Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education

ABSTRACT Nicotine is a major alkaloid in tobacco plants and an addictive component of tobacco products. Some bacteria grow on tobacco plants and have evolved the ability to metabolize nicotine. As part of our microbiology teaching lab, we used minimal media with nicotine as the sole carbon source to isolate nicotine-degrading bacteria from tobacco leaves and commercial tobacco products. Students then identified these bacteria using 16S rRNA sequencing and biochemical assays and assessed their ability to catabolize nicotine using UV spectroscopy. Students were able to isolate and identify 14 distinct genera that can metabolize nicotine. This modification of the commonly used unknown project gave students firsthand experience using selective media, and students got the opportunity to work with largely uncharacterized microbes with a real-world connection to public health, which increased student engagement. Students had the opportunity to think critically about why nicotine-degrading microorganisms associate with tobacco plants, why there are different bacteria that use the same specialized metabolism, and how these organisms are isolated from other bacteria using selective media.

J. Mastenbrook

E. Pathak

C. Beaver

F. Stull

B. J. Koestler

Breaking the habit: isolating nicotine-degrading bacteria in undergraduate microbiology teaching labs

打破习惯：在本科微生物学教学实验室中分离降解尼古丁的细菌

ABSTRACT The Delftia acidovorans citizen science project integrates participatory science and community engagement into three courses (ES100—Introduction to Environmental Science, BIOL2700—Environmental Problems, and BIT479/579—High-Throughput Discovery course). Undergraduate students enrolled in ES100 and BIOL2700 collected samples from various locations as part of a class assignment. Students in the BIT479/579 course analyzed the samples using automation and high-throughput molecular biology approaches to reveal the genetic diversity in a portion of a key gene (“gold gene”) needed to produce the peptide delftibactin with gold detoxification properties. The project emphasizes the abundance of microbes such as Delftia acidovorans with potentially useful genes. The ES100 and BIOL2700 students were assessed using a pre- and post-survey and Delftia assignment. This study describes an approach to actively engage undergraduate students in interdisciplinary explorations of public science, further explores the presence and genetic diversity of a key delftibactin gene of Delftia acidovorans , and seeks to understand the environments in which Delftia acidovorans reside while contributing to the discovery of new knowledge.

Porché L. Spence

Carlos Goller

Noah Riley

Daiza Norman

Zakiya Leggett

Where is <i>Delftia</i> ? Implementing citizen science into the biotechnology and environmental science curriculum

《德尔夫特芽孢杆菌在哪里？将公民科学融入生物技术和环境科学课程》

ABSTRACT Engaging students in biology courses can be enhanced through assignments that introduce research relevant to course content. Despite their potential, such assignments are often underutilized due to the time required to identify suitable research and to create assignments. Here, we address this issue by proposing the use of TED Talks as a resource for introducing research related to scientific topics commonly taught in undergraduate biology courses. The extensive TED Talk library offers numerous options, but selecting appropriate content can be daunting for instructors. Here, we provide a curated set of TED Talks and field-tested discussion prompts aimed specifically for Microbiology and Cellular Biology courses. These assignments were implemented in both asynchronous online and synchronous in-person formats using discussion board forums, although alternative assignment formats can be easily adapted. Student feedback about these activities indicates that TED Talks helped students connect classroom material to real-world applications and enhanced their overall learning experience. Overall, TED Talks are an enjoyable and versatile tool to diversify biology curricula, relate content to real-world issues, and improve student engagement and comprehension. Here, we provide a framework of TED Talks and discussion prompts that instructors can adapt to their courses.

Dyan E. Morgan

Eileen Hotze

Teaching with TED: a curated set of TED Talks and discussion prompts for microbiology and cellular biology courses

使用TED进行教学：为微生物学和细胞生物学课程精选的TED演讲及讨论提示

ABSTRACT Institutions of higher education play a major role in teaching undergraduate students. Historically, most courses have been taught by tenure-track (TT) faculty who may also be responsible for research or scholarly activities. However, a recent shift from “teaching-intensive” TT faculty to “teaching-only” contingent faculty off the tenure track has highlighted the importance of understanding the experiences of contingent faculty. While there have been an increasing number of studies examining the experiences of part-time contingent faculty, few studies have directly surveyed the increasing number of full-time, non-tenure-track (NTT) teaching faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to capture their experiences, nor are we aware of any study that has examined the roles of NTT teaching faculty within one discipline to examine any potential disciplinary differences that may arise across STEM fields. Here, we focus on the experiences of full-time, non-tenure-track faculty in biology whose primary responsibility is teaching. We conducted a random stratified sampling of institutions using the Carnegie classifications to identify potential full-time NTT teaching faculty at over 10% of all institutions in the United States. Our results from surveying these faculty found both positive and negative themes, including (i) NTT teaching faculty being less diverse than the STEM professoriate at large; (ii) NTT teaching faculty reporting mixed feelings on institutional support, identifying a range of opportunities to better support NTT teaching faculty; (iii) NTT teaching faculty often having limited participation in voting for department and institutional matters and reporting mixed feelings of belonging and value; and (iv) NTT teaching faculty having high amounts of autonomy over their teaching but still struggling in key areas. We end with specific implications and recommendations for our field to better support NTT teaching faculty in biology.

