Education Corner

Published quarterly in our Newsletter, each Education Corner offers an account of how members of the community use the PDB to educate students.   If you would like to submit an Education Corner column, please send an email to info@rcsb.org.

2013

• Issue 57, Spring 2013 | The Ins and Outs of the RCSB PDB Help Desk: What do we learn from our users? What do they learn from us?, by Rachel Kramer Green, Ph.D.
  
  
• Issue 56, Winter 2013 | Molecular Visualization, Online and On-the-Go, by Takanori Nakane M.D. (Kyoto University).
  
  

2012

• Issue 55, Fall 2012 | University of Georgia's summer Biotech Boot Camp for high school teachers.
  
  
• Issue 54, Summer 2012 | High school students Learning Science by Doing Science at the Waksman Student Scholars Program.
  
  
• Issue 53, Spring 2012 | Hazel M. Holden and Dan Toomey describe their program with middle school students called Project CRYSTAL: Crystallographers Researching with Young Scientists, Teaching and Learning.
  
  
• Issue 52, Winter 2012 | The 2011 RCSB PDB Poster Prize awardees describe how they are Learning to Become a Structural Biologist.
  
  

2011

• Issue 51, Fall 2011 | Christopher Smith (Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at UCSD) gives his Insights into Molecular Modeling for the Middle Schooler.
  
  
• Issue 50, Summer 2011 | The Education Corner focuses on the American Association for the Advancement of Science's report Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action.
  
  
• Issue 49, Spring 2011 | New Jersey high school teacher Richard Tempsick describes how he builds proteins structures and uses the Molecule of the Month in the classroom.
  
  
• Issue 48, Winter 2011 | Jaime Prilusky (Weizmann Institute of Science) gives an overview of Proteopedia: An online, collaborative 3D-encyclopedia of proteins & other molecules.
  
  

2010

• Issue 47, Fall 2010 | Joan Kiely (Stony Brook University) describes the Stony Brook University Protein Challenge, a competition for high school students that helps them understand the structure and function of proteins.
  
  
• Issue 46, Summer 2010 | Phil McFadden (Oregon State University) describes Protein Portraits, a nontraditional college course developed around the question of what it might be like to shrink to the nanometer realm for a direct encounter with a protein molecule. The sculptures created as part of this class are shown.
  
  
• Issue 45, Spring 2010 | Robert C. Bateman, Jr. and Paul A. Craig present A Proficiency Rubric for Biomacromolecular 3D Literacy
  
  
• Issue 44, Winter 2010 | IJsbrand M. Kramer discusses the benefits of using more "realistic" molecular images in university cell biology courses.
  
  

2009

• Issue 43, Fall 2009 | Gary Battle reports on a symposium that demonstrated the different ways the Cambridge Structural Database is used to teach chemistry.
  
  
• Issue 42, Summer 2009 | RCSB PDB Community Outreach.
  
  
• Issue 41, Spring 2009 | Molecular Models: Tangible Representations of the Abstract by Dr. Gavin Whittaker, Miramodus Ltd.
  
  
• Issue 40, Fall 2009 | Brookhaven National Laboratory's Science Learning Center, by Bernadette Uzzi
  
  

2008

• Issue 39, Fall 2008 | The iPhone program Molecules by Brad Larson (Sunset Lake Software)
  
  
• Issue 38, Summer 2008 | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education (BAMBED), a Journal for University, College, and High School Educators by Dr. Judith Voet (Swarthmore) and Dr. Donald Voet (University of Pennsylvania)
  
  
• Issue 37, Spring 2008 | Moving Pictures: Using Chimera to Make Molecular Multimedia for the Classroom by Dr. Jeramia Ory, Kings College
  
  
• Issue 36, Winter 2008 | Fruit-flavored Folding by Teresa MacDonald, Director of Education at The University of Kansas Natural History Museum
  
  

2007

• Issue 35, Fall 2007 | Navigating the molecular universe in 3D: Teaching biology students protein structure-function relationships using StarBiochem by Dr. Melissa Kosinski-Collins (Brandeis University)
  
  
• Issue 34, Summer 2007 | Structures and Other NIGMS Booklets Make Science Accessible by Alisa Zapp Machalek, science writer at the National Institute General Medical Sciences at NIH
  
  
• Issue 33, Spring 2007 | The 2007 New Jersey Science Olympiad
  
  
• Issue 32, Winter 2007 | Gary L. Gilliland discusses the X-Ray Methods in Structural Biology Course at CSHL
  
  

2006

• Issue 31, Fall 2006 | Robert J. Warburton describes ways of seeing and thinking about PDB structures.
  
  
• Issue 30, Summer 2006 | Cheryl Campbell of New Providence High School, NJ discusses their participation in the NJ Science Olympiad.
  
  
• Issue 29, Spring 2006 | The RCSB PDB guides middle school students in making handheld models of the common cold.
  
  
• Issue 28, Winter 2006 | Margaret A. Franzen, Pellissippi State Technical Community College, Knoxville, TN
  Franzen teaches general biology, genetics and microbiology. In addition to covering course content, her innovative classroom teaching methods focus on developing analytical thinking skills and exposing her students to the process of science.
  
  

2005

• Issue 27, Fall 2005 | Miriam Rossi, Vassar College
  In this interview, Rossi discusses a interdisiplinary course that familiarizes students with basic concepts of molecular structure, from an introduction to X-ray crystallographic methods through interpreting published structural papers.
  
  
• Issue 26, Summer 2005 | Gary Graper, Event Supervisor
  Wisconsin High School Science Olympiad Protein Modeling Event
  
  
• Issue 25, Spring 2005 | Judith Voet, J. H. Hammons Professor, Swarthmore College
  A short history of visualizing structures in the PDB
  
  
• Issue 24, Winter 2005 | Early Protein Structures

2004

• Issue 23, Fall 2004 | "X-rays, Molecules, and You"
  During this workshop held at an ACA meeting, prominent crystallographers and structural biologists introduced high school students and teachers to basic concepts in X-ray crystallography and structural databases to promote interest in structural biology, chemistry, and general science.
  
  
• Issue 22, Summer 2004 | J. Ricky Cox, an associate professor of chemistry at Murray State University - Using Visualization Tools
  
  
• Issue 21, Spring 2004 | Tommie Hata, Biology Teacher at The Pingry School in Martinsville, NJ
  Hata describes how the PDB, RasMol, and the Molecule of the Month are used in his high school classroom.
  
  
• Issue 20, Winter 2004 | Katherine Kantardjieff, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University Fullerton
  The resources for protein resources, macromolecular structure/function analysis, and structural biology at CSUF are highlighted.

2003

• Issue 19, Fall 2003 | Paul A. Craig, Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Rochester Institute of Technology
  The use of the PDB and related resources in classes at RIT are described.
  
  
• Issue 18, Summer 2003 | Tim Herman, Director of the Center for BioMolecular Modeling at the Milwaukee School of Engineering
  The CBM creates physical models of proteins and other molecular structures for researchers, students, and teachers.
  
  
• Issue 17, Spring 2003 | Gale Rhodes, University of Southern Maine
  Rhodes discusses molecular visualization.