Lenore Neigeborn

Cognitive Apprenticeship in Science through Immersion in Laboratory Practices

This study investigates how high school students respond to an environment of authentic science inquiry while participating in an intensive summer institute, the Waksman Student Scholars Programme at Rutgers University. We examined how students apprenticed with expert scientists in a study of contemporary questions in molecular genetics. Students engaged in both laboratory practices and seminars as part of their experience in this program. We assessed student learning about conceptual knowledge of molecular genetics as well as their beliefs about the nature of science. Student conceptual knowledge increased and their beliefs about the nature of science changed to a more tentative perspective. We examined student learning qualitatively through their journals, which showed that some students were developing more sophisticated ways of thinking about the issues that were raised in their seminars and laboratory research. These ways included an increased ability to generate hypotheses, consider alternative hypotheses, implement models and logical argumentation in explanations, connect ideas, extend concepts, and ask questions. These results suggest that meaningfully engaging pre‐college students in the practice of real science can make a difference in their understanding and beliefs.

- Mck1: Meiosis and centromere regulatory PK (S. cerevisiae) (Ypk1)

The MCK1 locus was identified, independently, by two functional dosage-dependent assays: a screen for positive regulators of the sporulation pathway and a screen for suppressors of a centromere mutation. In addition, the protein, then called Ypk1, was uncovered in a general screen for phosphotyrosyl proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae in vivo. Genetic and molecular biological analyses revealed that meiosis and centromere regulatory PK (Mck1) plays at least three independent roles in cellular regulation: as a positive, transcriptional regulator of the meiotic activator Ime1; as a stimulator of ascus maturation; and as a promoter of centromere activity. Mck1 is a dual-specificity protein kinase. Mck1 has several potential phosphorylation sites for PKC (P) and CK2 (P), but the physiological relevance of these is not known. Mck1 is most closely related to the β isoform of rat GSK3, which has been shown to be the functional homologue of shaggy/zeste-white 3 of Drosophila. melanogaster. The biological relevance of this homology is currently under investigation.