Desiree Forsythe

Jeremy L. Hsu

Characterizing full-time, non-tenure-track teaching faculty in biology

描述生物学中全职非终身制教学教师的特点

ABSTRACT Career planning and exploration are often seen as “out of class” work—important but separate from disciplinary learning. This separation forces students to find time outside their already demanding schedules and to navigate unfamiliar higher education spaces, creating structural barriers and impeding access to these resources. In an effort to create more equitable access to career exploration and education, we developed the “in real life” (IRL) curriculum to provide students with opportunities to reflect on how their academic experiences align with their broader career goals within the context of their introductory biology course. Grounded in Marcia’s Theory of Identity Development and the Social Cognitive Career Theory, the curriculum includes modules on identifying and articulating professional purpose, developing primary and parallel career plans, constructing resumes, developing interview strategies, and building professional networks. Implemented over two semesters at a large R1 university, the IRL curriculum helped students shift from a destination-driven approach to a purpose-driven approach in relation to their careers, increased their career-related self-efficacy, and gave them a better understanding of career outcome expectations. IRL helps students contextualize how the knowledge and skills from class align with their career paths, emphasizing the importance of bringing career development into a disciplinary learning space.

Krysta Foster

Lauren Lambert

Rhian Solomon

Haiden Perkins

Shahnaz Masani

In real life: a curriculum for developing students’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations through purpose-driven career exploration and planning within a core STEM course

现实生活中：通过以目标为导向的职业探索和规划，在核心STEM课程中培养学生自我效能感和结果预期的课程

ABSTRACT The ASM Curriculum Guidelines recommend that undergraduate microbiology courses should cover a wide variety of content ideally utilizing active learning approaches, which promote participation and enhance student success. However, in content-heavy courses, it can be easier to revert to traditional lecture-based teaching. Here, we describe a case series designed to increase student engagement and connect course concepts by exploring a single microbe in the context of different learning objectives. In this case series, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is used due to its fascinating history, well-described biology, and current clinical relevance, as well as recently described advances in creating a vaccine for RSV. This four-part case series can be embedded across several units of a general microbiology course as individual “explorations,” and employs multiple, evidence-based pedagogical approaches including case-based learning, engaging with primary literature, jigsaw strategy, analysis of real-world data sets, and whole-class discussion. Each exploration is designed to cover or expand on key concepts in microbiology, including milestones in the history of the field, Koch’s postulates and the germ theory of disease, the discovery of viruses, virus structure and replication, clinical epidemiology, and vaccines. Throughout the course, students work individually, in pairs, and in small groups to complete the activities, which take place predominantly during class. Student feedback indicates that they enjoy these activities as an alternative to traditional lecturing. This case series enables students to build connections between course concepts, assemble higher-order thinking about diverse topics in Microbiology, and apply their learning to real-world examples and scenarios.

Chadene Tremaglio

Derek Dube

RSV explorations: using a case series focused on a single microbe to connect concepts across an undergraduate microbiology course

RSV探索：利用以单一微生物为重点的病例系列，连接本科微生物学课程中的概念

Abbreviation	J Microbiol Biol Educ.
Journal Impact	1.77
Quartiles(Global)	EDUCATION, SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES(Q2)

ISSN	1935-7877, 1935-7885
h-index	19

Publication Information	Publisher: American Society for Microbiology，Publishing cycle: ，Journal Type: journal，Open Access Journals: Yes
Basic data	Year of publication: 2019，Proportion of original research papers: 98.94%，Self Citation Rate:12.50%， Gold OA Rate: 82.76%
Journal Fees	$1700Details
Average review cycle	网友分享经验：22 Weeks

Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education

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Share Submission Experience

Breaking the habit: isolating nicotine-degrading bacteria in undergraduate microbiology teaching labs

Where is Delftia ? Implementing citizen science into the biotechnology and environmental science curriculum

Teaching with TED: a curated set of TED Talks and discussion prompts for microbiology and cellular biology courses

Characterizing full-time, non-tenure-track teaching faculty in biology

In real life: a curriculum for developing students’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations through purpose-driven career exploration and planning within a core STEM course

RSV explorations: using a case series focused on a single microbe to connect concepts across an undergraduate microbiology course

In real life: a curriculum for developing students’ self-efficacy and outcome expectations through purpose-driven career exploration and planning within a core STEM course

Characterizing full-time, non-tenure-track teaching faculty in biology

Teaching with TED: a curated set of TED Talks and discussion prompts for microbiology and cellular biology courses

Where is Delftia ? Implementing citizen science into the biotechnology and environmental science curriculum