Who am I and What is Composition?

"The picture to the left shows two tubes that contain 'Red Fluorescent Protein' (RFP).  The history of RFP is fascinating and begins in a pet shop in Russia.  A noted scientist was visiting the shop, and noticed a bright red sea anemone in the window.  Intrigued by the color, he inquired about purchasing the anemone, but the shop owner declared the sea creature was 'on hold' for someone else.  Undaunted by this information, the scientist convinced the shop owner to release the 'hold' and thus he purchased the sea anemone.


The scientist proceeded to isolate and identify the compound that was responsible for the bright red color-a particular protein that transmits red.  While this information was fascinating to the scientist, the knowledge had significant implications for science and medicine as well.  Other fluorescent proteins had been isolated and were being used to track the movement of medicines internally.  Additionally, fluorescent proteins were being used in research labs to visually 'see' the results of experiments once they were completed.


What is particularly interesting about the photo shown above, is that it contains RFP that has been isolated by high school students.  Specifically, the students are taught to genetically alter bacteria to carry and express the RFP gene.  As a result, the bacteria then 'make' RFP which is visible as the fluorescent glow shown.  The technology the students learn and conduct is exactly analogous to the technology that has been used to make important 'recombinant' human therapeutic proteins such as Insulin (Eli Lilly) for Diabetes, Epogen (Amgen, Inc.) for Kidney Dialysis patients, and Neupogen (Amgen, Inc.) for Chemotherapy patients.  While the history, research techniques and methodology are fascinating, they are meaningless without the proper audience appropriate communication."

I am a Science Communicator.  I have a Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry and a Master's Degree in Biochemistry.  I worked in industry (at Amgen, Inc.) from 1988-1996 in laboratory research and clinical research.  I have been teaching undergraduate chemistry, biochemistry and biotechnology since 2005.  I am also involved in a variety of special projects and science outreach programs.  I have noticed that students sometimes struggle with information due to the composition of the materials.

I view composition as structuring information to tell a story or make an argument.  That information can be in the form of written text, visualizations, online sources and other modes.  The information can be delivered 'top down' (teacher to student) as an instructional tool or 'bottom up' (student to teacher) as a learning and assessment tool.

It is my goal in the TCR PhD program to investigate instructional materials (across a variety of delivery modes) for their visual and textual rhetoric as well as their use of composition not only to deliver the message, but also as an assessment tool.  In particular, during my studies at TTU, I have come across a variety of papers that discuss the parallels of teaching English Composition and Laboratory Report Composition.  Traditionally, laboratory notebooks or reports often consist of restating steps (literally word for word) from a laboratory procedure.  This has not proven to be an effective way for students to conceptualize and contextualize the procedures they have just completed and I would advocate for the incorporation of a more deliberate laboratory report composition to enhance student's understanding of methods learned and application to real-world scenarios.  Assessing the students compositional work will provide a way for educators to evaluate how well the student has been able to incorporate the skills learned as well as then communicate those skills to others.

Moving forward in my career, I would like to implement changes to instructional materials and modes of assessment in the undergraduate science laboratory.  The overarching goal of these changes would be to provide an educational and meaningful experience for students in the undergraduate laboratory setting.