct communication of biomedical science to the public. It is presently unclear how well nonexperts can learn from primary scientific sources and what factors predict such learning in the general public. The present study…