An Assessment of Strengthening Minority Student Education Through Global Competence and Experiential Learning

Abstract A three-year study abroad training program with experiential learning opportunities was provided to students to better understand the processes that shape the global agricultural and environmental systems. Thirty-six students from Tuskegee University, Alabama, Delaware State University, Delaware, and Alabama A&M University, Alabama, were provided an opportunity to visit EARTH University and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center in Costa Rica; two well-known institutions for their hands-on training in sustainable agricultural and environmental systems. The students were involved in classroom discussions, case studies, and field activities under the supervision of specialists in solving real life problems. These exercises were in several areas of agriculture, environmental sustainability, and community engagement. Students were surveyed after the three-week program for each of three years, 2016-2018. In general, the students reported that they were positively impacted through their experiences, especially the multidimensional perspectives of problem solving, hands-on learning, global awareness, and community engagement. Keywords: Global Competence, Experiential Learning, Study Abroad Program, Minority Students, Agriculture and Related Science

Using Instructional Media to Improve Student Learning Outcomes in an Online Toxicology Course - a Case Study

This case study investigated how student interaction patterns (Moore, 1993) with different instructional media in a graduate level online environmental toxicology course impacted student outcomes, as measured by grades and student engagement levels. Student engagement levels were measured as Posts, Access, Time, and Hits (PATHs) by using the PATHs Framework (Adebowale, 2017) approach to quantify learning analytics obtained from a Learning Management System. Data was obtained from 13 online students during the fall 2018 semester. Findings indicate that Narrated PowerPoint and Shaky Hand video led to higher student outcomes compared to the other forms of instructional media. Implications for course design, quality assurance mechanisms, assessments, improvement of student outcomes, and criteria for selecting the type of instructional media to use in online courses are also discussed

The Kinetic Signature of Toxicity of Four Heavy Metals and Their Mixtures on MCF7 Breast Cancer Cell Line

This study evaluated the kinetic signature of toxicity of four heavy metals known to cause severe health and environmental issues—cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) lead (Pb) arsenic (As)—and the mixture of all four metals (Mix) on MCF7 cancer cells, in the presence and absence of the antioxidant glutathione (GSH). The study was carried out using real time cell electronic sensing (RT-CES). RT-CES monitors in real time the electrical impedance changes at the electrode/culture medium interface due to the number of adhered cells, which is used as an index of cell viability. Cells were seeded for 24 h before exposure to the metals and their mixtures. The results showed that in the presence and absence of cellular glutathione, arsenic was the most cytotoxic of all five treatments, inducing cell death after 5 h of exposure. Lead was the least cytotoxic in both scenarios. In the presence of cellular GSH, the cytotoxic trend was As > Cd > MIX > Hg > Pb, while in the absence of GSH, the cytotoxic trend was As > Hg > MIX > Cd > Pb. The findings from this study indicate the significance of glutathione-mediated toxicity of the metals examined—particularly for mercury—and may be clinically relevant for disorders such as autism spectrum disorder where decreased glutathione-based detoxification capacity is associated with increased mercury intoxication