oai:ecommons.luc.edu:luc diss-2308
type: CreativeWork
name: Extending Students' Practice of Metacognitive Regulation Strategies in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory and Investigation of Pb2+ Binding to Calmodulin with Circular Dichroism and Molecular Dynamics Modeling
description: The following dissertation was composed of two projects in chemistry education and benchwork/computational biochemistry. The chemistry education research explored students' practice of metacognitive strategies while solving open-ended laboratory problems when engaged in an instructional environment, the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), that was characterized as supporting metacognitive regulation strategy use. Through in-depth interviews with students, results demonstrated that students in the SWH environment, compared to non-SWH students, used metacognitive strategies to a greater degree and to a greater depth when solving open-ended laboratory problems. As students engaged in higher levels of metacognitive regulation, their elective use of peers became a prominent path for supporting the practice of metacognitive strategies. Students claimed that the structure of the SWH weekly laboratory experiments improved their ability to solve open-ended lab problems. This research not only provided a lens into students' descriptions of their regulation strategy practices in the laboratory, but it also supported that the way that a laboratory environment is arranged can affect these regulation strategy practices and their transfer to new situations. In the biochemical study on the binding of Pb<super>2+<super> to calmodulin (CaM), data was acquired via circular dichroism (CD) and molecular dynamics modeling. CD signal data indicated a unique signal from Pb-CaM and a significantly smaller ratio θ208/θ222 for Pb-CaM than Ca-CaM. An analysis of secondary structure content indicated that α-helical structure decreased and random coil structure increased when CaM was saturated with Pb<super>2+<super> compared to Ca<super>2+<super> saturated CaM. A molecular dynamics simulation of Pb<super>2+<super> binding to CaM showed that Pb<super>2+<super> ions bound to sites outside of the known canonical binding sites including the linker region, and indicated change in secondary structure. T…
abstract: The following dissertation was composed of two projects in chemistry education and benchwork/computational biochemistry. The chemistry education research explored students' practice of metacognitive strategies while solving open-ended laboratory problems when engaged in an instructional environment, the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH), that was characterized as supporting metacognitive regulation strategy use. Through in-depth interviews with students, results demonstrated that students in the SWH environment, compared to non-SWH students, used metacognitive strategies to a greater degree and to a greater depth when solving open-ended laboratory problems. As students engaged in higher levels of metacognitive regulation, their elective use of peers became a prominent path for supporting the practice of metacognitive strategies. Students claimed that the structure of the SWH weekly laboratory experiments improved their ability to solve open-ended lab problems. This research not only provided a lens into students' descriptions of their regulation strategy practices in the laboratory, but it also supported that the way that a laboratory environment is arranged can affect these regulation strategy practices and their transfer to new situations. In the biochemical study on the binding of Pb<super>2+<super> to calmodulin (CaM), data was acquired via circular dichroism (CD) and molecular dynamics modeling. CD signal data indicated a unique signal from Pb-CaM and a significantly smaller ratio θ208/θ222 for Pb-CaM than Ca-CaM. An analysis of secondary structure content indicated that α-helical structure decreased and random coil structure increased when CaM was saturated with Pb<super>2+<super> compared to Ca<super>2+<super> saturated CaM. A molecular dynamics simulation of Pb<super>2+<super> binding to CaM showed that Pb<super>2+<super> ions bound to sites outside of the known canonical binding sites including the linker region, and indicated change in secondary structure. T…
author: Van Opstal, Mary Twist
keywords: Calcium binding proteins, General Chemistry Laboratory, Lead Toxicity, Metacognitive Regulation Strategies, Protein Structure, Function, Dynamics, Science Writing Heurisitic, Science and Mathematics Education
date published: 2014-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T02:56:24Z
provider: Loyola University Chicago
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Loyola University Chicago