Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts

Serial dilution and plate counting is often taught in courses for both microbiology and allied health students. Lecture examples and examination questions addressing how the method is used can sometimes be contrived: artificial data sets may have little or no meaning other than to have students perf...

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Autores principales:	Jordon K. March, Kyle C. Jensen, Nathan T. Porter, Donald P. Breakwell
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Society for Microbiology 2011
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/5a4725fff9d74c9e876e0daef96fad30
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:5a4725fff9d74c9e876e0daef96fad302021-11-15T15:03:24ZAuthentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts10.1128/jmbe.v12i2.3161935-78851935-7877https://doaj.org/article/5a4725fff9d74c9e876e0daef96fad302011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/jmbe.v12i2.316https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7877https://doaj.org/toc/1935-7885Serial dilution and plate counting is often taught in courses for both microbiology and allied health students. Lecture examples and examination questions addressing how the method is used can sometimes be contrived: artificial data sets may have little or no meaning other than to have students perform a calculation. Here we provide a set of activities employing data sets acquired from the primary literature. Our objective was to have the students think critically about a real scenario in which serial dilution and plate count was used. Each activity requires students to read a paragraph describing the study, predict the results, perform the appropriate calculations, and then evaluate the results in light of their predictions. To test the efficacy of these activities, a pretest quiz was given to approximately 100 students in an allied health/general microbiology course. After a lecture on how microbes are enumerated, students were given a different quiz. The class was then divided randomly into groups of three or four students and assigned one of the activities. A postactivity quiz was also administered. Approximately two weeks later, a serial dilution/plate count question was used on an examination and served as a final posttest. Standardized learning gains were calculated for the quiz administered after each learning activity. Even though learning gains were significantly higher after the lecture, there was also a significant improvement between the lecture and the activity. Using an exercise based on an authentic set of data significantly improved student learning gains, and is a useful practice for teaching microbiology.Jordon K. MarchKyle C. JensenNathan T. PorterDonald P. BreakwellAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691Biology (General)QH301-705.5ENJournal of Microbiology & Biology Education, Vol 12, Iss 2, Pp 152-156 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Jordon K. March Kyle C. Jensen Nathan T. Porter Donald P. Breakwell Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
description	Serial dilution and plate counting is often taught in courses for both microbiology and allied health students. Lecture examples and examination questions addressing how the method is used can sometimes be contrived: artificial data sets may have little or no meaning other than to have students perform a calculation. Here we provide a set of activities employing data sets acquired from the primary literature. Our objective was to have the students think critically about a real scenario in which serial dilution and plate count was used. Each activity requires students to read a paragraph describing the study, predict the results, perform the appropriate calculations, and then evaluate the results in light of their predictions. To test the efficacy of these activities, a pretest quiz was given to approximately 100 students in an allied health/general microbiology course. After a lecture on how microbes are enumerated, students were given a different quiz. The class was then divided randomly into groups of three or four students and assigned one of the activities. A postactivity quiz was also administered. Approximately two weeks later, a serial dilution/plate count question was used on an examination and served as a final posttest. Standardized learning gains were calculated for the quiz administered after each learning activity. Even though learning gains were significantly higher after the lecture, there was also a significant improvement between the lecture and the activity. Using an exercise based on an authentic set of data significantly improved student learning gains, and is a useful practice for teaching microbiology.
format	article
author	Jordon K. March Kyle C. Jensen Nathan T. Porter Donald P. Breakwell
author_facet	Jordon K. March Kyle C. Jensen Nathan T. Porter Donald P. Breakwell
author_sort	Jordon K. March
title	Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
title_short	Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
title_full	Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
title_fullStr	Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
title_full_unstemmed	Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts
title_sort	authentic active learning activities demonstrating the use of serial dilutions and plate counts
publisher	American Society for Microbiology
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/5a4725fff9d74c9e876e0daef96fad30
work_keys_str_mv	AT jordonkmarch authenticactivelearningactivitiesdemonstratingtheuseofserialdilutionsandplatecounts AT kylecjensen authenticactivelearningactivitiesdemonstratingtheuseofserialdilutionsandplatecounts AT nathantporter authenticactivelearningactivitiesdemonstratingtheuseofserialdilutionsandplatecounts AT donaldpbreakwell authenticactivelearningactivitiesdemonstratingtheuseofserialdilutionsandplatecounts
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Authentic Active Learning Activities Demonstrating the Use of Serial Dilutions and Plate Counts

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