"Affect: Biological, Psychological, and Social Aspects of "Feelings", Spring 2009"

Abstract:: " Affect is to cognition and behavior as feeling is to thinking and acting, or as values are to beliefs and practices. Considers these relations, both at the psychological level of organization and also in terms of their neurobiological and sociocultural counterparts. In addition to attending weekly class sessions and doing regular homework Assignments and Labs, students are required to participate in small study groups that meet independently for two hours per week."

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Cellular Respiration and Population Growth

Abstract:: Two lessons and their associated activities explore cellular respiration and population growth in yeasts. Yeast cells are readily obtained and behave predictably, so they are very appropriate to use in middle school classrooms. In the first lesson, students are introduced to yeast respiration through its role in the production of bread and alcoholic beverages. A discussion of the effects of alcohol on the human body is used both as an attention-getting device, and as a means to convey important information at an impressionable age. In the associated activity, students set up a simple way to indirectly observe and quantify the amount of respiration occurring in yeast-molasses cultures. Based on questions that arise from this activity, in the second lesson students work in small groups as they design and execute their own experiments to determine how environmental factors affect yeast population growth.

Abstract:: Introduces and examines the basic principles which guide growth and development and the health of individuals across the lifespan, from the prenatal period through senescence. Presents methodological, conceptual and substantive issues necessary for understanding and evaluating empirically based information about growth, development and health at different stages of life and from different academic perspectives. Course covers several themes, including contributions of biological and environmental factors to health and human development, measuring the health of individuals in communities, understanding determinants and consequences of health and development across the lifespan, measuring population health and assessing the implications of health disparities.

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Abstract:: Students set up and run the experiments they designed in the lesson Population Growth in Yeasts, using simple yeast-molasses cultures in test tubes. Population growth is indicated by the amount of respiration occurring in the cultures, which in turn is indicated by the growth of carbon dioxide bubbles trapped within the culture tubes. Using this method, students can test for a variety of environmental influences, such as temperature, food supply, and pH.

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Abstract:: This lesson is the second of two that explore cellular respiration and population growth in yeasts. In the first lesson, students set up a simple way to indirectly observe and quantify the amount of respiration occurring in yeast-molasses cultures. Based on questions that arose during the first lesson and its associated activity, in this lesson students work in small groups to design experiments that will determine how environmental factors affect yeast population growth.