Utilization of remote access electron microscopes to enhance technology education and foster STEM interest in preteen students.

Remote access technology in STEM education fills dual roles as an educational tool to deliver science education (Educational Technology) and as a means to teach about technology itself (Technology Education). A five-lesson sequence was introduced to eleven to twelve-year-old students at an urban school. The lesson sequences were inquiry-based, hands-on, and utilized active learning pedagogies which have been implemented in STEM classrooms worldwide. Each lesson employed a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) accessed remotely. Students were assessed using multiple choice questions to ascertain (1) technology education learning gains: did students gain an understanding of how electron microscopes work? and (2) educational technology learning gains: did students gain a better understanding of lesson content through use of the electron microscope? Likert-item surveys were developed, distributed and analyzed to established how remote access technology affected student attitudes toward science, college, and technology. Participating students had a positive increase in attitudes toward scientific technology by engaging in the lesson sequences; reported positive attitudes toward remote access experiences; and exhibited learning gains in the science behind the SEM technology they accessed remotely. These findings suggest that remote experiences are a strong form of technology education, but also that future research could explore ways to strengthen remote access as an educational technology (a tool to deliver lesson content), such as one-on-one engagement. This study promotes future research into inquiry-based, hands-on, integrated lessons approach that utilize educational technology learning through remote instruments as a pedagogy to increase students' engagement with and learning of the T in STEM.

Novel Cluster AZ Arthrobacter phages Powerpuff, Lego, and YesChef exhibit close functional relationships with Microbacterium phages.

Bacteriophages exhibit a vast spectrum of relatedness and there is increasing evidence of close genomic relationships independent of host genus. The variability in phage similarity at the nucleotide, amino acid, and gene content levels confounds attempts at quantifying phage relatedness, especially as more novel phages are isolated. This study describes three highly similar novel Arthrobacter globiformis phages-Powerpuff, Lego, and YesChef-which were assigned to Cluster AZ using a nucleotide-based clustering parameter. Phages in Cluster AZ, Microbacterium Cluster EH, and the former Microbacterium singleton Zeta1847 exhibited low nucleotide similarity. However, their gene content similarity was in excess of the recently adopted Microbacterium clustering parameter, which ultimately resulted in the reassignment of Zeta1847 to Cluster EH. This finding further highlights the importance of using multiple metrics to capture phage relatedness. Additionally, Clusters AZ and EH phages encode a shared integrase indicative of a lysogenic life cycle. In the first experimental verification of a Cluster AZ phage's life cycle, we show that phage Powerpuff is a true temperate phage. It forms stable lysogens that exhibit immunity to superinfection by related phages, despite lacking identifiable repressors typically required for lysogenic maintenance and superinfection immunity. The ability of phage Powerpuff to undergo and maintain lysogeny suggests that other closely related phages may be temperate as well. Our findings provide additional evidence of significant shared phage genomic content spanning multiple actinobacterial host genera and demonstrate the continued need for verification and characterization of life cycles in newly isolated phages.

Making it RAIN: Using Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology to Enhance High School Science Courses.

The Remotely Accessible Instruments in Nanotechnology (RAIN) Network is a conglomerate of nineteen community colleges, four-year universities and high school sites that aims to enhance STEM learning by bringing advanced technologies to K-12 education. RAIN provides free remote access to instruments such as Scanning Electron, Atomic Force and Transmission Electron Microscopes, as well as Energy Dispersive and Infrared Spectroscopy. The following is a variety of experiments and an empirical formula lab that can be performed in a high school physical science or chemistry classroom that utilizes the RAIN Network.

Cultivating Mars: A Project-Based Learning Lab Analyzing an Oxygen Based Redox Reaction in Order to Design an Oxygen-Rich Environment on the Red Planet.

In a series of activities/labs, designed in a building block approach, whereas each subsequent lab builds into the next, students will explore the reactivity and production of oxygen in various biological and chemical systems. Through student-constructed analyses, participants will optimize oxygen-generating systems for the colonization of Mars, wherein their system will be used as part of a narrative to construct a livable habitat for future astronauts. Use of remote access technology to a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with elemental analysis capabilities allows students to investigate their oxygen reaction via formation of iron oxide, resulting in rich multidimensional and contextualized scientific exploration in the chemistry classroom.

CONTEXTUALIZING TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM VIA REMOTE ACCESS: USING SPACE EXPLORATION THEMES AND SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY AS TOOLS TO PROMOTE ENGAGEMENT IN GEOLOGY/CHEMISTRY EXPERIMENTS.

A multidisciplinary science experiment was performed in K-12 classrooms focusing on the interconnection between technology with geology and chemistry. The engagement and passion for science of over eight hundred students across twenty-one classrooms, utilizing a combination of hands-on activities using relationships between Earth and space rock studies, followed by a remote access session wherein students remotely employed the use of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to validate their findings was investigated. Participants represent predominantly low-income minority communities, with little exposure to the themes and equipment used, despite being freely available resources. Students indicated greatly increased interest in scientific practices and careers, as well as a better grasp of the content as a result of the lab and remote access coupling format.