This project was prepared as part of a BioQUEST faculty development workshop entitled ASM/BioQUEST Bioinformatics Institute at American Society for Microbiology in March 2007. The BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium is committed to the reform of undergraduate biology instruction through an emphasis on engaging students in realistic scientific practices. This approach is sometimes characterized as an inquiry driven approach and is captured in BioQUEST's three P's (problem-posing, problem-solving, and peer-persuasion). As part of this workshop groups of faculty were encouraged to initiate innovative curricular projects. We are sharing these works in progress in the hope that they will stimulate further exploration, collaboration and development. Please see the following links for additional information:
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For undergraduates in a microbiology or environmental microbiology course.
This research project will allow students to identify bacteria from their favorite local environment and compare the 16S rRNA gene sequence of their isolate to those of bacteria isolated all over the world. Students can choose and compare the effect of the environment on protein structure. Here we choose to look at the effect of temperature on bacterial diversity and on isocitrate lyase structure.