新工科背景下生物工程五层次实践教学体系的构建

强化实践教学，提升创新能力是新工科建设的关键任务之一。文中结合天津大学化工学院生物工程专业培养方案的修订内容，不断改进实践教学体系和课程内容，建立了基础实验、综合实验、课程设计、科研实践、实习实训等五层次的教学改革体系，为培养具有实践能力和创新精神的卓越创新人才，提出了创新的教学改革模式，为新工科建设提出了新的设想和新的方案。     

蛋白质纯化虚拟仿真课程的教学设计

目的 蛋白质纯化是医学与生物学实验教学课程中的一个重要内容，本文通过设计新的蛋白质纯化虚拟仿真教学内容，开发虚拟仿真教学系统，希望学生能够更有效率地掌握蛋白质纯化技术的要点，提升教学质量。方法 利用3D虚拟仿真技术，构建虚拟仿真实验室。结合线下教学经验，确定虚拟仿真教学中需要体现的教学内容、教学重点、核心仪器的特色、评分指标、考核方式、操作体验等。结果 本文基于3D虚拟仿真技术构建了蛋白质纯化虚拟仿真实验室，和传统教学相比，虚拟仿真教学可以提高教学效率，节省教学成本和场地占用；教学设计和虚拟仿真教学系统融合了教学、练习和考核模块，根据以往的教学经验优化了评分体系，保证学生更加有效、严谨地掌握技术细节；涵盖了全新的教学内容——荧光检测联用的分子排阻层析，添加了蛋白质层析的常用案例，保证了内容的新颖与实用；完全再现了现实实验室中仪器设备的搭建模式，实现虚拟学习与实际操作的无缝衔接。结论 蛋白质纯化虚拟仿真教学系统由虚及实，由点及面，把控细节，保证学生动手能力和探索能力的提高，学以致用，并且拥有传统教学模式不可比拟的优势。     

Dance education in Singapore: Policy,discourse, and practice

This article provides an overview of dance education in schools in Singapore with regard to physical education, co-curricular activity, initiatives by the National Arts Council's Arts Education unit, and pre-tertiary and tertiary dance programs. In an effort to gain a better understanding of how well the official discourse and the reality of schooling in dance interconnect, a meta-analysis of published articles, conference papers, committee reports, and curricula was conducted. Situated within the larger sociocultural, political, and historical contexts, Singapore presents a curious case for probing the merits and limitations of research, policy initiatives, and policy implementation. In the conclusion, the author argues that the development of a coherent dance education in Singapore requires “fixing” three dilemmas—meritocratic schooling in dance, the ill-defined and exhaustive use of the term “talent,” and the uneven research that has not kept pace with the policy initiatives.     

Using education as a public relations tool for biotechnology

The advances in the biotechnology industry, and in biosciences research are impressive by any measure, but it is not sufficient just to continue to make spectacular scientific breakthroughs. It is important that the general public is assisted to keep up with the pace of technological change. Some efforts have been made, but they have not been enough. A public relations strategy is required. The biotechnology industry needs to influence public opinion as well as lead discovery. The aims of a public relations campaign should not be just to inform and convince legislators and regulators, but should target the average consumer of the 21st century. There are two areas where the science community must direct its attention if the international public is to be brought along on this biotechnological odyssey: the compulsory school sector – including teachers, students and policy makers; and key sector groups that can be specifically targeted such as farmers, indigenous peoples, horticulturists, food sector people, health professionals, and in particular, the recently retired. If the potential of biotechnological advances is to be realised, scientists must be proactive in educating the general public. This will also involve educating the educators. No amount of public education will completely remove the opposition to genetic engineering, but with an educated public there is an increased opportunity for a fair debate and scare tactics, half-truths and innuendo will gain less traction.     

Advanced-level Biology—A Possible Approach

Teachers' conscious priorities in selecting topics for teaching rarely include the ‘biology/social science interfaces’; neither are many usually aware of the existence and implications of ‘hidden ideologies’ in the curriculum. This paper gives several examples of such interfaces, and stresses the point that only by redirecting the education of teachers can their awareness and priorities be suitably altered.     

A teaching exercise for the identification of bacteria using an interactive computer program

An interactive computer program written in Fortran is described which provides an exercise in the identification of bacteria. The program, IDEN, provides a novel way of enhancing a student's approach to systematic bacteriology and numerical identification procedures. An unknown bacterium is assigned to a student who is provided with a list of possible species and a list of tests which may be carried out. The student's objective is the correct identification of the unknown in the most economical manner. An indication is given concerning the way in which this program can be used to enhance theoretical instruction and practical investigation.     

A simple low-power microscope

The simple illuminated monocular low-power microscope described here can be produced for much less than commercially available alternatives