Student Research Projects from Spring 2006.
In 1999 the LBS Biology faculty began asking the question: Are undergraduate science laboratories teaching students the art and trade of science or simply leaving them with a memory
of trivial experiments done for unknown reasons? From our conversations with students in biology, it certainly appeared as though the latter was the consensus. Students
used words like: "boring", "restrictive", "pointless", and so on, to describe the biology laboratory. In fact, very few of our students characterized the lab to be a good
learning experience. Even our 'best and brightest' students agreed that while our new cutting-edge DNA genomics labs were fun, structured labs really didn't help them
learn. In fact, they indicated that they often didn't really understand what they were doing until the week after completing the experiment, when they wrote the lab report.
In an effort to remedy this, we began a long-term redesign of the biology sequence in the Lyman Briggs School of Science at Michigan State University. Combining what
educational experts have found about active and cooperative learning (Karl Smith, David Johnson, et al) and challenging our own biology faculty to make the lab as realistic as possible, the lab curriculum
departed from numerous 3-hour traditional labs that each student performed on their own, to what we now term "Teams and Streams." Now we use student research teams to pose
a scientific question/hypothesis, propose an experimental design to set about gathering evidence for support of said hypothesis, perform multi-week investigations and then
present their findings in various forms (web sites, interviews, and multiple drafts of a scientific manuscript along the way). See the "Teams and Streams" website for our research findings after a 4-year study of this TS inquiry approach.
Student websites reporting their findings at the end of Stream I independent investigations from Spring Semester 2006
Apples: Macromolecule Analysis and HPLC Protein Identification to Analyze Differences in the Nutritional Content of Red Delicious Apples Caused by Pesticide Treatment
Apples 2: Similarities of Macromolecules and Pigments and Differences of Potassium Content in Organically and Commercially Grown Apples.
Beans: Packaging decreases the Nutritional Value of Phaseolus vulgaris, Common Green Beans, Based on Protein, Pigment and Ascorbic Acid Concentration and Carbohydrate Composition.
Blood: The Affects of Meat Processing on the Degradation of Carbohydrates and Protein in Bovine Blood.
Caffeine: Differences in the Protein, Carbohydrate, and Caffeine content of Black Tea and Coffee.
Corn: An Analysis of Carbohydrates, Protein, and Pigments to Determine What Makes Sweet Corn Sweet in Comparison to Field Corn.
Echinacea: Echinacea Plant and Supplement Content Analysis
Grass: Ryegrass Analyzed for Protein, Carbohydrate, Pigment, Height and Mass After Being Treated with Liquid, Water Soluble, Pellet, and Spike Forms of Miracle Gro¬.
Milk: Differences in the sugars, protein content, amino acid and lipid content among soymilk, 2% cowÍs milk, 2% chocolate cow's milk, and rice milk.
Peanuts: Peanuts vs. Walnuts.
Soy: A comparison of soy milk and rice milk as a substitute for cow's milk by testing the carbohydrate, protein, amino acid, and lipid content.
Tomato: Comparing Carbohydrates, Protein, Amino Acids, and Lycopene in Roma, Regular, and Grape Tomatoes for a Healthier Diet.
Vitamin C: Carbohydrate Structure and Protein, Pigment, and Vitamin C Concentration Analysis in Organic and Conventional Baby Spinach.
Beans v. Beef : A Comparison: The Nutritional Content of Soy Beans and Beef using Carbohydrate, Protein, and Amino Acid Chromatography Assays.