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The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor with New York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported initiative and collaboration of multiple institutions and organizations led by Pace University. The NSF project, Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST), had generated a large amount of data through engagement with teachers and students throughout New York City public schools. This article presents the second part to a large data collection study with focus on Underrepresented Minority (URM) student interest in STEM and engagement with teachers to support them in teaching science through experiential learning and lessons that connect science to the real world, particularly through science in the New York Harbor. The first component of the study focused on URM student interest in STEM. This second component of the study focuses on teacher engagement in the program, and what the researchers had learned in the process. Overall, teachers reported very favorable options on the impact of the BOP-CCERS activities as ways to generate student interest in STEM majors and careers. Teacher participants were generally positive about the amount of support and resources they received as members of the project, as well as the oyster-related knowledge and practices they learned to use with their own students in oyster field research. Data from the study provided evidence that the teacher activities were successful and met the project's goals to provide support and resources for teachers to engage students in oyster restoration research.

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor with New York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported initiative and collaboration of multiple institutions and organizations led by Pace University. The NSF project, Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST), had generated a large amount of data through engagement with teachers and students throughout New York City public schools. One purpose of this project is to engage with middle and high school science teachers to assist them in using project-based learning and real-world data collection in their classrooms with their students through harbor restoration initiatives. It was found that Underrepresented Minority (URM) students reported having higher levels of interest in STEM and science than did the non-URM students. While this is a success, it was found that the URM students had lower expectations for success in STEM courses and interest in STEM careers. It was concluded that URM students may need additional support in order to build their confidence and help them to become aware of opportunities in STEM education and careers.

Student research in STEM education is an important learning component for both undergraduate and graduate students. It is not sufficient for students to learn passively in lecture-based classrooms without engaging and immersing themselves in the educational process through real-world research learning. Experiential learning for STEM students can involve conducting research, alongside and through the guidance of their professors, early in a student's undergraduate or graduate program. The authors consider such experiences to be the hallmark of a high-quality STEM education and something every student, undergraduate and graduate, should have during the course of their programs. The purpose of this case study is to document the faculty authors' experiences in student-faculty research and provide guidance and recommendations for best practices based upon the authors' experience, data, and literature findings. Moreover, the study presents the experience of the faculty authors' international student researchers in STEM with focus on two student researchers, one undergraduate and one graduate, who are international STEM. The students served as co-authors on this project. Findings from this case study indicate that students were highly engaged in the research process and found these skills valuable preparation for further study and career. Moreover, the students expressed enthusiasm and engagement for the research process.

The unforeseen COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to shift to a remote or distance-learning mode. As a result, classes were offered online, and this shift in teaching modality presented great challenges, especially in teaching laboratory courses. While several options are available, we evaluated the use of (i) videos of lab demonstrations, (ii) Microsoft PowerPoint slides with voice-over recordings that were prepared to guide students further in the particular procedure of the experiment, and (iii) kitchen-based experiments that students could perform at home for our General Chemistry I laboratory course that was offered in an asynchronous modality during the Summer session. The students were surveyed for feedback, comments, and reactions to the use of these different practices. On the basis of student comments, it was found that the videos were beneficial to illustrate important aspects of each experiment, with some students commenting that it made them feel as if they were actually performing the experiments themselves. The kitchen-based experiments, on the other hand, allowed students to experience performing hands-on experiments and helped them observe and relate to concepts (such as classifying matter, making physical measurements, employing units and significant figures, preparing solutions, calculating moles and molarity, and employing separation techniques) that were discussed in the lecture portion of the course.

With its high nutritional and bioactive content, bee pollen is recognized as a functional food. However, its composition is highly dependent on a range of factors, such as geographical location. In this research, we used DPPH to determine the antioxidant activity of several stingless bee (Tetragonula biroi) pollen samples sourced from five different areas in the Philippines and compare their phenolic and flavonoid content. Additionally, we compared two extraction methods: maceration (or soaking of samples) for three days and sonication for 30 minutes. Interestingly, our findings show that the phenolic content of bee pollen is weakly associated with antioxidant activity, indicating that other bioactive chemicals may play a more significant part in the antioxidant characteristics of bee pollen. Antioxidant properties based on the DPPH assay of pollen harvested from Calamba are higher compared to other samples from different geographic areas, i.e., Quezon Province, Sorsogon, Laguna, and Albay. When compared to the maceration approach, extracts generated from the sonication process had lower antioxidant activity. These findings suggest that Philippine stingless bee pollen is a potential source of bioactive compounds, and the choice of extraction method and geographic source are significant factors affecting its antioxidant activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bee pollen is among the bee products that are considered functional food due to its components exhibiting various biological activities. This study aimed to characterize the volatile compounds present in stingless bee pollen extracted by different solvents using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Antioxidant activities and total phenolic content of bee pollen solvent extracts were also determined by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Folin-Ciocalteu assays, respectively. Fatty acids and esters were detected in ethanolic and methanolic extracts - namely, n-hexadecanoic acid, hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester, and 9,12,15-octadecatienal acid ethyl ester (Z,Z,Z). Long-chain hydrocarbons - namely, heptacosane and pentacosane - were detected in dicholoromethane, chloroform, and hexane extracts. Total phenolic content was in the range of 20.43 ± 2.78 to 371.66 ± 11.26 mg GAE/g, with ethanolic and methanolic extracts having the highest amounts detected. Antioxidant activities IC50 values ranged from 5.69 ± 0.74 to 153.90 ± 13.43 mg/mL, with ethanol and methanol exhibiting the highest activities. Hence, bee pollen is a potential source of antioxidant and phenolic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propolis is a natural resinous substance collected by honeybees from buds and exudates of trees. The material has attracted much attention in recent years as a functional food component since it possesses various biological properties, including antimicrobial, antioxidative, and anti-ulcer properties. In this study, the performance of accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) was assessed and compared with varying methods of extraction: soaking (maceration), ultrasonication, and microwave-assisted methods. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and other spectroscopic techniques, such as absorbance and fluorescence, were employed to assess the efficiency in the extraction of natural products. The antioxidant activity and phenolic content of the different extracts were also determined. Results showed samples obtained from the microwave method showed the highest yield in the extraction of bioactive compounds. Although microwave showed the best method in this study, some issues and recommendations on ASE application for extracting natural products from bee propolis were discussed. Given the ease in controlling extraction temperature with ASE, this technique has a great potential to be a better method for extraction of heat-labile natural products from propolis should optimization of conditions for extraction were further performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extracellular and intracellular metabolites formed upon exposure of activated sludge microorganisms to a sublethal concentration of N-ethylmaleimide are monitored by liquid chromatography with ion trap mass spectrometry. The metabolite N-ethylsuccinimide-S-glutathione is converted to N-(2-oxoethyl)-2,2-(propionylamino)propanamide and N-ethylmaleamic acid.