TA/LA Training Reminder from 9/24/2015 (for week of 9/29-10/05 (Lab 7, Part 2))

Here are your training reminders from our Thursday meeting.  TAs, please get those Lab 6 scores and comments to me ASAP (so that I can give feedback to the students on their peer-grading).  Also, don't forget to enter your sections' participation scores for Recitation and Lab.  Good luck! ~KIM

1) Recitation: Insane in the Membrane, Pt II: The Lipid Bilayer

Link: Insane in the membrane, part 2: Lipid bilayers

(Break)

2) Lab 7, Part 2: Electrophoresis and Charge Screening in Fluids

Link: NEXUS Physics Labs, 2013-2014

a) Be EXPLICITLY clear at the start of the lab about:

i) modeling the charge screening;

ii) the modeling requirements for the lab report (FBD, equations for effective charge, charge screening); and

iii) data (and error) analysis requirements.

b) Some bead solutions will be available.  There will be a limited amount for each day, so have the students use these sparingly.  If students will be collecting more data, remind them of the safety instructions for using the power supply.  For this second week of the lab, I do not recommend collecting more data.  See if you can adapt the data analysis structure so that each group is analyzing roughly the same amount of data and that the entire investigation set (water, low, and high salinity solutions) is represented.

c) When the students are mostly finished with the analysis, please have them share out their effective charge results to the class.  This is a great opportunity to talk about the challenges of doing science: troubleshooting, problem-solving, how to handle inconclusive results, the importance of "failure" in spurring future scientific endeavors, etc.

d) Remind the students to include a section in their Conclusion/Evaluation in their report for the Bio/Chem/Interdisciplinary connections relating to electrophoresis and/or charge screening.

e) Be sure to have the students clean up after themselves.  All used paper towels and eyedropper pipettes should be thrown away.  All solutions should be returned (and then the TA should put them in the fridge).  Any tape should be removed from electrical leads and the microscopes.  At each table, both the microscope and the power supply should be turned off (CHECK THIS BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE ROOM).

f) Have students submit their lab report PDF electronically via ELMS and put lab descriptions and technical documents neatly at the back of the room (near the printer).