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Paper: An Inquiry-Based Microbiology Short Course in the SUMS Program at Hartnell College
Volume: 436, Learning from Inquiry In Practice
Page: 203
Authors: Dorighi, K. M.; Petrella, L.; McCann, S.; Metevier, A. J.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe our design and implementation of inquiry-based biology units for the Summer Undergraduate Math and Science (SUMS) program at Hartnell College. The SUMS bridge program is designed to encourage local minority students with unrealized potential to enter and excel in Math and Science college curricula. The inquiry activities we designed prompted students to investigate where bacteria live in the students' environment and how effective different cleaning products are at killing these bacteria. These investigations required students to create their own testable questions and design and carry out experiments to test them. By the end of the program the students demonstrated a command of the scientific method and reported feeling like real scientists. While this unit was taught in four consecutive days, it could easily be translated to a more traditional weekly college lab schedule.
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